As the popularity of succulents has increased, more gardeners are discovering echeveria plants. These plants have leaves that are fleshy and come in a wide array of colors and forms. They can be grown indoors or outside, as a tabletop accent, in floral arrangements, terrariums, containers, living walls, rock gardens, garden beds, and waterwise borders.
Echeveria is an easy plant to take care of, as long as it is given the right growing conditions. It is a drought-tolerant plant that stores water in its leaves, which allows it to survive during dry periods. Echeveria is closely related to other popular succulents, such as hen and chicks (Sempervivum). You can add these plants to your home decor or landscape.
BASICS
Botanical name:
Echeveria spp.
Common names:
Echeveria, hen and chicks
Zones:
USDA Zones 9-11, or grown as a houseplant
Care level:
Easy to moderate
Light requirements:
Echeverias need at least 4-6 hours of bright light per day, ideally full sun.
Growth rate:
The speed at which a plant grows varies depending on the type of plant and the growing conditions.
Foliage:
The fleshy, smooth, or crinkled evergreen leaves of this plant form a symmetrical, rounded rosette. The spoon-like leaves have pointed tips and a protective waxy coating, and the plant comes in shades of green, pink, blue, grey, purple, orange, burgundy, and bicolors.
Flowers:
The flowers that blooming from spring to fall have bell-shaped and occur in sunset hues of yellow, coral, pink and orange. The blooms will be less if it grow indoors.
Habit and size:
A low plant that produces multiple rosettes that are either 1 to 4 inches tall and 2 to 12 inches in diameter or 14 to 24 inches tall. The plant can spread up to 36 inches wide.
Echeveria Benefits
- They’re easy going
It’s hard to mess up with Echeverias so they make excellent plants for beginners. - They make great presents
Unique looking and frequently sold in stylish containers they make super simple birthday gifts that will leave a positive impression for months (if not years) to come. - Inexpensive
Some of the more rare hybrids are expensive, but the more common types are really cheap to buy. - They don’t grow fast and maintenance is easy
Growth is slow even in ideal conditions, so you only need to repot it once ever few years.
These plants are usually found in semi-adult or fully mature form. Hybrid plants can be slightly more expensive than the average Echeveria, but they are still usually lower in cost than most houseplants.
If you want to buy an offset, it might be cheaper to buy a very young one. However, it’s a good idea to look around for a mature offset so you can get an idea of how big it will eventually be.
Make sure to inspect the plant thoroughly before buying, looking for any signs of rotting around the base or in the center.
ECHEVERIA GROWING TIPS
Where to grow:
The best place to put your plant indoors is in an area that gets lots of bright direct light, like a south-facing window. If it doesn’t get enough natural light, supplement it with artificial lighting. Outdoors, make sure it gets at least 4 to 6 hours of direct sunlight.
Temperature and humidity:
The plant known as echeveria does best in hot, dry conditions. It is possible for the plant to be damaged by cold temperatures or drafts. If there is too much humidity, the roots of the plant may begin to rot. In most cases, the conditions that are found inside the average household are sufficient. If the plant is outdoors, it should be in an area where the temperature ranges from 35 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The ideal temperature range for echeveria is from 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the spring and summer months, with a slightly cooler temperature range during the winter.
Soil type:
For plants to thrive, they need a soil that is porous and drains well. The best pH for plants is slightly acidic, at 6.0. You can either use cactus potting mix, or make your own by mixing all-purpose potting soil, coarse sand, and perlite in a 3:2:1 ratio.
Pot requirements:
Choose a pot that is slightly wider and deeper than the root ball. Make sure that the pot you choose has good drainage holes to prevent root rot.
Propagation:
Echeveria can reproduce by taking offsets, or single leaves, from the plant and planting them, or by planting seeds.
Echeveria Care Guide
Light
Most Echeveria plants do best in bright light with some direct sunlight. They have difficulty thriving in low light conditions and in intense direct sunlight, especially if the person taking care of them isn’t experienced in watering correctly.
The damage done by sunburn to leaves will not heal and because leaves grow slowly and stay on the plant for long periods, the burn damage will be there for a long time too.
Window ledges make great locations for your Echeveria, but if the ledge gets a lot of southern exposure, try to give the plant some shielding. If you notice any damage, move the plant immediately.
Watering
Many succulents are adapted to heavy downpours and then a long period without rain. Their thick fleshy leaves and the way they direct water down to the roots help them survive in these conditions.
Echeverias should be deep watered occasionally, then left to dry out mostly or completely. As a rough guide we treat ours as follows:
- From Spring to Summer water deeply and regularly whenever the soil fully dries out.
- From late Fall to Winter, water less deeply and wait until the soil dries out fully then at least a few more days on top.
Although some people may advise against it, it is perfectly acceptable to water your plants from above and through the center of the plant.
