This is mine it's really tiny, maybe only an inch tall, I would look at it every day waiting for it to bloom.

Loretta - Looks awesome!! Amazing that it flowered when it was that size. Mine is 3" tall and 3.5" in diameter.

Wow, both of your plants are so beautiful. Does this species normally flower in winter? Their leaf shape so so unique and very appealing.

Nicholas - Yup, it's supposed to flower between winter and spring. One of my favourite plants.

Beautiful!

I don't need any more plants but I sure do want this one.

I have been watching this for at least two months and they just won't open. They are out in the greenhouse on a top shelf. Since our weather has been unseasonably warm, my GH has also been warmer than I usually keep it and this just won't open. This isn't the first time flowering for either of these. I don't even know for certain this is 'Morgan's Pink' or 'Morgan's Beauty' or ????

This is about a year ago...

Howard - I'm not sure there is a difference between the two? I have noticed different leaf variations in the hybrid form.

Both of yours look pretty fantastic. Two months is a long time! That would put mine about February.

Is each pot one plant with multiple branches?

Yes, single stem in each. not certain why it's taking so long for them to open.

Kevin, what a brilliant plant! I know Morgan Beauty prefers to be on the dry and colder side in order to be happy. I tend to have problems with the lower leaves rotting, then spreading to the plant's main stem.

Thanks Bernard! Mine is not that particular about watering, other than too much water causes leaf splitting.

I agree about susceptibility to lower leaf rot, mine is placed just inches from my ventilation fan and not in a grow tray (better airflow).

There were two leaves that started to go on me in the summer, but I noticed quickly and it didn't spread. Learned my lesson pretty quickly.

During the summer, I was also more careful about watering lots before colder and darker days.

Okay... Maybe it's a little picky about watering. =)

Thanks for the update, looks great!! Does it smell like anything?

Mine is developing quickly and it now appears that three flower clusters are being formed:

Such a beautiful form of Crassula, it's so sculptural looking. Adding flowers to that just knocks my socks off, delicious eye candy!

Lena

mayo, your Morgan's Beauty is huge and wonderful. This is one plant I have always wanted but shy-ed away from because I do not think I could provide it with the conditions it prefers. I am finding I am not having much luck with plants that like it a little cooler.

-Erica

Erica - Much appreciated. If you're able to find one, I think you should give it a try!

When mine was outside, I kept it on the top rack of my grow shelves with just a clear plastic cover to protect from the rain. Seemed to do well in pretty high light and fairly high temperatures (for the Toronto, Canada area).

It did well over the Summer and continued to grow the whole time. Of course through fall/winter it growth picked up with the cooler temperatures. The most important part is to not allow the lower leaves to be wet because they are susceptible to rotting (top dressing with larger particle size preferred).

Kevin..do you remember how the mold on your Morgan's Beauty looked like?

:( i don't think mine changed but I did notice the color changing on the bottom leaves because sometimes I would accidentally douse them a little when watering. (Which I haven't been doing a lot of because I'm afraid of the moldiness) But nothing else bad is happening, no mushiness. Haven't noticed any Wierd dots other than the ones it came with. I *think* it grew a little. But yeah the bottom leaves have a Wierd orangey dry roughness. If I try using my nail to budge it nothing really comes off.

i might try to put some larger sized something under the leaves...but I ran out of crushed granite and perlite. Ugh. I only have pea stone might try them...after cleaning them.

When purchased:

Today:

Ealdwood - Here is a photo of my rotting leaf from the summer, it's not pretty. I pulled on the totally brown/soft leaf with large tweezers and it fell apart like this:

When the lower leaves start turning brownish, it usually means there is some mould/fungus that is growing there. If you can retake control of moisture / humidity / watering, you can stop it from spreading further or getting worse.

I unpotted my Morgan's Beauty cutting and removed two leaves to help show you what it looks like from different angles:

Here are some photos of the affected areas with 20x magnification. The darker areas are hard, as you can see in the bottom right image where I tore at it a bit:

I should take better care of my cutting when watering to prevent this, but eventually the lower leaves will shrivel and die off naturally anyway. Here is what the full cutting looks like (after I put it back, minus two leaves):

With these types of fuzzy crassulas, overwatering damage typically looks like a brown or reddish coloured line. That can happen on any leaf, but usually on the underside or towards the edge.

If you look at overwatering damage under 60x magnification, it looks like the (strange and bumpy) normal leaf structure but turned brown/reddish.

