Hi - Six months ago I moved to South Africa from Baltimore, Maryland. I have started a small rock garden that I populated with cuttings from my friend's mother's garden, all are succulents and cacti. I have NO experience with these, and I'm finding that some of them are growing like mad, taking over everything. I think one is Portulacaria afra, and I don't know most of the others. I just bought a book on succulents so I can identify them. My question is, can I prune them, and if so, how and when? Generally in these last six months it has been my experience that whatever I plant in this country takes off like a rocket! Thanks! Allie
You can also take pictures of them and post them here for the succulent experts to ID - they normally also give care instructions. Generally, succulents and cacti don't require pruning, but if they're taking over you can absolutely trim them back. Use sterile cutters, and spray them with alcohol to re-sterilize and clean between each plant. You might also want to wear gloves - if you have any Euphorbias in there, the sap can be caustic, and I have always said "better safe than blistered." If you wait for your cuttings to callous over (a couple of days in your climate, as in mine) you can re-plant them as well.
Thank you lorax for your reply. I will try and cut back some of them today! I will also post some pictures of ID, thanks for the suggestion!
