Devo,
Thats one fine looking dyckia cross.I don't recall seeing that one before.
RE: your questions,I think we best leave this one to Stephania to answer,as he has a lot of experiance in propagating 'spinies'.
As for me,I wait until the offsets are about half the size of the original plant,and have shown root development.
Mostly tho,I prefer to let them clump,just like Mother Nature does.They do seem to root fairly easy when seperated,but some species are really slow growers,while others are not. Also,letting them clump saves on space for me,as I need to bring mine indoors during our winters.
Bob

Bob is right on turning this one over to Stephania. He is the king of spines'.
I have a few that I divided so I could have a some to sell or give to friends, but I also really like the look of leaving them to clump. You can always go back at a later date and divide!

Love the color of that one, very gorgeous. If you do decide to divide, I have an empty pot and maybe one or two to trade??!! LOL

Hey Devo...that's a really nice spiney.

For my opinion, if you would like to let the plant form a nice clump,
3 to at most 5 pups is better in character space.

As Bob said, pup which one third to half the size of its mother, that usually rooted ready,
is more easy to establish when separate than the tiny one.

Though, I never lost any of smaller pups from too early dividing,
but sometimes it took months to root with a shrivelling, dead looking plant.

I found that, Perlite is the best rooting media, but you have to keep it moisten,
not too wet, also give the rooting pup some bright-light, too.

and this part came from a good article of Bromeliad Society/ Houston Inc....

"...Most Dyckia species have leaves armed with sharp spikes
that make working with the plants painful. It is often difficult to separate pups
from the mother plant. It is helpful to remove the plant from its pot
and try to work on it from the bottom.

You want to bring out the heavy equipment when dealing with your Dyckia collection.
Leather gloves, a sturdy knife, a small saw, and, in extreme cases,
a hatchet could all come in handy when it is time to separate and repot large clumps of plants.

When you separate a pup, try to preserve as much of its root system as you can.
If it has no roots, treat its base with rooting hormone before potting
In either case pot the plant in a fairly small pot using a well drained mix,
and leave it there until the plant has a chance to establish itself.

Most pups are slow to root and start growing,
but when the plants root system fills the pot,
move the plant into a larger pot using a heavier mix..."

Good luck with your spiney babies.

Hi Patris...it seem, spiney enthusiasts here, we are a growing group.

Talk about, clump or single is better ?
I found some plant look so nice with single form...

Such as this Dyckia 'Snaggle Tooth'
{{gwi:448810}}

Dyckia 'Arizona'
{{gwi:448812}}

Dyckia marnier-lapostollei 'Red form'
{{gwi:448814}}

Dyckia 'Snagle Tooth' x Dyck. 'Brittle Star' F2
{{gwi:448815}}

Dyckia choristaminea x Dyck. dawsonii
{{gwi:444202}}

But some plant look better in clump, such as Dyckia 'Winter's Edge'
{{gwi:444204}}

Dyckia 'Toothy' x Dyck. 'Richard Kaz'
{{gwi:444203}}

But bigger clump need more and more space :^(
{{gwi:443869}}

Stephania, no worries--if you run out of space, just send me your spinies.

More great photos...love the marnier-lapostollei 'Red form'

Hi Stephania,
Good answers.We all learn from your experiance.
Your D.choristaminea x D.dawsonii; if your stare at it for a time,the white swirl of spines seem to spiral you down into the center,being so evenly spaced in a circular way.Kind of mezmerizing.You have some real beauties there.
Bob

If they form pups around the base then it's not too hard to divide them. The problem I have is with all the ones where the rosette just divides into 2 or 3 parts like cell division. At what point do you try to separate the parts?

I recently tried to divide up a bunch of big old clumps and it was kind of like cutting into a chunk of wood-- no clear outlines of where one rosette stopped and the next one started, and no rooting base on many of them, especially the ones in the middle. I just had to cut them into wedges and try to root them in perlite, but it looks like I'm losing a lot of them.

I've just about had it with Dyckias! If anyone wants to come over here and make me an offer I'll give you a deal to cart them all off (okay, MOST of them-- I do want to keep a few), but don't make me clean them, divide them or ship them! Too much humbug...... :-p

LOL... :^)

Hey Philofan...that Dyckia ML 'Red form' has 5-8 pups forming down under.
And I prefer to clear them off soon, as I like a solitary looking.

Ohhh Bob...that why I fill like being hypnotized,
and can't stop looking for more and more spiney broms :)

My dear Lisa, I really agree with you !
to divide the multiple heads Dyckia is severely work !

Year ago, I had tried to separate a clump of Dyckia fosteriana 'Bronze',
I cut my fore finger, as knife didn't work for cutting through the hard woody trunk,
so I had to use a hand saw which hurt me :^(

You see, how difficult to separate such a fierce D. fosteriana 'Bronze'
{{gwi:448816}}

But with some Dyckia, it's not quite hard, such as this friendly Dyckia choristaminea,
normal form and small form which rarely to form pup, but dividing head.

{{gwi:448817}}

At the bottom , the separated 'head' of my Dyckia choristaninea.
{{gwi:448818}}

Look close on the right, the 'Small form' that I could divide into four plants.
{{gwi:448819}}