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My Hens and Chicks Plants

46K views 182 replies 34 participants last post by  samee 
#1 ·
Where the heck is the section for plants but non aquatic? Oh wait, there isnt :mad:

Well I decided photo section would be the most appropriate :)

So, Ive been in the aquatic plants/scaping for a few years now, into aquariums ever since I was a kid and recently into plants. I got all these interests from my parents. Theyve been keeping non aquatic plants their whole life and my dad was into aquariums. He built his own and kept fishes. As a child, I kept red eared sliders. All the way up to maybe when I was 15. After that I just started keeping fish. I had a 25 gal tall. After a little while my dads friend gave us many anubius and crypts. Our whole tank was filled with these beautiful plants. After that, I bought ghost and amano shrimps. For the first time in my life I had living shrimps!!!! After that things picked up. Fish just got kinda boring. I had the usual community fishes. I used to look at the planted tanks online and used to drool. The foreground plants, red plants, so awsome!!! So I ended up going DIY high tech. hmm, perhaps I should end the story here and make another thread in the planted tank journals, because its quiet a story.

Ill skip to non aquatic plants for now. So recently, I became interested in growing good looking, normal, easy to grow plants. So I ended up ordering a few different types of seeds from Africa. It was so darn cheap that it wouldnt hurt trying. Its funny actually. I was searching for one of the aquatic plants on google and typed "lobelia". Because I had the cardinalis but didnt know the last name. What I saw on google images was the most beautiful plant Ive seen so far (I think). It was amazing, fell in love with it. It was a Lobelia Deckenii. Its still my dream plant to grow. The seeds come very rarely and usually only avail. from a few sites thru out the world. So I got seeds for Lobelia Gibberoa and a few others. I read the instructions and gave it a shot. They sprouted to beautiful little leafs. But they all eventually died. I recently gave up. I tried growing succulents from seeds too but its just too hard. I had a closed glass bottle with soil and a little moisture. Its just not good enough.

Sooo I moved away from seeds and wanted to try growing from clippings or something. I was at a walmart and saw a really nice bonsai for $7. Grabbed it. I mist it everyday and water it once a week. Its doing well, its flowering too! Im interested in succulents since they are easy to keep. Dry conditions and little maintenance. Hens and Chicks, or Sempervivum got my eye. These beautiful plants not only are drought tolerant, they have many different colourful varieties and they propagate in an interesting way.

Recently, after searching ever single nursery in US and sites around the globe (to the most part), I finally found a nursery in US that was really well priced. Im not interested in Hens, because they are expensive. I wanted to try the chicks and grow them up. Itl be so much more rewarding and if I end up killing them, I wont feel too bad. I bought about 25 chicks of many different variety. I dont know the variety names. It took me maybe 2 hours to set these guys up.

I have the succulent soil mix along with gravel. 3/4 of the pots are filled with soil. Then a short layer of gravel. Then an inch thick layer of soil and as the ground cover, more gravel. I really dont want to over water them or have root rot from too much water. Ive already killed a succulent this way before.

So, here are the images.

My Bonsai

Another tropical plant I have, dont know the name


Note I ran out of gravel, thats why the long brown pot is boring. Im still searching for nice glass shallow containers to keep these hens in. They need almost no soil and are used in rock gardens. Which is what I want to do.


















These macro pics show most of the varieties, there are more different ones in the brown container.
 
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#154 ·
Very nice Kehy. I prefer if people share their cacti and succulents here. Those look like semp, they love sun, heat and cold. Water might be a problem but they are hardy. Winter + water is a problem but you seem to be growing them well.
 
#155 ·
Time for an update
-----------------------
Hi guys, Ive had many seedums, tropical plants, bonsai, vegetables and aquatic plants flower, but Ive never had anything that had big flowers....until now!!! Im so happy, Ive been waiting for my echinopsis to flower. Now someone can finally ID it. I just love how big the flowers are. I also love the zebra flower as its the most interesting looking flower yet. The aloe is on its way as well. This aloe lost a few of its bottom leaves during this past winter. They just dried out, I dont know if I didnt water it enough or I shouldve misted it.







 
#156 ·
Samee, there are so many hybrids of Echinopsis that it is almost impossible to give a correct ID of which one you have. You may have a species, but I can't tell. No information from the person/place you got the plant?
 
#157 ·
Hey, no the person I bought it from didnt know. He had like 30 pots of the same cactus, some where huge. He was telling me his grew a few inches every year, which is crazy. Im assuming he waters them every other day or something, because thats crazy fast growth. Mine which flowered has not grown much at all, and its in direct sunlight, gets slow release ferts and water once a week. The smaller pup I got from him has not grown much either, but its giving out 3 small pups.
 
