And some pictures from the judged show:

2. These lithops definitely don't seem to be in any kind of soil...I wonder how much water they get.

I apologize for the fuzzy pics and lack of names, so many to look at.

Your jade is Crassula ovata cv. 'Tricolor Obliqua'. Yours has seen lots of bright light to get the nice reddish tinge. Here is what mine looks like in full sun:

The second looks like Gasteria baylissiana. The lower leaf could have been sun burned, but they usually turn a bit reddish before burning. Here is my G. pillansii which I've been trying to turn reddish, but only the tips:

G. bilcolor has a different pattern with much larger spots. As a comparison, here is my G. bicolor var. liliputana (miniature version):

Thank you!! Spot on paracelsus, I thought the first might be hard to ID because there are other similar ones but I looked that up and it was definitely the same.

It's my first time hearing the hybrid name xcremnosedum...reading up on it. Cremnophila looks a lot like echeveria huh, just..rounder?

ewwmayo - Your miniature gasterias are so cute...And yes I can see mine don't have spots like those bicolor ones now.

I'm looking up pics of g. baylissiana and I guess mine has some ways to go, it FEELS sturdy so that's good, but definitely not fully grown yet.

Oh and thanks for the crassula ID, I read up on it and I've realize the soil it was sold it was WAY way way too wet (unless they were doing some sort of "let's water them a lot and then tell people not to water them until they're dry") ..to the point that one stalk kinda started rotting. flopped down. (SO SAD) I had to take the leaves out. But I also read they root pretty easily so fingers crossed.

I expect the tricolor to not be so bad to root. Mine grows quite slowly than all my other Crassulas, due to the variegation.

Seems to do well in gritty mix, no special customization required. Found it takes a bit longer to acclimate to higher light, the leaves burn a little easier, at least for me.

Gasteria should do well in a similar mix. They have similar water requirements.

Agreed that you need to get it out of that soggy mix asap!

Over all, I find variegated (Tricolor) crassula will tolerate little more water, just like most of jades - as long as there is good drainage. I have left few pots of it in rain we had almost non stop for past 3 days, and it really looks good. BUT it is in mix of grit, perlite and turface, very good drainage.

So no soil! .....Woww. I'm still doing this weird cactus soil sprinkling thing, like 10%- 20% in my mix (with perlite and napa floor dry). I guess my reasons is because 1) it's kinda hard to pot small stuff when it's too loose, and 2) it really scares me that theres no soil (im not using bark), and 3) im stingy on using my chicken grit because I bought a small bag of it.

But now that I think about it, if I used more chicken grit, it should be easier to pot stuff since it's heavier.

And yeah...like everyone been saying, the soil even if used in small quantities, still clogs up the spaces. Which doesn't equal immediate death to some hardier stuff but it isn't that great either.

Clearly I have some separation anxiety issues with soil.

Here in Ontario, grit is very cheap, but normally quite a drive away from the big cities!

I consider it to be very similar to perlite, except it holds more nutrients. Haven't tested which holds more water yet, but that would be a good experiment. Agreed that grit makes for a 'sturdier' mix, which plants rarely fall out of. Unless you somehow manage to knock over one pot a month on average... like me.

Soil should hold nutrients similarly to clay (at least, probably more), so I wouldn't necessarily say it's a bad thing. =)

ealdwood

I don't really see a problem if you are using just 10-20% of soil; that should work. And you have napa (same as turface) and perlite - so that's OK. If you can get grit in bulk, it is very inexpensive (50lb bag for less than $10 - and we Canadians pay more for everything!) So if you have space to store it, car to get around and to 'carry' it, maybe it's worth trying to find a source. Best places are farm supply stores...

Tricolor jade is suffering since it was in that mucky soil before you got it. I am sure it will benefit greatly if you re-pot it in your mix. Take it out, get rid of existing soil suffocating the roots (wash it off if necessary). Let it sit in shady spot with good air circulation on some newspaper or kitchen towels to dry out (don't worry, it won't die from that - but it will in muck). Then it should go into new mix (one you are using or if you find grit, add that too). If the stem and roots were really wet, don't water it for a while. And I hope some of the leaves are healthy enough to sprout for you.

Rina