Thursday, November 25, 2010
Echeveria 'Mauna Loa'
Another one of those fantastic, frilly-leaved Echeverias. We weren't sure the name was correct when we first got this plant, but it appears to be correct: Echeveria 'Mauna Loa'. And wow, what a show!
Unfortunately, most of the fancy Echeverias, being hybrids, don't come true from seed. We use both leaf cuttings and top cuttings to produce our plants, depending on the species. The following is a tray of leaf cuttings of Echeveria gibbiflora 'Decora'.
Enjoy your plants.
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I notice you use a lot of pumice in your mix - what else is in it? (If it's not too cheeky, that is?)
ReplyDeleteNot cheeky at all! :) Yes, we use at least 50% coarse pumice by volume, sometimes more. The other ingredient is more controversial among growers of succulent plants. We use a peat based commercial mix made by Sunshine (#4) which includes an ingredient to counter the tendency of peat to resist water once it gets dry. It also has added drainage. I talk about this a little more at http://www.karacactus.com/growingsucculents01.htm.
ReplyDeleteThanks Luther - I use Sunshine mix #4, pretty much for everything. Its only drawback for me is later in the fall after lots of rain for my hardy succulents such as Sempervivum - they don't like being waterlogged then frozen, so I'm hoping all is well - I won't know until spring!
ReplyDeleteI used to work at a hardy shrub nursery and do all the propagating, and the owner swore by pumice in all the propagation mixes - all made by hand and customized to each crop - what a lot of work, but it paid off and I learned a lot!
I would agree that pumice is an extremely valuable ingredient, especially with succulent plants. And we've had good results using Sunshine #4 as a base. But with Semps and Sedums, which we plant out in raised beds year 'round, we use a pretty coarse, barkdust based medium and don't do much else except let 'em grow!
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