#159 ·
Samee

Do you rotate your pots so the plant gets even exposure from the sun. Don't want to see your plants lean. It looks like a few in your Sept 27 photo are leaning.

I do have a photo of my dish garden. I'll get it up soon. Plants did nicely, some stayed dwarf.
 
#161 · (Edited)
Samee

The flowering Echinopsis seems to be leaning a little. The growth point seems to be leaning toward the sun. The Faucaria Tiger Jaws seem to be leaning. Could be an optical illusion, but it is something to watch for.

On another note, I just uploaded a photo taken April 22, 2014 of my newly planted Sempervivum and Sedum dish garden. I don't know if I've taken an update, but the growth has been amazing. The dish is plastic and 14" in diameter.

Plant list: Newly planted with Sempervivum's I bought at the 2014 CT Cactus and Succulent Show. Clockwise from above the rock: 2 Sempervivum ciliosum Ali Botusch, 2 S. Apple Blossom, 2 Sedum cuttings, 9 S. arachnoidium from Waterford Gardens 2013", 1 Sedum cutting, Creeping Thyme?, 4 S. arachnoidium "cebenese", 3 long Sedum cuttings, lastly 7 S. villiosum alongside the left side of the rock.

 
#162 ·
That looks like an old pic, but I love your semps. Cant wait for them to fill it in. I want to do something like that as well.

Yes the Echinopsis is leaning a bit. They will be going under high light for the winter soon, I will make sure to rotate them next summer. Although I might not be in an apartment by then. I dont have a tiger jaw, is it the aloe right beside Echinopsis? That guy is straight, I recently repotted him. The life saver plant looks like its towards the light, but it was covering the whole pot. They had red bugs on them, by the time I found out there was alot of damage. A good portion of the plant turned to mush and smell bad. I decided to throw away half of it because it was in bad shape and only way to really get rid of the bugs. I sprayed herb oil and its been doing fine since. Perhaps it should be rotated as well.

Question, the Senecio S. Kilimanjaro has grown so tall that its leaning over and eventually, snap or just fall over. So I wanted to cut the plant. I wanted to ask if you can actually propagate like that. When I got the plant some of them were already chopped off, so it seemed. So Im assuming you can do that, just wanted to make sure. Not sure if you know anything about it. I will google and ask on cacti and succulent forum if I dont.
 
#164 ·
I dont have a tiger jaw
I was fooled. I thought the plant on the lower left corner was a Faucaria. Now by looking closer, I'm thinking its your Huernia Life Saver Plant.

Senecio question: They are best propagated in spring or early summer. Take a cutting at least 2" long. Remove enough leaves from bottom to form a stem. Dip in Rooting Hormone powder with a fungicide if possible. Cuttings should be allowed to dry for a few days to form a callous. Plant in a pot and don't water for at least a month or until you see new growth. Or you can lay the cutting on the surface of the potting soil until you see roots forming and then plant. Wait a few days to water.
 
#166 ·
The cylinders/leaves are what I mean for you to break off. You should then be left with a stem.

I know what you mean about hormones, but I keep a container of it at all times. You never know when you'll need it. The fungicide can help.
 
#167 ·
Ok cool, thanks for that. I should wait till spring to do this, but they are already too long. Plus I will have T8 and a t5ho as lighting for the winter, so Im not worried about low lighting. Ill have to thing about it.
 
#168 ·
Sorry for dredging this thread up. I've been mauling over trying these plants but as an indoor only plant year round. I've not found a large amount of info online about indoor only care for Sempervivum species (hen and chick plants). The one brief mention I found says they won't be as colorful but still will grow. I've been trying to find photos of indoor only semp.s to see how much duller they'd be. House temp is 65-75F, humidity around 50, would be by a sw window on a inner wall with supplemented 6500k lights (t5,t8, or cfl.. haven't decided yet). I'm curious if anyone who's posted here -or see this and owns hen and chick plants- has tried keeping any indoors year round and how successful and colorful they've been?
 
#169 ·
I've tried keeping one in a terrarium, and it did alright with it ambient room everything. Watered it maybe 1-2 times a week. The only thing I had an issue with was the light. Maybe indirect but very bright sunlight would work, but the artificial lighting I had was only enough to keep it alive and make it get veeeery leggy.
 
#174 ·
I love Hen and Chicks! Used to see them a lot in Massachusetts and more recently in Wisconsin. A carpet of them is so stunning, IMO. Nice selection you got. I think you'll do well. I love plants too and am heading off to Google to search pics of Lobelia Deckenii. :)
 
#175 ·
Good stuff everyone!

Oww I like those air plants. I had 2 but gave up on them. Didnt have the time to tend to all the plants.



