I see a top-dressing gravel. On your other thread -here- you mentioned that your soil is mixed with tiny rocks since gravel is not available - is this white grit 'tiny rocks' you meant?

Maybe just a bit larger, but looks very much like chicken grit I use:

Yes Rina, it's the same kind I use with the soil. Mine look more like aquarium rocks, the bag says it's dolomitic grit "for gardening and decorative purposes". I bought it after you posted a picture of your topsy turvy, since it was the closest I could find!

It definitely needs more light than it's getting, is there any way you could transition it to a spot that gets direct sun for a couple hours a day?

Yes, I could put it on my balcony. Really strong sunlight all day long but especially so in the morning. Would that be good?

Yes, but as elucas said above, the key is transition, otherwise your plant will get burned. You can try place it in the part of balcony that get most shades from direct sunlight for first few days, then gradually moving it to somewhere brighter.

Ps. do you have ID for your plant? I have one that I think looks like yours. I don't have its most recent picture in its own pot, but this pic below was from before.

I don't, but yup they're the same, judging by your plant's blossom! What a beautiful plant, congratulations!

There's no shade in my balcony, so I'll try leaving it a bit closer to outside every day, while checking for burns.

I think you have two problems: too much water and not enough light.

1. Too much water

Roots breathe and need oxygen. Even with the rocks in it, your potting medium retains too much water for too long, and it packs down so there aren't enough spaces for gas exchange. Watering it weekly compounds the problem. When roots can't get enough oxygen, leaves yellow and die. The problem begins with the oldest leaves first and progresses to eventually affect all leaves and stems (if rot doesn't kill it first). The roots die of suffocation, so they can't draw up water, and consequently the leaves shrivel as if the plant is thirsty, so it's easy to mistake too much water for not enough water. Meanwhile, in an attempt to save itself, plants will often put out aerial roots and/or offsets that might take root in healthier soil. It's a survival mechanism that works in the wild, but not in a pot. I'm not sure what kind of Echeveria that is, or if it's a hybrid, or whether those are inflorescences or stolons. If it's been doing that for months, they aren't inflorescenses.

2. Echeveria require more light than they can normally get without some direct sunlight. Without enough light, they appear to grow fast because they stretch to reach more sunlight. Too much fertilizer (nitrogen, specifically) will also do this.

Plants (especially succulents) must be watered according to their needs rather than a schedule. They need more (and can tolerate more) during active growth, and need much less when they're dormant, which is usually midwinter and during the heat of summer for most succulents. Between waterings, the soil needs to be ALMOST completely dry. That pit is large and deep, so it retains water longer than a small or shallow pot. The gravel you use on top of your soil further aggravates the condition by diminishing gas exchange and evaporation. Topdressing is good on a very porous mix like pumice or Al's Gritty Mix, but not on a water-retentive mix of 1:1 soil and gravel. I'd move it to a pot less than half that size so the soil dries faster, remove the topdressing, and only water when the soil is almost completely dry.

Light- slowly acclimate it to at least 3 or 4 hours of direct sun daily, and the rest of the day in very bright shade (outdoor shade). More direct sun would be better. If you acclimate it by about an hour every few days, it probably won't burn.

Kwie, thanks for the reference. I did asked for ID help on my plant a while ago, and a member suggested the site. The closest ID we got is a hybrid with Graptopetalum filiferum in it.

You said:

"I water her by placing the pot inside a bowl with water hitting 2/3 the height of the pot every weekend, and between these I water directly over the soil (not over the stem or leaves) once a week."

So you water twice a week? That sounds like too much to me, especially if it's in a peat-based soil mix.

Ooh, okay, I'll answer it by topic/issue:

Species/ID: when I bought it the stand simply advertised "Echeverias", but there were many different plants so I am not very surprised.....

Watering: I only started watering it more often because the stretch marks reappeared, I used to water it every two weeks approx.. It's not dormant if it's growing everywhere, right? But I didn't know about the summer dormancy so I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Soil: hmmmm, I'm not sure what I can do about that. As I've said grit can't be found around here and specialized succulent mixes aren't available either (though I'll try to look in specialized stores again). I never fertilize them either. Should I try using more rocks in the mix instead?

