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courtneyeplante

Etiolation: What to do? SOS

11 years ago

I am extremely new to succulents and it has recently been brought to my attention from another forum that my succulents are etiolated ( some worse than others.) It has also been brought to my attention that there is no cure for this etiolation. I am just wondering if the rosettes need to be beheaded and then propagated along with the leaves or can I allow them to grow, slowly introducing them to more light to stop the etiolation, but not scorch them? Will the only problem be that they are peculiar looking? Any help would be greatly appreciated since I'm pretty attached to my new found succulent friends and am slightly pensive about propagating since I haven't had much luck with it so far.

Comments (7)

  • 11 years ago

    I do! Thank you so much for your help. I'm kicking myself because I purchased them tall and leggy due to my inexperience and I think I've only made them worse due to some poor advice. I'll hit you with the worst first.


  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    I think you posted them an another thread? -here-

    As Neil suggested, they need more light -
    You could be-head them - I am not sure if I would rush to, they look relatively small to me. You may get different advice, I probably would grow them in better light for a while and make sure they are not over-watered. I would be-head them when little bigger and when sure they are strong and healthy.

    The last one could be sempervivum (Neil said that too). If so, they don't get be-headed. It should be definitely grown outdoors, the leaves shouldn't be curving downwards. I think it is planted too low in the pot.

    What is your soil consisting of ?

    courtneyeplante thanked rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
  • 11 years ago

    Yes, that was me. I'm just fishing for more on etiolation and wanna make sure all my options are covered before beheading since I'm pensive about propagating. I'm worried I'll goof that up and lose the plant totally as I haven't had much luck with it so far. I've only had one leaf take.

    I replanted all but the Sempervivum when I bought them about three weeks ago in a cactus soil I had purchased. I just replanted the Sempervivum (which I have had for about two months) in the same cactus soil today because I also noticed he was low in the pot and with a lot of dead leaves on the bottom of him. I pruned those before replanting. (sorry I supplied you with the wrong photo earlier.)

  • 11 years ago

    np...just a hint: it is usually good idea to keep posting about same plants in the same thread otherwise it could get confusing (having few threads about same plants). If thread doesn't get answered after a while it may 'disappear' because new threads keep pushing older ones down, even if unanswered (that's my beef...unanswered threads should stay on top!). Anyway, if that should happen, you could move/bump it up by making new post on same thread (usually we just post one word: bump). And any questions relating to same plants will be in one place - easier for you to keep track of answers too.

    Most of us use different soil - mixing more inorganic ingredients together. Soil in your photos appears to contain too much peat. Peat tends to stay either very wet or too dry (if it dries too much, it is very difficult to re-wet = hydrophobic). Succulents require well draining substrate; it would be good to add some more perlite and grit to your mix. If you can't get anything else, at least get a bag of perlite, sift out dusty/small particles (I use ordinary kitchen sieve for that; you may want to wear mask to do it and preferably outdoors); rinse it and mix lots of it with existing soil. They could be grown as they are, but you are giving yourself one extra thing to worry about constantly - it is difficult to keep that kind of potting mixture 'just right'. Over-watering could cause problems - rotting, generally weakening plants so it is more susceptible to diseases and bugs.

    courtneyeplante thanked rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
  • 11 years ago

    Okay thank you for the tip. I had thought maybe new topics get new threads since the other thread was just about identification and this was about etiolation (also like I said earlier I guess I was just fishing for more about etiolation.) But now that I know its better to go off the actual plants I will do that.

    I just ordered a book off of Amazon by Debbie Lee Baldwin on succulent care. I'm setting up a tray table by a different window so they'll receive more sunlight and I'm going to make a trip to the garden store to pick up some perlite and sand to repot them in, along with the cactus soil. Hopefully all this will help them.

    Thank you again for all your help.

  • 11 years ago

    You'll find fantastic photos in that book and lots of good advice...but don't take it all as a 'bible' since lots of ideas are aiming for good looks (may not be that great for health of plant - I am not trying to discredit anyone!). I look at her photos too, inspiration is great. And there are many others - books, or blogs/websites.

    As for 'what is best for health and good growth of such and such plant for a long time (not temporary) - best advice may come from plant geeks or nerds...lol

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