So I don't have any knowledge of plants or types of plants, but I got this cute little plotted plant from the UBC Botanical gardens on the first day of school this year. I've been watering it with tap water once every 2 or 3 days since then and it's been growing a bit. I really want to take care of it but I don't know how to take care of it and can't even look up how to do it because I don't know what its name is. I have many questions, for example would it grow a lot and need to be repotted and need new soil? If so how should I do it? What is that large stalk growing from the top, do I take it off and plant it elsewhere for it to grow into another one? If anyone can help me with the above questions, thank you in advance. But a simple name would be helpful as well so I can look it up. Here is another picture I just took of it from another angle, in case the first one wasn't good enough ._.
Hi! It's a Haworthia sp., but I'm not sure which one could it be... (maybe a H. cymbiformis or a similar species)
Flowerstalk, at a guess, my book says the flowers ane "insignicant", but I find it tremendously exciting when an indoor plant flowers, when it's grown for its foliage, so leave it alone! Unless Haworthia are monocarpic, anyone?
Nope, not monocarpic at all, Nic. I've got a really nice clump of them in the garden, and they bloom just about continuously with no ill effects. DA, It will grow, but not very quickly, and it's always a good idea to repot at least once a year if only to keep the soils from getting exhausted - when you do, look for "cactus soil" at your local garden center - that's go the right kind of mix and drainage for succulents like this one. What you're seeing right now is the flowering mast, which produces some rather pretty flowers; when those are done, you'll want to cut the mast off. You might also see smaller plants growing around the mother - those are keikis or "pups" - they're the plant reproducing itself vegetatively. You can keep them in the same pot as the mother (which I prefer, because it looks better), or you can separate them into their own pots. I'll third the genus ID - it's Haworthia. Species, I'm clueless.
"keikis"? botanical or local term? Not come across it before. I like them clustering around the parent plant in a pot, too, until they all grow too big for the pot, so you divide them up and give the pot of babies to a passing niece, who pushes off to Oxfordshire just as the mother plant decides she didn't like being repotted and pegs it.
Yeeee thank you for the replies everyone! ^^ And awwww poor nic >: Hope you got another plant to replace it.
It looks alot like a houseleek aka "hen & chicks". I've had better luck growing them outdoors than in, and they produced tall flower stalks as well.
Nic - "keiki" is a botanical term for offshoots; mostly it's used with orchids, but it also applies to bananas, bromeliads, and other succulents. It's a Hawaiian word meaning "little one."