WOW!!! Love them heads!

...and now what? Will the necks sprout multiple heads? Will the heads root easily?
Jim

para -
thanks for sharing this photo. i had an ech that became unruly. i had wondered about decapitating it. i felt certain the head would root...but what to expect from the trunk? am i correct in assuming that since you have not tossed the trunks you expect more heads from them? tia
jo

Jim, yes to both questions, the old heads should root easily this time of year, and I do hope for babies. I was scared to do this last year when Jon D recommended it, and had to use the large rocks you can see in the pots to prop up the long bending necks supporting ten pounds or more of very thick leafed plant. I thought the heads were going to self-decapitate anyway just from their ungainly mass and the irrisistable force of gravity.

Jo, I hoped posting this would encourage others. Occasional beheading helps keep thick compact stems making large leaves, and often stimulates the production of new plants. I started many other smaller echeverias, graptopetalums, and aeoniums offsets with great success last year, so I was finally brave enough to take the knife to these spectacular large echeverias.

I left 4-5 inches of stem beneath the leaves. The heads spent one week sitting in empty pots waiting for the stems to callous. Then the stem was dipped in fungacide/rooting hormone powder, and potted up in a very high drainage mix a couple of weeks ago. The trunks should produce offsets post-beheading. Some of my echeverias do that without beheading, as you can see on the stalk left behind after 'afterglow's chop job. The carunculated mt. etnas hace not produced any offsets in three years, so I am hopeful that beheading will produce some babies. 'Afterglow' is the blue plant. The deep red crenelated one to the rear is still unidentified. It was a deep brown color until quite recently.

From my experience, the stems will put out a number of heads which you can detach and root once they reach a suitable size. With some, you may get a second crop of heads from the stem before it withers and dies.
This is the only way to easily propagate many of the fancy hybrids. I have never had success with leaf cuttings from many of them. It is also possible to let a flower stalk grow (I usually break them off early to keep the foliage strong) and root portions of it. Many of the portions will simply grow flowers but some will grow new heads which can be detached and rooted.

Seems you were more than patient with the swine. I'm sure gasps and mumblings could be heard by all witnessing the carnage.

Now let this be a lesson to everyone...and careful with that axe Eugene!

Sorry, I couldn't help slipping in the Pink Floyd reference...comes to mind every time I butcher a plant!!
Gil

Well, with heads like that no wonder they got the chop ;)

Sorry but I find them repulsive,like purple wrinkly cabbages!

Ah, beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder!

Para,
Over a year ago I had a forced beheading to deal with. A painter stumbled into a 10 in. potted Dudleya brittonii and broke the stem about an inch above ground level. I finished the beheading and planted the large rosette. It responded better then I had hoped. Once rooted it took off and is now about 14 inches and stunning. The bonus was that the little stem left behind produced six new heads and I left them attached. They are all the same size, about 2 inches and are just perfect. I find myself staring at them often. Sometimes a disaster is really an opportunity. Good luck with the young ones.
Dennis

Thanks for a smile at the beginning of the day. Last year I beheaded an Aeonium decorum that was bigger than a dinner plate (because I always took off its pups) and I was afraid that it would die, but it did take root and is still going strong. It must be at least 3 or 4 years old. Does beheading stave off blooming, which I know spells the end for a single-headed aeonium?

Cool looking plants!!

Dawn

This is something I posted a while back, the rosettes on the stem are about double now and the original head has rooted through the bottom of its pot (the plant in the pic is in a 1.5" pot)

Here is a link that might be useful: Old post