Hello everybody, I'm new to this forum so forgive me if I don't quite know how everything works yet! I have a ~ 5 in. tall Aeonium succulent (indoors) which is really cute but there is only one problem - it has stem rot, right at the bottom of its trunk:-(. I did notice a teeny nick when I bought it but now its approximately half way across the trunk:((. I think I can maybe save it if I chop off all its rosettes and replant them separately...but I don't know when would be the best time to do this? Its winter here, so I'm guessing it will be in its dormant season. The plant seems relatively happy other than that, no distress is visible in the leaves and its recently grown a new rosette:D. It may of course be growing slowly but since I've never had an Aeonium before I wouldn't know how fast their supposed to grow? Should I propagate it now before it gets too much colder (although it is inside so I'm not sure how much difference it would make anyway) or wait until it starts to look a bit sickly? I'd be really grateful for any help or advice anyone can give me Thanks a lot Jen
Chop it right now, leave the rosettes for a couple of days to callus over, then plant them in fresh soil in different pots from the one with the rot. If you wait you risk losing it, and a healthy plant is much more able to deal with being propagated. I can't help you with how fast an Aeonium is supposed to grow in the UK, but here in Ecuador mine gain 5-6 new rosettes a month and are starting to form small treelike structures, which is pretty neat.
Thanks Lorax, i'll do it as soon as I can (may need to buy a few more pots first!) Ah well mine certainly isn't growing that fast but then it is a bit poorly and I expect aeonium's probably prefer warm climates anyway. I love the way they grow, they're really unusual like a tree and a succulent in one! Good luck with yours:) Just have a few more queries (for anyone)..... Is it true that propagated Aeoniums won't branch into trees like the Mother plant? Also, I only have 6 rosettes - the biggest being approx. 4" wide. I have two 3-ish'' pots and one 6" pot (spare) would it be okay to plant the biggest two in the 3" pots and the other four together in the 6" pot for now (or vice versa even)? Or will I risk over watering them? Thanks Jen
Hello everyone! Since my last post I calloused all the rosettes and repotted them in separate pots. I checked them today and one of them has roots (finally) yaaaaaaaay. I was just wondering would it be safe to start giving the rooted one a bit of water? Also, the others.....should i start watering them too? I don't really like pulling them out of the soil every few days to see if they have roots! Thanks JenRi
Cheers, is it okay to keep on pulling them out of the soil to check for roots? I don't want to hamper the others' rooting capabilities...
Wow I remember how I used to do that. Pull it out nah no roots yet, Try again, nop nothing. One more peek... yay roots.... oh crap how do I get it back in the mix without breaking off the new root... gentle.... gentle.... Dammit back to where I started! In other words it's best to leave them in the pots and check the bottom of the pots you'll see the roots when they are there! Try to leave any cuttings you take alone until there is a decent amount of root showing at the bottom of the pot. The cuttings I have taken previously have formed quite nice branching specimen. The thing to keep in mind is that flowering determines the end of the plants life. I am not too sure how this works but have read on several ocassion that it's best to remove flowering heads to extend the plants life. Mine have not yet reached that stage so I can't add too much more.
Glad I'm not the only one! I didn't think I was doing them much good.... Oh I'm glad, I really like the way they branch but i read elsewhere, cuttings don't. What I'll probably do is leave them alone until I go back home Christmas (bout a week and a half) then if they haven't rooted by then i'll probably just leave them over the vacation, they'll probably be alright for two weeks until my Boyfriend gets back and he can check them. The one that has rooted however - thats coming home with me! I didn't realise that actually - but it'll be a long while before mine feels like flowering I suspect! Thanks for your help, it's much appreciated!
