Echeveria

What a cool variety of plants. Ive always been interested in the Echeveria and last year saw a particularly nice one that I purchased.

Kept it outside last year in its own container and brought it in at the end of the season as I didn't want to lose it. A few years ago, I had another that I wanted to preserve so I saved plugs that I potted up and kept under lights in the basement. The patients all died. Haven't been able to figure out what I did wrong - well maybe I have, but that's another story.

So I decided to keep last year's purchase in it's own container in a front window that faces east. Not a lot of sun but hopefully enough. Over the winter, the plant got leggy and when Spring arrived, I rushed it outside. Kept it in the shade and gradually introduced it to full sun. It is still long and leggy and with all of the rain that we have been receiving, some of the stems are too heavy and have fallen over. What to do?

I dug out a couple of books and started to research the plant. It can be propagated by offsets and leaf cuttings. A colleague also suggested that they could be overwintered by making a small plug of the parent rosette. So I've tried two approaches. I took several leaves that I have laying on a bed of half sand/half potting soil. I've also taken a plug of the parent rosette, removed some of the leaves and potted it up too. I let them dry/callous for 24 hours (the book suggested 48, but 24 should do) and then I potted them. They are sitting in the shade on the deck and I am hoping for success. They will be misted from time to time and I'm told that roots should start to form by two weeks.

I'll keep you posted on the results.