On perhaps a lighter note, here is the main plant that is now well on it's way to producing four clusters of flowers:

With better growing conditions and care, the lower leaves are essentially unaffected with only one or two leaves with a slight tinge in colour on the end. Bottom watering made things a lot easier, as was getting rid of my top dressing that had a slightly smaller particle size.

Thanks Kevin!! (Thanks for taking out your plant, I'm feeling anxiety for the cutting now : 0 hope it settles back fast) I like the white pea stone looking stuff you have there for the cutting, it's a nice size and color. Flower clumps are progressing nicely too!

So about the 20x magnification pics of the rot (and the first rot pic was crazy), I'm worried about the top left one. That orange puzzle crust on the edge looks like where some of my bottom leaves are heading but no puzzle cracks..yet. But i get the differentiation you're making..those were more of a light brown/black. Hard on the outside.

So to confirm: the stuff on the bottom older leaves of your cutting (second last picture) are normal okay and are just from over-watering? Or are those orangey patches the same thing as the earlier four pics with 20x magnification? But you're leaving them there to be used up/fall off on their own?

i just used the light from my phone to examine my plant again (apt light is very insufficient for close succulent examination) and noticed that these edge patches on the bottom leaves are more sparkly/crystally. If that does mean it's from my accidental watering (minerals from tap water)..it's still not a good thing anyways right? Possibility of ineventual mold?

So how often are you bottom watering it now that it's winter, and you have the heat on? (Or you don't keep them in an area with central heating? Since you mentioned the ventilation fan) if you don't mind me asking these questions!

Ealdwood - It's okay, hopefully didn't set it back more than a couple of weeks. =)

The stone is white granite grit, the same as what I'm using in my mix. On the top layer, I always make sure to pick out all bark that is around the leaves and stem to reduce the chance of mould growth.

The mix itself is mostly grit anyway, you can see what I used in my second image with the pot dumped out into the green plastic saucer. My preference is using a mix with very low water retention for Morgan's Beauty / perfoliata var. minor / aborescens. I think they are easily overwatered (as compared to other Crassulas).

I suspect darker stuff on the bottom of the leaves is probably some time of mould or fungus? Those portions were closer to the soil and probably got wet when I watered the cutting. As long as the darker colour doesn't begin to progress quickly, I have been leaving it as is.

Damage from over watering looks more like a thin scar or crack. Sorry, I don't have a good photo of that at this time.

If the edge patches on yours are sparkly/crystalline it could be minerals/salts from watering. The leaves tend to wick up water, so I wouldn't be surprised if that could happen. Feel free to post a photo when you do have good light.

Right now I am bottom watering every five days. It's a quick soak for less than 2 minutes. They are kept in the loft of my home, which has central heating and very good airflow even without fans.

The fans are mostly there because I want to keep my leaf temperatures as low as possible to encourage better growth. One fan is kept on always for picky plants like this one.

Don't mind the questions at all, hopefully my answers help!

Lower temps are a great idea, my plant pots feel so cold being next to the window and all. Can't wait to see the blooms on yours, I'm betting two weeks or less.

i think my final conclusion is that it is mold and if it spreads anymore I will take the plant out and remove those leaves which right now I think there are four of. If it doesn't (ehhh...) then yay.

Im watering mine less (less often and less amount wise) and I think it's making it a teensy dehydrated, a little too light feeling.

Did you get the white granite from a big box pet store as well like the polished aquarium ones that you have?

(Some not much better pics just FYI from in the bathroom and shining a torchlight, and using the flash on my phone, didn't make much of a difference and couldn't capture the sparkliness of the coloring :/)

Ealdwood - It's probably easier/better to just excavate a bit and remove affected leaves without unpotting the whole plant. But only if it has to come to that. So far yours looks alright.

The white granite was from my semi-local farm feed store and much cheaper than aquarium substrate. I suppose you could call it the Canadian version of gran-i-grit.

First of five flower clusters is now blooming! The flowers are fragrant and smell a little sweet. =)

Kevin

great blooms (and the photo). Pls. show the whole plant when you have chance...Thnx.

Rina - Sure thing, I just took an overall photo for you. The flowers are small but plentiful.

Oh my! What a beautiful plant! Thank you for posting this picture.

