You are drastic! But it will pay off in the end...

Frank

Looks like you are be-heading specialist :) They respond very well for you. Great way to keep them 'neat' and getting more plants.

I hate beheading plants, because I cannot discard any plant pieces with potential to grow into another plant......beheading just leads to another nice plant and a stem with many news heads to find pots/space for.......

I beheaded two Echeverias months ago and while there are at least 5 newer rosettes on the old stems, one of the heads died and another is struggling. They hadn't grown roots a month+ after I beheaded them, so when I started to water them, they both had rot and I managed to save one.

breton2, yes got to be drastic, LOL, the only way to get a 'backup' plant when it is not producing offsets. I've had E. 'Ben Badis' for more than 2 years now, and it is a very slow grower, and not producing offsets, and one of my favorites. I'm afraid if I don't help it to produce offsets and something happens to it, I'll be devastated.

Leslie, depends on the plant itself. I usually chop if I want offsets for 'backup' if the plant itself is not producing them. Sometimes, I chop when the plant is growing ungainly in awkward directions. Sometimes it is an emergency rescue. However just be aware that for Echeverias, don't chop below the leaves where only bare stem remains, then usually the bare stem just shrivels up, not all the time, but usually. Always leave a few leaves on the mother plant for it to produce offsets more easily. If possible only chop in warmer weather when the plant is growing happily. I'm in Australia, so I can leave my succulents outdoor all year round, and it is coming into Spring now and there's a growth spurts happening, so I chop, chop, chop.

Rina, thanks, a habit I developed after losing a couple of favorite succulents to bugs and rot. So now always have backup plants on standby.

Skyler, be very careful of watering after you planted the 'head'. I have one that refused to produce roots for about 6 months, and I rarely watered it, I just kept the mix barely damp. The head just wrapped itself up like a cabbage for that 6 months, then suddenly one day, I saw the leaves started to unfurl, and then I started to give it more water gradually, now it's growing happily.

Frank, that's awesome advice. I never would have thought to cut above the bottom few leaves. I just did an emergency rescue (due to sudden rot) on my E. Afterglow and I wish I had thought to leave a leaf on the stem. Well, it would have been difficult to cut around the rot anyway, so it probably was a moot point. What if I'm not sure if they're echeveria or graptoveria? Does it ever hurt to leave the leaves?

Aaaaaah!! I don't think I could ever chop off that beautiful Ben Badis. I understand wanting a backup and all that; I just don't think I could do it. It is so beautiful.

With th the encouragent of another GW member, I bravely chopped my lovely bendy Aeonium atropurpureum last year (looked like a Dr. Seuss tree), and it did not fill in the emptiness with new rosettes. It is now an ugly, headless, branching twig with 1 tiny rosette... so I am not so bold as you.

May your beauties never be headless for long.

Leslie, oh that's such a shame, E. 'Afterglow' is such a beautiful succulent. Hope you managed to save it. That's what I was worried about, sudden rot with no warning, and gone within a few days.

If you can't be sure whether a plant is Echeveria or one of the interspecific hybrids, I would still leave some leaves on the mother plant just to be sure, as the leaves help with photosynthesis for the energy to produce offsets.

kwie2011, I was in two minds as well before doing it, but after losing a few favorite succulents before and finding to replace them were not as easy, since they may not be available when you want them. A healthy plant is much more easy to recover from chopping than a sick plant, so just have to do it while it is healthy, rather than regrets later when it becomes sick.

Sorry to hear about your Aeonium, but did you manage to strike new plants from the cuttings? Although I love Aeoniums too, I find Aeoniums tend to grow in all directions anyway and look very ungainly sometimes, LOL.

that Ben Badis is a beautiful plant, have never heard of that one around here!

breton2, yes, that's why I really don't want to lose it, and so off with its head, LOL.

Just dug up an old photo from 2014, a few months after buying 'Ben Badis', and comparing it to another beauty just bought at that time, E. 'Shamrock' (on the right). Actually my second 'Shamrock' as I could not help myself, having bought my first 'Shamrock' the year before. Lucky I did, as the following summer, the first 'Shamrock' perished in the over 100F summer days, leaving me with only this one. Then last summer it also suffered badly, now just slowly recovering. Another on my wishlist is E. 'Fabiola' which I haven't found yet.

A quick update. A month has passed since I started this post, so pleased with the progress of my E. 'Ben Badis' pups after the pruning. Count is 6 pups... One of the mother leaf was pushed upward by the growth of one of the pups behind it, LOL

One side...

The other side...

Bunnings, IKEA & Gardenworld? :)

Frank

The pups look very sturdy, nice to see so many. Both 'Ben Badis' and 'Shamrock' are great looking plants. Do you usually find them locally or have to mail-order?

Frank, thanks for all these photos, such good closeups too. To me, this shows just how tough succulents are and what they can withstand and still keep growing and producing babies. Oh the will to live...

Tamiya, haha, sharp eyes! Usually I buy from Bunnings (nearer to me, as they also carry the same stocks as Gardenworld), or the weekend cacti stall at the Vic Market, also buy from C & S show (which was on last Sat/Sun, but did not go this year).

Rina, now usually buy locally, only did mail-order once from interstate. Luckily there's a commercial grower operating a weekend stall at a market near me, so can search out more unusual/new succulents as they also import from overseas.

Barb, thanks, still not taking good photos, finding a lot of the succulent color washed out a lot compared to the real things, LOL.

Hiya Frank! haha yeah, our paths will cross eventually ;)

yep Bunnings & many other nurseries gets supplied by Paradisia, same mob who's behind GardenWorld Collectors Corner. GW does keep some rarer/better stuff behind their scene... worth the occasional ask when we're down there.

Andrew @ VicMkt was away crook last time we popped over back in Sept; hope he's back on his feet by now.

darned, forgot to check CSSA calendar lately :/