Echeveria Perle von Nurnberg - from 2 leaves:

Echeveria 'Black Prince':

Another E. Perle van Nurnberg - from 1 leaf:

This post was edited by rina_ on Mon, Feb 25, 13 at 17:52

Rina, you are doing so well... I'm impressed. My Echeveria nursery never looked as good as yours! Keep up the good growing.

Howard

Rina,
Do tell what species you are propagating in the first picture. It looks so plump and happy.

Howard

Thank you for the complimet.
I like E. Perle v.N. - leaves are such nice color.

Julie

I am not sure about proper ID's, I may have to wait until they grow enough to flower...
Outlined in red is - I think - Pachyphytum oviferum: the leaves are very chubby/plump and rounded.
Outlined in blue may be Grapto-something...leaves are plump but not as much as P.oviferum, just slightly longer & have very slight point.
The new growth looks very same to me righ now, I am thinking that they are just too small to see the difference.
Rosemarie & Howard tried to help with ID on this thread:

see here

I should keep better record of what I am doing!
At lower right is gollum growing really nice.
These were all started very end of July 2012.
On top left is small arm broken off Huernia zebrina.
Rina

This post was edited by rina_ on Mon, Feb 25, 13 at 21:29

Great job, Rina! Thanks for mentioning me, and you're right about Howard and Rian, but there are many other amazing growers here who've been around a lot longer than I have. I learned much of what I know from the good people on this forum who were kind enough to share their knowledge and enthusiasm. Too many to name.

I love starting plants from leaves. It's a great way to clone a plant (especially rare ones) for back-up or to share. It's lots of fun to watch them develop. I've gone through lots of trials with them and I have a method I like now.
A few years ago I saw a local cactus man growing them in shallow trays and I've been doing that since then. The main problem I had was keeping the trays outside; when it would rain many leaves would rot. Now I keep them in the greenhouse but since I don't want them to occupy table space, I found a nice place for them on top of my dirt bucket. It's already getting too bright again and by April the trays will need some kind of shade apparatus.
{{gwi:492639}}
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When plants are ready I just pull them out and group them in small pots. I do this about every 4-5 weeks.
{{gwi:492642}}

Ryan

I am sure there are many I should have named - could not think of the names at the moment. I am member of GW since Feb. 2012 and started 'hoarding' succulents then. I read everything & hope to retain as much as possible.

You have so many different leaves in those trays, how do you remember their names?
I think they grow faster for you too (must be your location). I just recently potted-up most of them (that would be about 4-41/2 mo after starting) thinking they may be big enough for their own pots - here are few approx. month ago still in their original container.

Rina

This post was edited by rina_ on Mon, Feb 25, 13 at 21:52

I don't pull them out of the tray (usually) until the leaf is fully absorbed. About the names, I really only propagate really interesting plants (to me) these days so I'm pretty aware of what I've put in there. It's pretty obvious what they are once they grow out a bit. After a while the latin names become more and more familiar, then it will be too much and you'll start forgetting stuff. Then, if you keep cramming in the Latin, eventually it will settle comfortably and you'll be able to throw out names conversationally. You might even start pronouncing them correctly! (speaking with plant masters personally helps with this, or you could probably look it up) For example: C is always a hard C (K). So Cephalophyllum is pronounced Kephalophyllum. I just learned that last week.

Another thing, it's not hoarding unless it becomes unhealthy. Handling plants is very zen for me and caring for them feeds my nurturing side. All of it feeds and invigorates my mind and gives me an outlet with which to express myself since art and music are usually too time consuming and self-engrossing for balancing with family duties. Plants provide all of this for me daily. I consider myself a grower, not a collector and while they are my babies, they are also my troops. The difference between a troop and a hoard, IMO, is purpose and organization. That's probably debatable.
Anyway, that's just my perspective but I'm a huge enabler!

Another thing to add, Haworthia and Gasteria leaves need a shadier place to start; they take more time and care. I have a few Haworthia emelyae clones that I was able to start from one leaf but it took about 1 year.

Okay so every time I post a pic of my plants a substrate nazi comes out and tells me the world will end if I don't repot ASAP it seems.

Looking at the above pics, succulents could be planted in a straight gravel substrate? Would it be even better with a bit of orchid bark and perhaps some bone meal/other nutritious material mixed in with it?

Sorry to be off topic but its repotting season and I have read sooooooo many different accounts on the subject.

We have such people here? I would have run them off, or at least tried to, if they attempted to act as you describe.

Here are the two rules, or three if you count correctly.

1) It's what works for you - you have to cater to your environment
2) It's what's available to you
3) Succulents need water at some times, they don't at others. Contrary to popular supposition, very few are 'desert' plants - they're xeric or mesic. Yes, they can be started in a straight gravel substrate, but a little more attention needs to be paid to them there, as there's nothing to nurture them.

And Rina, I meant to add, it's a great job you're doing there. I should send you some leaves of some rarer plants for you to make thousands of!

This post was edited by cactusmcharris on Wed, Mar 6, 13 at 14:59

bsmith

In case you are looking at pics I posted, most of my plants are in mix known here as gritty mix. Some are in 5-1-1. I use small gravel (the white is chicken grit, but I have some with aquarium gravel, and some with pea gravel) as top dressing. It helps me to keep newly planted cutting/leves/repotted plants firmly in the pot (sometimes I use rocks-if plant needs more support).

You can see soil mix much better in Ryan's (hanzrobo) photos.

Jeff

Thank you for the compliment - I am learning, thanks to all of you here willing to share your knowledge; and anything rarer (seeds-leaves-cuttings) - just send my way...(you recognize the little "chubbies", and the photo-right?)
Rina

This post was edited by rina_ on Thu, Mar 7, 13 at 1:19

Pretty Aeonium, Rina. Really pretty. Have an ID on it?

I also put some leaves down at the beginning of this winter, and here they are.

and more, some are cuttings, not just leaves

two crassula ovata leaves

I do not know the IDs for most of them, kindly let me know if you know them? Very happy they did grow from the leaves - for the most part our winter is cold and snowy this year - and also confirmed that crassula ovata is actually winter grower- as I see my crassula ovata grows a lot this winter.

Colleen

I am not sure about ID (maybe somebody will chime in); here it is potted after received by mail in June 2012:

Rina

Have an ID on it? I'm shocked that I didn't send you one - positively callous I can be. That looks like the Succulent Sendoff favourite Aeonium balsamiferum, one of a few that grow well here (it helps to be closest to the window, I'm sure). I'm going to allocate a cutting to you tomorrow!

Confession:

Jeff,
I did have it marked as B/ balsamiferum, but could not remember if that was the ID included (on yellow stickie), or I was dreaming - after misplacing/mixing up few name tags.
When I was checking on web, I found it on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and described as
"Very rare & almost extinct in its native habitat" - I didn't think I had it right.
Me bad, paying more attention now. Rina

Oh, yeah, shooting it from the top makes it clearer. I thought it looked to me like A. balsamiferum, which I've never seen and anticipate being awesome (I do remember Jeff has one, though!). Would love one of those guys one day. I hear the scent is quite nice.

Colleen,

The scent is quite nice, particularly on a warm summer day when the rosette's contracted a bit and its balsam wafts into your face as you snort it up. It's an odd plant - in the same pot I have one plant that goes mostly dormant and another that stays in non-contracted rosette shape, as green as ever.

Rina,

I can send another package this year, but you'll have to remind me what you got the last time. I should have some other things then. I didn't know about its rarity - in San Diego I saw it in flower only once (at Balboa Park).