Pot: I'll change it to a shallower pot and take out the topdressing, then!

Honestly -this is a little rant and maybe unrelated-, it seems to me that people just buy their succulents in Wal-Mart and their plants grow healthy and perfect without them ever changing the soil or pot, while I struggle with mine all the time.

Sometimes it's better to leave a plant in the small growers pot from the store than to put it in your own pot and soil if your pot is too big, or your soil is too water-retentive. That's probably why you have seen people doing that and having fewer problems. However, plants can't grow in the little pot forever, so eventually those people will have to repot, and they'll face similar issues to yours.

I don't think you need to add more grit to your mix, but I do think you need a shallower and probably a smaller pot. You want your mix to dry out within just a few days of watering it. Many of us use pots that are only a few inches deep. I like Bonsai training pots for succulents. They have good drainage, and they are very shallow which helps gas exchange and drying time. With enough experience, your medium becomes less important because you compensate other ways. I have succulents growing well in straight peat, but that's because the pots are very small and shallow. Conversely, in plants with very well-draining or fast-drying mixes, the pot woukd need to be larger and deeper to keep it from drying out too fast.

If you tend to want to baby your plants to death, a gritty type mix might work better for you. Pumice works well alone for many growers. Because dolomite is very high in magnesium and calcium, I don't know whether it is a good substitute for other grit. It might even be contributing to your problems. Plants need magnesium and calcium, but only in very small amounts. I don't know enough about the physiology of mineral uptake in plants, but it seems plausible that high magnesium and/or calcium concentrations could interfere with water uptake. The more I think about it, the more I feel sure of it. Can you post exactly what the bag says about the contents? Does it say anywhere what the magnesium, calcium, or other mineral content is?

Try eBay for Bonsai mixes or Bonsai mix ingredients. Brazil will have Bonsai growers, and they get their soil compones ts from somewhere.

I've been trying to find information on the effect of too much calcium or magnesium. I can't find specifics on excesses of those minerals, but I find a lot of information about how dolomite raises the pH of growing mix, and high pH inhibits many functions.

I really have no idea how much calcium or magnesium leach from the gravel into your mix. If it's a lot, it's a serious problem and will eventually kill the plant. If it's just a small amount, it's fine. The trouble is that we don't know. I don't think any amount of guesswork is going to be worth beans until that issues is eliminated.

my suggestions are:

Either buy or make a properly formulated gritty mix and use the same pot, or use a peat-based soil in a smaller and much shallower pot like a Bonsai pot. And get it more light.

You should be able to buy gritty type mixes or the components to make them on eBay. Look for Bonsai grower's soil components. They use the same I gradients. Straight 1/4" to 1/16" pumice will also work. If you use an inorganic gritty mix, you will need a complete fertilizer that already contains calcium and magnesium (ironic, huh?) or you'll need to add those ingredients to your mix yourself. Foliage Pro is one fertilizer sold in the US that has those.

If interested, read this post explaining fertilization of container-grown plants: -click here-

Hi R,

Do you speak Portuguese? 'Cause I do: roughly translating for the Americans on here:

Stones/Little Rocks

Uses:

Finishing,

Decorating,

Drainage,

Gardening &

Walkways

Seeing as how my childhood Portuguese is limited, I consulted Google translate

for the following terms:

Pumice = pedra-pomes

Chicken grit = grão de galinha

R, from here, it looks like the little stones aren't mixed in, rather it looks like pure peat that may even be hardened off now & therefore water-repellent.

Pls understand (I looked at the other thread to see the soil) when we say the soil looks wet, & water retentive, it's not so much the soil's color, but the texture, that it's so fine, such small particles are problematic. Whatever you think you've got mixed in isn't anywhere near enough. Look at pix around here from some of the regulars, the mix is very coarse in texture. Will try to provide a pic or 2 later.

HTH = hope this helps.

Lena/Karen

R, where in Brazil are you? I'm also in Brazil, but in a part where the humidity is low (30-40ish %) and I like/need a little more water retention with my potting mix (I water roughly 1-2 times a week). Mostly I use small gravel and orchid bark/mix (crushed to be about the same size with the gravel).

Here are examples of my current mixes, and it's working for my plants so far. I mix them all and don't use top dressing.

Mix 1 consists of aquarium gravel, orchid bark, and soil (about 2:2:1 ratio)

Mix 2 consists of orchid mix and smaller gravel than in mix 1 (about 1:2 ratio)

kwie2011 - Thank you for your advice! I'm sorry but the bag doesn't have a detailed formula. I just never know when to change the soil or leave it; the last one I decided to leave in its original soil died suddenly 2 weeks after being bought, in a spam of 6 hours it was completely rotten... I guess I'll just have to keep trying until I learn the trick of it.

Lena/Karen - Yes, it's my first language and I did the translating as well, but neither are common in here; pumice is found but not for gardening purposes, and I've never heard anyone mention chicken grit, much less sell it.

chuckerfly - I'm in SP state, with low humidity as well. The aquarium gravel I use is so different from yours, so I'll try to find something similar in pet shops... Do you remember where you found it, and (can we switch to PT?) como era chamado na embalagem? So I can know exactly what to ask for. Orchid bark/mix is fairly easy to find, so that's good.

For now I'll be gathering the stuff for my new mix, then repotting it into a shallower container and easing it into more sunlight. Thanks!!

R, me desculpa [pls forgive me],

I hadn't seen where you had mentioned translated components 'til after I translated, only later did I see the Granular Dolomite comment, sorry to repeat what you said.

Your English is soooooo good I didn't think you were Brazilian.

Did you just put the whole thing w/ the original rootball into the mix you're saying is 1/1 soil/grit?

If so, that's why it's not drinking, that rootball is hard to the touch, isn't it? The Peat has become so very dry as to actually repel water now. That's why you have to soak it. Ultimately, ALL that mix needs to come off completely as it's suffocating the roots & keeping the plant so thirsty (as Kwie said) -- those 'stretch' marks are thirst.

May I pls. ask your name?

My name is Karen, but I also go by Lena. Eu so Americana que cresceu no Rio, Carioca, Nova Yorkena; muito prazer. [I'm an American who grew up in Rio, pleased to meet you.]

If you can find pumice, doesn't matter if it's not for gardening as long as it has no chemicals on it & is on the small side (1/2 cm or so).

OR, can't tell if you're in SP (City, not State), if not & you're in any more rural areas, can you contact any poultry farms for chicken grit?

In US, from all I read here more than 10 yrs., we don't use Orchids bark for Succulents, we use that more for tropicals & holidays cacti types.

As to your rant, most of us have experienced some of that. Succulents I've left in original mix from Big Box stores like Home Depot die off w/in a month or 2, I've tried it several times too. I'm sure many of us remember how frustrating that is.

R, muito prazer! Desculpe, mas eu não falo bem português porque não sou brasileira.. ;) [Pleased to meet you. I'm sorry, but I don't speak portuguese well because I'm not Brazilian]

I got the aquarium gravel, the white bits in my first mix, similar to yours I think, from Leroy. The orchid mix and the smaller reddish gravel I bought from a nursery/garden center in Taguatinga, whose name I forgot at the moment. I'll see if I can get a photo of the packaging later for you when I get home.

Karen - no problem at all, and thank you (your Portuguese is fine, by the way) ! I cleaned the rootball before repotting, but it's been a while so I'm not sure if it's hard and dry again, I'll try to prepare the new mix before taking it out. Both pumice and chicken grit aren't available, really (pumice isonly sold as the cosmestic exfoliator, and nobody feeds their poultry with grit), so I'll just keep trying the other options... My name's Raisa!

chuckerfly - Sorry about the sudden Portuguese in there, I just couldn't think of a way to phrase my question and my phone was nearly out of battery. I can definitely work with that, thank you!

R, no worries.. I'm still learning portuguese and definitely not fluent yet, but I hope someday I will be.. :)

As promised, these are the ingredients for my current mix, orchid mix and decorative gravel (basically I just use what is available):