Help Growing Succulent

[Rotten Seagull]

This succulent has not responded to the water that I have given it. It also has some blackening of the leaves as shown in the photo.

I checked the roots for rot and they look fine - not sure what I could be doing wrong here.

Any tips? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Nic]

It looks fine to me, the darkening of the leaves is like us tanning, I've seen clumps of aloes completely brown, its to protect itself from the sun.

[Rotten Seagull]

Ok, it's reassuring to hear that the succulent is doing fine.

Its root system is still pretty small and it does not respond to water though. Is that due to dormancy?

[esp_imaging]

It will grow fairly slowly anyway.
The general rule for succulents is - if in doubt, don't water.

Depending upon where you are in the world and the setting of the plant, it could be dormant because it is baking hot in summer, or because it is cold in winter. In either case, reducing watering may be a good idea.
Haworthias are generally happiest if not too sunny or too hot, and they don't like being damp at anything even vaguely approaching freezing temperature.

[Rotten Seagull]

Ok. It's in a small pot so after watering it goes dry every other day. I've been told that I should water the succulent when the soil is completely dry, which happens to be every other day.

If that's too much let me know.

Also, does anybody know what type of Hawthoria this is?

EDIT: I am in Los Angeles right now so the winter here is rather warm.

[greenknight]

Haworthia retusa would be my guess.

That's not a small pot for that plant, they have small root systems. I repot my little Haworthias when the offsets start growing over the sides of the pot. I do think you're watering too often - if you had a clump of those that completely filled that pot they might be able to use that much water, but with the space that one has I'd say once a week should be plenty.

[Rotten Seagull]

Ok. Thanks for the advice.

Is there a need to change the soil for these guys? If so then how often?

[greenknight]

I just grow them on until they start spilling out if the pot. They don't stop growing at that point, but offsets start dropping off the side, so I repot them. That's the only time they get fresh soil, I fertilize them lightly with a low-nitrogen fertilizer when I do the cacti. They grow happily and bloom freely with this treatment. The soil mix you're using looks good, plenty of pumice for good drainage.

You do want to err on the dry side when watering - you can let them go dry until the outer leaves start to shrivel without hurting them, but too much water and they may rot. They have succulent roots, so they have more water stored than just what's in the leaves. As esp_imaging said, they go dormant when it's cold or extremely hot, in either case you don't want to be watering then. In mid-Summer they may cast off their old roots and grow a new set, so don't be alarmed if you find they have no roots then - just hold off watering until they grow.

[Rotten Seagull]

Ok.

Again thanks for all the help guys, first time growing a succulent, so I don't know what is perfectly normal and what is not.

So at the moment everything is fine, water once per week, and hold off watering when it's extremely hot or cold - also do not worry about the roots because hawthorias have small root systems and can cast off their roots at will.

If there's anything else important I should know, please let me know.

[greenknight]

They don't cast off their root more than once a year. They're in the Lily family, and just like a Lily grows a new bulb each year, they grow a new set of roots. They may not do it every year, it seems to be dependent on the conditions.

[Rotten Seagull]

Ok. What conditions prompt them to regrow their roots?

Also, how sensitive are their roots? Do they get damaged easily?

[greenknight]

I'm not exactly sure what triggers the root replacement. Maybe it has to get hot enough to send them into heat dormancy, but that's just a guess.

The roots are pretty tough, they just can't take soggy soil for long.

[Rotten Seagull]

I realized that I misspelled "Haworthia" earlier. Making myself look real smart...

What kind of low-nitrogen fertilizer do you use? How much and how often should I use it?

[greenknight]

It gets misspelled all the time, nobody thinks twice about it.

I've been using African Violet fertilizer I had left after I gave up on those (they got Cyclamen Mites, almost impossible to control). I use half the recommended amount, once a year, so it's lasted a long time. Any "bloom food" formula, low-nitrogen / high phosphate, is fine, or one sold as Cactus fertilizer. Just use a weak concentration, once or twice a year.

They don't need much, if your potting mix contains any nutrients it will be fine for a while. I give mine a little fertilizer once they get really root-bound - by then they've used up the nutrients in the soil, and it encourages flowering.

I'm not real sure of that ID - there are a number of similar species, they're somewhat variable, and there are hybrids. Growing instructions are the same for any of them, though - http://succulent-plant.com/families/alo ... rthia.html

Also, check out this page for growing tips - http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/471

What I have is Haworthia marumiana var. batesiana, which has small individual heads and rapidly forms a clump. Yours may remain solitary or form a clump, you'll just have to wait and see.

[Rotten Seagull]

Hi all,

I thought it would be nice to post an update.

I've been watering the plant once a week for a month or so. Here's how it looks right now. Not much has changed, and the root system is still really small and very dry. I've left some pictures so you can see.

Am I on the right track?