Subterranean Succulent Lair

Trying to grow healthy, happy succulents in a basement apartment in southern Indiana. I've been growing succulents since July (2017) and there's still so much to learn! Come hang out with me! It's cold and kind of stuffy down here, but there's tons of plants!

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Lithops still going strong.

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Seedlings

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Did some planting today! I've been growing these tiny Graptosedum Vera Higgins plants from fallen leaves. Look how long the roots are!

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Hello, I haven't been on tumblr in a while but today I'm very excited because my Haworthia limifolia is growing a flower stalk!

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Watering day ✨✨🌱

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After a fair amount of neglect, the stem from my repotted Perle von Nurnberg is putting off a single new rosette!

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hey umm.. would you mind making like a tutorial or walk through of how to nicely remove the leaves and plant them to get more succulents? I have one and i would really like to have more and I thought that planting the leaves would be a more cost friendly way than trying to buy a bunch over time. Thank you!!!!

Hello! I could, but it might be more helpful to direct you to the blog where I learned how to do it right: https://www.succulentsandsunshine.com/how-to-propagate-succulents-from-leaves-and-cuttings/

Succulents and Sunshine has a lot of great succulent care posts and is pretty much my entire instruction manual when it comes to succulent growing. There are lots of great photos in that article as well! Hope this helps!

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Do you use grow lights for your props? I have my succulents and propagated guys in North and west windows but I still feel like maybe they could get more light even in the summer? lol especially the little guys

Sometimes! I tend to put my propagation trays wherever there’s space, so I have a few under each of my grow lights and a few in the windows. I’ve noticed you can really tell whether they’re getting enough light based on their shape. The ones I have under my superpowered grow light and on my west-facing windowsill grow nice plump leaves in very compact rosettes close to the mother leaf. The ones I have under my second, slightly weaker grow light, tend to have thinner leaves and little spindly stems separating the new leaves from the mother leaf. I hope that helps!

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Is there dirt under the rocks you have around your succulents?

Yep! The rocks are called ‘top dressing’. They’re there to make the planter a bit more visually appealing, but they also help stabilize the plant a bit and keep the lower leaves from being in contact with wet soil, which can help prevent rot.

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Some of my plants enjoying the beautiful evening light today 💚

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through-thesilver-lining replied to your photoset “I’ve considered myself very lucky so far not to have encountered any...”

When you say bath, did you wipe them down with it or dunk then around in the solution? I been seeing different ways in YouTube but really afraid to just straight give them a full on bath..

I dipped a q-tip in rubbing alcohol and rubbed it on the leaves, focusing on the middle of the rosettes where the bugs were. I’ve heard you can also spray them with some rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle, and I plan to do that a bit later today. From what I’ve read either of those methods should be good enough!

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antosescape replied to your photo “Some blush showing up on this aloe cutting now that it’s getting some...”

Is that normal? I thought I overwatered mine when it started going brown

Lots of succulents change color when they get a lot of light and it’s completely normal! What you do need to worry about is changes in texture as well as color. If the leaves start getting translucent and are sort of squishy, you’ve probably overwatered.

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all-i-think-about-is-karma replied to your photo “Experimenting with ways to get the Echeverias closer to the grow...”

I can never keep these alive :( do you have any advice? I think I either water too much or not enough?

Of those two options, watering too much is definitely the most deadly to succulents! I water mine about once a week. Succulents are actually the first/only houseplants I’ve had, which might have made it a bit easier for me to pick up their unique care requirements as opposed to other plants.

My favorite source for succulent care info is succulentsandsunshine.com! Her post on how to water succulents might be a good place to start to figure out what you’ve done wrong in the past and how you might be able to improve if you decide to grow succulents again in the future!

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I've considered myself very lucky so far not to have encountered any succulent pests but it appears my luck has run out! My Echeveria 'Black Knight' (specifically the one I planted in the big black cube) has been looking very sad and losing leaves and I couldn't figure out why until I took a look into the center of the rosette. Definitely mealybugs! I gave it and its sibling a little bath with rubbing alcohol and they're now quarantined on the other side of my apartment until further notice. I'm gonna be keeping an eye on the other plants but I haven't noticed any of the others showing symptoms. Fingers crossed!

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Graptopetalum glassii leaf propagations, about 8 months old (and their friend, which I presume is Graptosedum 'Vera Higgins')

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I thought this lithops had already split but it looks like there's a second set of leaves in there! I like that this one kind of looks like a frog.

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December 2017 vs April 2018 - Haworthia limifolia. It's a slow grower but now that spring is here I'm noticing it growing more and more! This was an offshoot I removed from a plant I got in the mail.