Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
malinawilliams

Save my plants/help me identify them

malinawilliams
9 years ago

Well.. I had a very long post written out on my phone but the browser crashed. In the shortest of terms, I am very frustrated and tired.

I feel like a lot of the problems I am having stem from the fact that the garden center from which I buy my plants cannot correctly identify them at all.
It started that I had an issue with over watering, and too much sun. One lithop got burnt, one was stuck on the side of the pot and did not receive enough sun.

All plants are in a very fast drying and draining soil, all in very well draining pots with holes in the bottom. They get watered very very VERY sparingly once a week, and live in the sun room with a decent amount of sunlight, but not as much as in my bedroom window where the lithop and what I think to be Echevarria were burned.
I am most concerned because frankly I have tried it all. It's either too much sun or not enough, overwatering.. or I guess just plain old simple mistakes.
I have put a lot of effort into saving these plants and would love to see them all thrive. I am just struggling.
The donkey tail and other very healthy looking plant are new and I don't want to lose them to my sheer lack of either knowledge or experience.
Any help or advice is much needed.

Comments (9)

  • jojosplants
    9 years ago

    Hi Malina,
    I don't know a lot of the plants by name, so hopefully someone who does will be along soon.

    I do want to ask what kind of soil are you using? you mentioned it drains fast, but does not look like it would. It looks to me like a very heavy soil. You may need to add perlite or some other coarse material to improve drainage.

    Also , most of the plants are in pots way too large for them. It should only be 1-2 " larger than the plant. When a pot is too large, it slows down the drying time in between watering and can lead to root rot.

    Others will be along with more help.

  • malinawilliams
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I can't say the brand. One is an organic soil that I bought online, the other is a Miracle Grow with fertilizer cactus mix that I bought from Lowes after an associate recommended it. They are both very.. light and airy. Almost dusty. I honestly never imagined they would dry as quickly as they do.
    I recently did transplant everything into the larger pots, mostly to separate my cacti from my succulents, as their lighting and watering requirements differ a lot more than I knew before.

    Thank you though. (: would I be able to use something like a gravel mix in? I'm not sure I can get perlite locally.

  • pirate_girl
    9 years ago

    No, sorry, the thing to use is perlite, which IS available at most big box stores. The dusty description you give of the mix tells us it's mostly peat which is bad for the succulents, very bad.

    I was going to suggest the same as above, even if if that's Cactus & Succulent mix (C&S for short) it still has too much peat, which dries out & becomes impossible to wet. Also agree about the pots being too big, if you can find small clay pots, even better.

    Unfortunately, the associates at big box stores know little if anything about the plants, just what they're told to sell.

    Almost all of us in this hobby have had this or similar experience & had to learn the hard way.

    Once you sort out the mix & pot size, things w/ these will get better, I promise. I'm sorry for all the frustration you've had thus far.

  • malinawilliams
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Oh my goodness, this makes me so upset. D; I read somewhere that a peat moss/perlite mixture was good, I never would have thought the peat moss would ba a bad thing. Thank you so much! I can only hope they can wait another day and a half as I now have a wedding tomorrow. But I will get this done. Thank you.

  • benateli
    9 years ago

    Yeah its a shame store employees usually don't know what they're talking about. Perlite is definitely the way to go.

    I may be able to help identify or at least point you in the right direction, but I'd need closer pictures if you'd be able to provide some.

  • DavidL.ca
    9 years ago

    Yup as a beginner, I learned from here that peat mix is definitely not good. The cactus/succulent mix I have doesn't seem to have too much peat, and I mix it 50/50 with perlite, repotted most of my succulents last week and so far they're doing well. You can see them here:

    Here is a link that might be useful: My succulents

  • jojosplants
    9 years ago

    Yes, they can wait a few days.
    Enjoy the wedding!

  • rosemariero
    9 years ago

    Jumping in & out of the forum today, so rushed response...

    Like some of what others have said: smaller pots, change your soil to better draining mix.
    Learn the needs of individual plants, once you know the names (for instance, Lithops have totally different care-search this forum for advice from more knowledgeable people than I).
    You will probably find you can give them more water than what you have been...but then, as you have them as houseplants (I would not recommend)...watering may have to be adjusted.

    Closer pix of plants would help to ID them. One pot at a time would be great.

    What I figure for IDs from this pic:

    Lg pot: 3 cactus ~1 is a Moon Cactus, Gymnocalycium mihanovichii grafted onto a stock cactus, need better pic for ID on other 2.
    Single cactus: could be Mammillaria, or possibly Parodia ~need better pic.
    Middle pot: possibly a stapeliad & Haworthia...better pic please.
    Sedum burrito & maybe an Echeveria
    A Sempervivum or Orostachys
    Maybe Sedum nussbaumerianum (the 2 leaf start-yellow)
    3 Lithops
    Echeveria 'Topsy Turvy'

    I'll be back to see if more pix uploaded. =)

  • hampshire_uk
    9 years ago

    When you say you water them very sparingly, do you mean not very often, or just once a week with not much water?

    If it's the second one that could be your problem. Succulents and cacti need to be properly watered so that all the soil and roots get a good drenching, then they should be left and not watered again until all the soil has had time to dry.

    If you only use a small amount of water you're going to have problems.