If water “sits” in the rosette and it gets cool and very humid, this water would sit there for hours, potentially days, and risk the central part of the plant rotting away. Don’t grow your plant in conditions like this to avoid the risk of the plant rotting.
Humidity
Although they are easy to take care of, these plants are not tropical. The lack of good regular ventilation mixed with very humid conditions indoors is their weakness. This increases the possibility of the plant rotting.
Place your plant in an area where there is some natural airflow, such as near a window. however, be cautious about growing it in constantly humid locations, like a bathroom or kitchen.
Feeding
Although these plants have low rates of growth, they respond well to feeding. A normal liquid houseplant fertiliser that’s been diluted by half every month or every other month is fine. If you want to get fancy, a specially formulated Cactus / Succulent feed is the ideal choice.
Temperature
This plant loves warmth. They’ll have no problem with the hottest rooms in your home. However, they can easily turn to mush overnight if they’re exposed to frost or near sub-zero temperatures.
It is not safe to let the temperature go below 5°C (41°F).
Repotting and Soil
An adult plant will only rarely exceed the size of its existing container, unless you’re starting with a young plant that is growing quickly.
If you want the Echeveria tospread out and create offsets, then you’ll need to repot it from time to time and make sure the container is wider than the last one.
It is best to choose a pot that is shallow and wide rather than deep and narrow for plants that don’t have extensive root systems so that you don’t accidentally overwater and create root rot.
A good potting mix for succulents should be all-purpose with added grit for drainage, or a cacti mix.
For your succulent, you will need a potting mix that is all purpose with added grit for drainage, or a cacti mix. Good drainage is key as it allows for aeration of the soil, and provides space for roots to grow so they do not suffocate in tight, closed soils.
Propagation
This plant is easy to propagate by removing offsets or runners and by leaf cuttings.
If your plant is being taken care of properly and has been around for a while, it will start generating small offsets. If you want to create more plants by removing these offsets, wait until they’re a good size so they can be handled without being damaged.
To separate offsets from the adult plant, carefully remove the plant from the pot and use your hands to gently loosen the offsets. If the offsets have their own roots, they will establish much faster.
Since it is now isolated, you can just put it in its own pot with a similar potting mix as before. Do not put a plastic bag or anything over it, because the extra humidity could allow fungi to grow and rot the offset.
(2) We do make a point of using an sharp knife or a pair of scissors to make a clean cut on the stem of the leaf, as it will prevent the leaf from rotting at the cut. Use healthy leaves to make cuttings. People usually suggest letting the leaf ends dry for 24 hours before planting, but this does not seem to affect success rates. Be sure to use a sharp knife or scissors to make a clean cut on the stem of the leaf to prevent rotting.
It’s important to use fresh leaves from a healthy plant, as they’re more likely to be effective.
Leaf cuttings may be slower than some other methods, but they are easy to do and very reliable for getting new plants.
Cutting leaves off a plant and sticking them in the ground might seem like a surefire way to kill your plant, but amazingly, it almost always works. I was amazed the first time I tried it, and even today I still partly think “this will never work.”
You will need a moist pot of fresh compost / potting mix and some healthy leaves to get started.
To propagate a leaf, lay it on top of moist potting mix as seen in the photo. You can put several leaves in one pot if you want. Keep the potting mix moist, and after a week or so, you might see small “roots” forming where the leaf was attached to the plant. These will grow down into the potting mix, and within a few months, new leaves will start to grow.
Speed of Growth
Leaf cuttings can help young plants and offsets to grow quickly. However, mature plants tend to grow more slowly, even when they are in optimal conditions.
Height / Spread
Almost allsucculents are small houseplants, only growing to be 5-10 cm (2-4 in) tall. They can spread out pretty far because of the offsets that a mature plant produces, and it can look like a living bouquet of succulent rosettes.
DISPLAY IDEAS
- Plant a terrarium with echeveria and other drought-tolerant succulents. Add decorative touches such as colored rocks and miniature statuary.
- Create a floral arrangement in a pedestal pot with small echeveria rosettes in different colors. Add trailing succulents such as string of pearls or donkey’s tail for an eye-catching arrangement.
- Adorn a rock garden with echeverias and other drought-tolerant succulents and alpines. Before the first frost in fall, move echeverias indoors for the winter.
- Create a living wall adorned with echeverias and other succulents for a colorful tapestry to hang along a fence. (See an example in this backyard design).
- Add a focal point in a sunny part of the yard with a bowl-shaped container elevated on a pedestal. Plant with echeverias and other succulents for a low-maintenance season-long display.
Anything else?
Echeverias can make great houseplants and can live in your home for many years. However, over time, the plants may lose some of their oldest leaves or start to look a bit “leggy.”
The appealing feature of these plants is their small size, so an older plant may not be as desirable. If this is the case, you can propagate a new plant from the existing one, essentially starting over.
