okay, i tried this once before, but the advice confused me! i tried to follow some advice about re potting, but my pics weren't very clear. Now i'm adding them one at a time, with lables. can anyone help with the genus and species name of my cacti or succulents? i'm trying to figure out how to care for them... i'm short on pots, so i'd like to know if i can pot them together in a planter or two. thank-you to you two who answered before! i've got a better shot of the flower.... i did start to repot it as suggested, but when i "seperated the root ball", most of the "flowerettes"(?) came apart from the root of the main stem, or flower. Is that bad? if i loaded the pictures correctly, they should be labeled. all pictures are of a single plant, the cacti are 6 pics in total, four plants are in a 2inch pot, the other two are in 4inch pots. the succulents (i think) are of a single plant each, save for the flower of one of them is posted with the plant. this is the one who's plantlettes have separated quite easily into 5 or so clumps with roots attached. the last pic is a succulent in styrofoam about 4-5 inches in diameter Questions: can i plant all the cacti together? can i plant the succulents together? do i keep all the plantlettes in one pot? what are the genus and species names for these plants? it looks like once i know this info, i can look up the plant care info on my own! thanks so much for your help... i started to repot these guys, and realised i STILL wasn't sure what to do. I have a feeling i need to get these guys into some dirt, though, lol!
Are you asking if you should plant all the same ones together and all the different ones together too? Absolutely not. You've got to keep them separated to do well. The various Cactaceae, Aloe, Haworthia and Crassula are not cold hardy. The flowering Sempervivum is could hardy and should be moved outside and left outside over the winter.
Sure you can put them all in one pot but don't expect them to last very long in that same pot because each one has different growing requirements. You seem to forget that ornamental plant displays in places like malls and especially Disneyland are constantly being changed and replaced with different plants when the public isn't watching. Like magic, its all an illusion.
thank- you... but i don't know What my plants are (or which one is which, even!) the "haworthia" has not been mentioned before. is it possible to find the genus and species names for my plants in this thread? or should i re-post it under "plant identification"? i really need to know what my plants are in order to care for them. thanks so much! Another issue... i was going to re pot the three 2" cacti (yes, i think i should know the genus and species names for these ones, too) and i found something new to me. i will put pics in my original post so you may see what i am talking about. the cacti are not planted in dirt. the medium is hard, white, and is difficult to chip away at. (not really TOUGH, but i don't want to apply much pressure and break it off if i should leave it alone) The white stuff has broken away from one cactus, and i put in a pic,. the other two ... ummm... growing mediums(?) have kept the shape of the pot fairly solidly. If i didn't know a cactus was growing out of it, i would think it was a fat stick of sidewalk chalk or a chunk of gyp rock. in one photo i tried to show where i had used a knife to slice a bit off, and mark it farther up with my thumbnail. it will crumble, if weakened. I also believe it will be water soluble (like chalk, lol!) My questions: What are the genus and species name of these plants? What is the white stuff? (medium) Do i leave the white stuff as is when re-potting? if i am to remove it, could i use water to disolve it, or keep it as dry as possible? i just want to put these fellas in some dirt so they will be happy, and grow!
I'm sorry but I have Never seen anything like that before. If I had to guess I would say get rid of that stuff. Even if you loose a lot of roots, with time the plant should recover.
any suggestions on HOW to get rid of it? i could probably crumble it, but if i use water to dissolve it there would be less root damage. I'm just not sure if the water would damage it more?
That stuff looks bad for the cactus! Looks like plaster, or cement. I second to get the the cactus out of those white tombs and use some good cactus soil.
Oh, man! I would get those plants out now! I would not expect the roots to survive, but if you could save the subterranian part of the plant, it should regrow those roots. My first thought would be to try breaking it off with a couple shots of the hammer. If it does not come off, I would then soak it in water for a few hours. That might help dissolve the plaster. As to your plants and repotting them I would check and see how cold tolerant the cacti are, then you can pot them together. The Semperviviums are fine together, but are already overgrown in their pots, so only pot them in a giant pot, or only pot part of them. The Crassula I would keep alone in pot. The Aloes could be potted together. None of the plants should grow into each other, if they start, seperate them, with the exception of the Semperviviums.
Where did you get the concrete...I mean, plants? I've seen rock glued on top of plants; a little water softened it up easily. You might try that first.
That's exactly what i'm needing to know, lol! Which plant is which? okay, so of those ones, (every one except the flowering one, right?) do the others have the same growing requirements? i tried to address analogdog, but i'll just reply on his...
which part do i save? So basically, i can plant all 5 of the spiky cacti in one long container... they can be treated the same? the three 2", and the two other 4"? which one is this, please? Isn't this the flowering one? I already did separate the flowering one, and ended up with 5 bundles of flowerettes, roots still attached! I didn't know that i WASN't supposed to! Argh!
I just got them passed down from my mom... she was under the impression that there was dirt in the pots... that the nursery had put something on top to hold the cacti in 'cause the roots are so small
You can divide those guys down to one larger plant with little plants attached, and they will all do fine. And it sounds that your divisions will do fine. And what I was saying about the Semperviviums is that you do not HAVE to seperate them if they grow together.
The trouble with planting together is some grow quicker than others and soon things can look odd. The cactus in the first pic is Notocactus leninghausii. It grows quite quick compared to some of the others,but not as fast as the succulent with the small round leaves(a Jade,Crassula ovata) which eventually grows to be a small tree! The tall thin cactus looks like a Cleistocactus strausii,slow growing columnar which as it grows gets more difficult to repot but needs its own root space really. Plus all cacti need lots of light and if they're in one large container they'd have to spend summer outdoors. But if the cacti are in their own pots they can be kept on a sunny window sill and turned as necessary-try that with a very large container!
From the look of the Crassula, I doubt that it is a jade, as the leaves look wrong. It could be Crassula arborescens, which would then match with the lack of light the other plants have. If it has leaves that turn silver in the sun, it will be a good call.
Hmmm looks exactly like a Jade to me. Arborescens has grey green leaves,dull not shiny,and jade has shiny dark green leaves with a red margin,just like this one. Its obviously been in sun at some time in its life,was probably bought recently and been grown previously in better light.
okay folks! thank you all for the greatly-needed info. I did get the white stuff off, first with crumbling, then with water. The roots were growing in a circular formation, and were terribly intertwined. potbound? i loosened the roots as best as i could, and have planted them. here are the end results. the pics are taken outside, and this is as sunny as it is going to get today. My partner expressed concern having the cacti in direct sunlight yesterday... i was right to say that direct sun was good for 8 hours for those guys, right? now, how long do i wait after planting do i wait to water? some folks are saying to water right away to help root. others are saying to wait up to ten days. any opinions? analogdog... special thanks to you for baby-stepping me through the identity of my plants! it was exactly as i needed, and will make finding cacti care a lot easier (knowing what i'm trying to take care of!). someone suggested a "growing light tube" due to the fact of so little light in my suite. what is this? do you think it is necessary?
Well yea direct sun is what they need but if the plants have been out of the sun for some time you'd need to introduce them to it slowly,or they might burn. They look like they could take it tho. Good luck with them!
Glad you were able to get those plants out of that plaster stuff without ripping the roots apart. They look good. You did a good job re-potting them all!