They are the easiest plants to keep, buy them, throw them in gravel or a well drain soil and throw them outside and forget about them. Thats it, they will take care of themselves. Hot weather, full sun, cold weather, feet of snow is not a problem for them. Freezing rain however could be a problem. Overall, I would say they are the best plants to start with. Very hardy. I hope to get an update from you :)

Jerry, any new pics from you? Hows everything with you?
 
#176 · (Edited)
No new pictures Samee. Mine are currently under a foot of snow solidly frozen.

Off topic for this thread, but not the forum: I was at The Super Pet Expo today with North Jersey Aquarium Society, Jersey Shore Aquarium Society, and my club New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club. http://www.superpetexpo.com/edison.html 99.5% of the displays were dogs and cats. Didn't even walk through the entire place. Our three clubs, one fish store, and Aqua-Pharm.com selling fish food and medicines. The organizer of the show wants to grow the fish-plant presence. I spent most of today talking up our hobby. Sold donated plants. I brought over some emersed grown Crypts for sale. Sold two C. wendtii to a woman that wanted to grow them in a hermit crab enclosure. Her description of her set up made me think my plants would be perfect for her setup. 80F and 80% RH. She gets some full sun in part of the tank. Told her not to plant the Crypts there. She uses worm castings and I told her to enrich the area where she was going to plant her Crypts.

Gave out lots of our club cards. The place was very crowded. Huge exposure. Hopefully we get some members from it. Met a Discus breeder that bought some plants to grow in pots in his tank where he obtains his pairs. Not the breeding tanks. Has a huge 180 gallon tank in his office in the construction company he owns that is empty now. He might join and host an NJAGC meeting so we can set him up planted. We'll see.
 
#177 ·
Very nice and an eventful day it seems.

I see your semps are under snow, how are your indoor plants doing? I guess I will get a pics of my plants up soon. My aloes are growing and giving out pups.
 
#178 ·
I have some winter hardy cacti in the unheated garage, those that can't take the wet.

I have some cacti in the window at work that don't like below 50F. One Mammillaria blooms from time to time. Will have to take a photo to post up. Don't really think of photo's.

My Euphorbia's from Madagascar are growing fine. They get watered but not ferts in winter.

The Notocactus get water every 3 weeks or so. The Frailea get water every two weeks.

I have an Amazon Sword I grew emersed outside last summer indoors in the west window in a pot in a container of water. It has a flower spike full of plantlets, but no roots. Don't need more of them, but the gardener in me wants to propagate them anyway. Any ideas on how to get them to root?

Lobelia cardinalis converted to emersed trails out over the water container.
 
#179 ·
I have some winter hardy cacti in the unheated garage, those that can't take the wet.
...

Sorry for the late reply. What cacti are they?

Im moving from my apartment of 16 years to a house, Ive never lived in a house before, so this will be new. I am worried though because there wont be the luxury of having huge windows in every room, since atm I have ALOT of plants getting direct sunlight and all my cac and succulents under led and t5 lights (no hydro or monthly fee). So Im selling my tropical plants now since I just wont have space or the light. The plus side is that now I have a back yard where I can put my plants outside during summer to get the most amount of sun. I guess for winter I can leave my semps outside and before a snow storm, put a plastic container on top.

For now, heres my beautiful aloe. The pup has grown alot during the winter.


 
#180 ·
Samee

Here's some photo's of some of my warmth loving cacti and succulents from work taken Feb 12, 2015.

Frailea with rust-not good:


Mammillaria ? I don't know the species yet. There are a few that are similar.


Euphorbia decaryi from Madagascar


Euphorbia cylindrifolia from Madagascar


Euphorbia from Madagascar


Same plant as above from the side


Trichodiadema bulbosum


Trichodiadema bulbosum roots close up, you can see mouse damage from last spring at work. I hope we don't get any more mice. They did a lot of damage.


Esterhuysenia alpina


More Euphorbia from Madagascar


Mammillaria sp. unknown to me so far. Flowers all winter long. Really starting to bloom more now.


Overall view of the window the plants are in at work
 
#181 ·
I looked at my cacti in the unheated garage today and they look alright. I'll get the current photo's soon.

Coryphantha missouriensis
Pediocactus simpsoni
Echinocereus sp

There are others, but I don't remember them now.
 
#182 · (Edited)
Wow Jerry, looking at your pics thats serious stuff! I love the rock scape theme you have going there. The cactus is Mammillaria Garcilis Fragilis. I have the exact same one which I bought from Walmart and it had that name. I will upload more pics as well, want to show off my cacti as well :)

EDIT: Here they are:

Escobaria sneedii ssp. leii




 
#183 ·
Going to update this thread. Spring has been here for a while, how is everyone doing? What new plants have you got? Im dying to get tri coloured semps but my going to US has now become tuff. :(

Ive also moved from an apartment to a house





Got a HUGE aloe for free:



Cut it up into these:

 
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