No problem! =)

Thank you Kevin, it's a beauty. Love the close-ups, and the whole...looks like it's going to bloom for a while - at least as long as it took for buds to open :)

Very nice. Yours are pink. Mine white/cream??????

There's a small clump of buds near the bottom! So cool! Great pic.

Howard - Just realized how different the flower colours are. Yours is definitely a different hybrid. Maybe mesembryanthemopsis with rupestris? The flowers and plant form are vaguely similar to 'Crassula 'Spring Time'.

Ealdwood - The buds on the bottom are on another branch of the main plant, it was quite unexpected.

Nice plant. Mine developed a rotted core and I now I have 2 small offsets rooting. These are a bit tricky to get right conditions for.

Thanks! Hopefully your offsets root and grow quickly. I found my cutting took a long time to root, but after that it progressed well.

These are tricky to grow, I tend to watch it more carefully than many of my other succulents.

Azt, I had lost mine last summer too, I think the heat and dampness just killed the roots and eventually the meristem. This is my one cutting that I had saved from the mother plant. Watering it very precariously as Kevin had adviced, I hope I don't kill this one too.

Eww, your morgan's beauty is so beautiful. Mine has a lot of rotting on the bottom. Can I ask you how often do you water yours? I water mine once a week and it's in 50/50 pumice and turface mix. It's under light currently for 10 hrs in 70-75 degree room.

Gyoselyn - Every four days but not too much water. Usually quick dunk and then straight out. My lights are currently around 10 hours+.

The top of the soil mix must remain quite dry otherwise the lower leaves will rot. Medium-large particle size for top dressing helps.

I also keep mine close to a circulation fan that runs 24/7.

Kevin - do you think 50/50 pumice/turface is OK?

Rina - Based on my own tests, Turface holds around 3.5x more water than grit. Haven't gotten hands on my pumice yet to try (later this month).

50/50 pumice/turface is likely a bit too water retentive for these when watered weekly.

This is what my mix and roots look like now:

Kevin - that is exactly the reason I asked, but not growing this plant I didn't want to advise...I am not using so much turface in my gritty mix, for any of my succulents.

But I don't have any experience with pumice...

Thank you Rina and Kevin! I didn't know turface holds that much water over grit. I do notice pumice dry faster than turface. Maybe I should try 70:30 pumice:turface. Also my other stacked crassula seems to struggle with this 50:50 mix. Now I even wonder if I should just use 100% pumice and fertilize more often.

Rina - You should grow this one!

I did find a somewhat local supplier for pumice and lava rock, next time I'm there I'll ask for/buy some samples for testing.

Goselyn - Definitely using less turface is something to consider. I think the fancier stacked Crassula are picker plants. Have ordered a few more but they haven't arrived yet. Time will tell!

Ok, I'll change the ratio and hope for the best. Agree these fancier ones are harder to keep them look nice. Good luck on the your new plants, I'm sure since it's you they'll thrive :)

I love pumice. Use at least 25-40% percent with 25% granite gravel to soil in my cactus mixes. Plant are fat and happy because it drains immediately. Don't know its exact moisture retaining qualities. so your experiments, ewwmayo, will be watched with interest. I think it's porous but not totally permeable. My mix stays moist for about 2-3 days. My succulents do tend to dry out in mix with pumice. So a matter of getting the right water timing.

Sand is the worst and has rotted roots off my plants because of its compacting and water retention powers.

My Morgans' is recovering. Bought it last year, it rotted from the bottom, couldn't find the right watering schedule for it. Dryed the 2 stems and repotted, placed in a sunnier open location and basically left it alone, water once every one or two weeks. I err on the side of less water since it is in a ceramic container. After reading the discussion above, I suppose the rust spots on the smaller one is water damage and or fungus, but, that one is growing okay, too. Now, that I think of it, it sat out there in the pouring rain this year. Oops. I barely watered it in winter if at all, so may have been a well needed drench.
Fortunately, both stems have rooted and are firmly attached to substrate and look and feel pretty good. Yay!

Thank you, aztcqn for that info. Will have to look for granite gravel and pumice for my poor-drainage clay.

Resurrecting this thread to see if everyone's are blooming again! Also, I've been thinking about purchasing one, and need some convincing, hehe.

Yes! One of mine just started opening it's blooms and a small offset in a separate pot is budding very well. =)

Realized I should have included some photos:

And one with my actual camera:

So weird, so beautiful!

Beautiful plant, Mayo, especially the big one, a sculpture.

Thanks!!