Not sure if absoute necessary, but I usually wait...at least until flowers start drying up. If plant that bloomed numerous times, or I really don't care much, I would behead...

Thanks, Rina. I’ll wait. Must get a bigger rock!

Socks,

You likely know this, you behead it high on the stem, pluck the leaves from the cutting to get a stem to start rooting with, get more plants from the individual leaves, and also have a ready-made plant in the pot that will have multiple heads. What a nice specimen it is and will be.

Chop it. With the stage the flowers are at, there's a high chance they stay at the developmental stage they're at and resume growing once the rosette has rerooted. And honestly, that plant is the picture of vitality and I would not be surprised if you chopped it and saw the flowers continue to develop normally, even while it is rerooting.

If left alone, it could be a nice, leaning specimen with multiple branches.

That was 4 yrs ago. I have removed many branches from it over the years since then.

This was March, 2021.

To answer your question, it won't cause the flowers to abort or affect them in any meaningful way, IMO.

Thank you all for the advice. In case you can't tell, I'm itching to do it, tired of seeing that beauty leaning over.

@cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5 I didn't think to cut it up high and remove those tired leaves, but that is good advice and I'll do it.

@John (Zone 5b/6a, IN) OK! I'll chop!

@Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL Your plants look lovely, and I'm charmed by the animals, cars, etc. Thanks for the ideas. My plant has just gone too far!

Thanks & happy to suggest. What you prefer to see would affect your decision.

Looks great! Do you keep your stumps or toss them out?

There were no stumps. All the stem was either left in the pot or on the plant. The cuts dried quickly as it is warm and dry here in California. I’ll give it a few more days before potting.

socks

I leave stumps (leftover stem with roots, potted) in the pot & they very often grow offsets. It may or may not work with your plant - I don't have it & don't know. But it works wih many; like this frilly echeveria (original from Howard; was really big & bloomed many times. I had 3 large rocks for the counterweight, lol). They are much biger now & I removed & poted couple of them...faster to get new plants than growing from the leaves. I would do both...

If it doesn't work, stump could be disposed of later...

ETA: I just took a photo (sorry, it's dark!). Here are 3 offsets left on the original stem:

There were 2 more (already removed & potted separately) + beheaded plant/top...I didn't try the leaves.

Yes, I put the pot with the stump back in its usual place, so we'll see. I'd be delighted to have the same success as you did with the frilly echie. Fun! Beautiful plant that frilly. I've always wondered how plants on the side of a stump are removed, if you remove part of the big stump or just go for the stump of the "baby."

I saved the leaves, but to be honest, I don't have a lot of patience with leaves. Not sure if the leaves I picked off will grow; they were firm and plump but old.

PS Is that echeveria "shaviana?"

Socks’ stump speech was looked forward to by many.

LOL!

The key to growing these leaves is to remove them from the trunk intact.

I'd bet a stump like that will give you tons of pups. Usually I have a lot better luck growing leaves more quickly under lights. Direct sun is too strong for the leaves and they grow so slowly in any sort of partial shade for me.

The one that Rina posted looks like an Echeveria "neon breakers" I used to have. But a lot of the frilly ones blend together for me so... I'm probably off the mark.

John

I don't think it is neon breakers (I have that one too). Neon breakers has slightly different leaves: older leaves tend to be longer & bigger; and they are slightly different shape.

I had 5 pups that grew from the stem after beheadng; also I had removed 1 smaller pup from the stem prior to beheading (it was maller when removed; photo below)...so together, from 1 original plant, I ended up with 7 (that includes beheaded top). I didn't grow any from the leaves because I had plenty...

I behead many succulents. Posted few threads (click to go to the posts) on this subject in the past, with photos...and many other members posted photos of beheading their plants.

Sittin’ pretty now.

socks

looks great

It does!