Hi Nic, thanks for opening up this thread. I grow at least more than 50 varieties of Echeverias. I've learnt that

A) Variegated species are completely unforgivable if you overwater by the slightest bit. Variegated Secunda (or Compton Carousel) collapses really quickly if I repot/pot it into a gritty mix. The roots somehow are incapable of holding onto the dry mix, and when overwatered they rot.

B) Dry rot is as deadly as wet rot, the rossette just collapses overnight with no warning or reason. It's tough to maintain dormancy by controlling the temperature in the winter with limited space, cohabiting with the plants.

C) Some species enjoy daily watering, some rots overnight if you water more than 2x a week.

Should post some pictures if you variegates Bernard :)

I'll see if I can get some pictures this weekend.

I'll have to think of some weirdness but I can tell you that Crassula muscosa flowers smell like baby powder. It's amazing how much scent comes out of those tiny flowers.

Deeper inside of a four year old seed started.

Not really weird in a sense but is abnormal as it should swell more evenly from the top toward the bottom.. I'll need to keep it buried in deeper for a very slow form swelling for a few more years.

and feed it as heavily as it can handle during it's growing time

Here you go Nic, just for you..

I'm worried I might lose this one, if it continues to only produce albino leaves..

More oddities.. I know I'm starving my plants when I see roots peeking out of the drainage holes like this...

Very strange growing bumps from the meristem on my leaves cuttings.. They're definitely not roots..

Nomen, that's really neat looking. What plant is that? It looks familiar but I can't quite place it.

Bernard those are gorgeous, have you considered trying to propagate some of the lower leaves just in case you do lose that one that's turning albino? I hate plucking leaves from my plants (especially if they are wonderfully symmetrical) but sometimes you have to.

As for the meristems, I've had quite a few of mine grow plants but no roots. Eventually the bottom of the little plantlet will sprout roots, so I wouldn't be too worried.

Nicholas : Of the ones I have here the seed donating specimen would win the gold medal for distance at seed spitting & has a odd quietest of all pop when it spits it's seed(s). In pic Euphorbia cylindrifolia ssp. tuberfera.

Ahhhh (To cool for words) but nice root exiting from the drainage holes, you'll be glad you used nylon mesh.

Haha nomen. I hear many Euphorbia species are great seed spitters. If you're ever looking to trade some of your seedlings let me know and we can work something out :) very cool little plant it looks like a cross between my E. decaryi and a pony tail palm. :)

Hatoria X Rosea ( AKA Easter cactus )

Over the past year it has been forming (four counted) four and six sided growths from random branches. The oddity might be a result of a hard cut of the once six foot lengths. Mutation ? Not as each box shaped growth that has sent out new foliage send out normal shaped leaves.

(a bit dark) new normal shaped growth can be seen in pic and VIA cut or it's oddity growth has seemed to slow all growth down quite a bit.

Nic, trust me, I've tried and failed each and every single time. Of all the variegates I've killed, I've laid to a total about 20-30 leaves on nursery trays (in batches of varying seasons and conditions each time), every other type of cuttings that sat with them took root except these echeveria variegates. I think my best bet is to disturb them less, feed them enough till the mother plant to throw off actual offsets like my E 'Carly Argentea' (E Laui x Ruyonii) here. So delighted!!

Nomen - I always secretly believe my plants need to live in longer pots, I guess I have some work (repotting) cut out for me before Spring arrives. Are they any other type of meshes you use for your plants beside those Nylon ones?

Nylon mesh is all I use and will always use in the future as it's a lot easier to get roots untangled from at a higher root % than any other bottom mesh .

Bug screen, drywall tape are less expensive and do work but are thinner, have closer strands (smaller gaps) allowing roots to become more twisted and tangled. With out some time consuming hand work ( surgically) removing a high % of tangled root from mesh alternatives would be (and usually is ) difficult to remove the higher % of viable root IME Thicker nylon mesh provides 100 % (with ease) and with out feeling like a surgeon for maximum % of viable healthy root recovery.

Nylon mesh does need to be wired to the base of a pot though as it often slides to a side of the pot if not secured directly over the drainage hole(s)

One slight down side I have also broken a lot of TC pots ( and cut plastic pots) in that same status to keep a higher % of healthy and very viable roots as well. ( If I see yours correctly I suspect those are potential pups forming from the root tips as well ?)

IMO in reference to pot depth of a pot you may want to ( or also) consider wider pots as well and or different shapes of pots

Disclaimer: I am not trying to (and would only deny any guilt) The art of cultivating in hand made pots enabling anyone. But..... There are some less pricier ones that are still nice ones out there that would work for a fair amount of time ( Protection of the disclaimer )Azalea pots are also nice and have many succulent applications.

Curious though ( as I know some others who have some good/not so good watering habits) When you do water are you drooping water in a tray ?

Nomen, I was actuallly thinking of snipping off roots if I ever do repot.. I can't save all the roots per se, I mean, that depends on how much root growth I have when I unearth the plant.

Wow that is a very dense growing jade.

Guimeixen - I've never seen any jades grown quite as like yours. Do you grow it with a lot of light? Perhaps it's showing some signs of cresting? Then again, my jades are very simple, so I can't tell you exactly what's going on..

Right now it gets around 5 hours of direct sun during the morning but the days are getting longer so its increasing. I move it to a northeast balcony a bit after noon when it no longer gets sun and then it is in the shade the rest of the day.

C. muscosa is quite odd. I like the shape mine has taken. It really responds to directional light. I've had mine for several years now and I love how the bottom has gotten a bit thicker.

-Erica

That's beautiful Erica, I've been thinking of trimming the one branch of mine that has started to droop under it's own weight. could maybe grow the cutting slightly different and see how it responds. Yours looks like an underwater plant :)

Thanks, Nicholas. Now that you mention it, it does kind of look like an underwater plant! I've considered trimming mine also but go back and forth with the idea. I was forced to repot it when a cat knocked over my plant stand and that's when it really struggled to hold up it's larger branches.

When I rotate mine within a day the branches already shift direction. That's how I got the larger lower branches to grow in the shape and direction I wanted. Now I rotate it to keep the shape. Very interesting little plant that I'm glad I've kept along the way.

-Erica

Peculiar 'bulbous' leaves on Kalanchoe tomentosa:

That is weird Rina, I wonder what causes it. Would be interesting to see if they stay that way or if they will grow out like normal over time.

Erica, I'm going to try rotating mine now to see if it helps. A piece fell off a few weeks ago and they seem to root really easily.

Nicholas, 2 mo later, they are still the same size while other leaves seems to be bigger - just took a photo:

My muscosa either finished blooming - or is getting ready to bloom. It is so easy to grow, wherever piece falls, it roots:

It bloomed few times, flowers are very small and I only noticed because of odd smell:

Those really are tiny. Hope I haven't missed mine bloom. Is it generally a spring/summer bloomer?

I never checked, Nicolas. Now it's blooming in February, other photo is from November.

Another 'weird' growth - some of my jades have funny trunk parts. They grew like that on their own :). Here is one of them: