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peterroehrich

Is this Gasteria?

8 years ago
Hi everybody. I think this succulent is Gasteria, but I'm not certain. What do you think?

Comments (11)

  • 8 years ago

    How much light is it getting? Water? How long have you had it planted in those river rocks?

  • 8 years ago
    I water it about once every 10 days or two weeks. It gets indirect light for about 6 or 8 hours per day. I've had it about two years.
  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Which direction does the window face that its next to and how far away from the window is it?

    Can you show a picture of the whole plant/pot? I'm really confused by the photo above. Has it been potted this way the full two years? Has it always been in the same position?

  • 8 years ago
    I'm really just wondering whether it's Gasteria. I'm fine with the way the plant is growing; is it exhibiting a problem I haven't noticed?
  • 8 years ago

    It is showing elongated growth. I'm trying to figure out why.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Sharp close-up would help to make sure of ID. I think it is Gasteria; could be Gastrolea. Looks quite light in color, but there are many sp and hybrids available. (G. 'Blue Ox' , for example, has light, smooth leaves with darker margins-expensive from what I have seen). It may or may not be getting enough light, depending on which one it is. Some grow long leaves - here are couple of mine; 7 1/4" and 6" long leaves respectively:

  • 8 years ago

    Hi Peter. It looks like a Gasteria to me, and it looks like it's in pretty good health. It is hard to tell more from the photo. Looks partially like a Lime Warty (but without the "warty" parts) and a little like a verracosa (probably didn't spell that right). Maybe the "warty" parts don't show up well in that photo.

    I disagree that it is showing etiolated growth. It may not be vigorous growth, but the leaves seem to be normally shaped and well shaped, and I say that as someone who owns about a dozen Gasteria. For what it's worth, I have been experimenting with some advice from Stush on the Sansevieria forum. He described adding alfalfa tablets and potassium tablets to his water for Sans. (You can find his specific post by just typing in "Sansevieria, alfalfa, potassium" to the search box above.) I have successfully used this mix on Sans. Last year, I tried the watering mix on a couple of Gasteria too -- and the results were fantastic. Lots of growth and many new pups. I'm going to try it again in the spring this year.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    The newest leaf is stretching and not following the same growth pattern as the older leaves (it's almost twice the length of the previous leaf). It could be due to lack of light and too much water or enough light but not enough water.

    If you look at the longest leaf, you can see it was growing under better conditions then something changed and now it's thinner and more stretched. Gasteria leaves are not supposed to get slimmer towards the base of the plant.

  • 8 years ago

    I too think Gasteria, no idea which. I also questioned etiolation at first, so I really looked at the pic again & sort of see some of what Lati described (was going to ask, but she/he said).

    What kind of container are they in? I can't tell what's in the upper part of the pic, reflection off plastic, or water, or glass? What kind of drainage pls.? A hole under something, somewhere? What kind of soil is that under the rocks there pls?

    Here's one of mine, G distichia.

    Top of this Gasteria is 6" from the top of soil. The leaf from which I started it was close to 9" long. Same plant below, other side.


    In my experience Gasteria leaf length is quite variable, as is size, which I hadn't known until I saw a very large one (Gee, I see that looks thirsty), but that's the natural light it gets.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Yes, it is a gasteria hybrid of some kind.

    Most gasterias are shade-loving and it takes a lot to etiolate them. The quickest way to make them unhappy and stop growing is to put them in direct sun. There are quite a few long-leaved varieties and it may be that it is now reaching it's full growth potential: seedlings and offsets often look quite different to adult plants. Some leaves lengthen and some go from being fan-shaped to growing in rosettes. Sometimes the leaves go from being flat to being triangular