Description of echeveria, acquaintance with the varieties and growing conditions, breeding methods, pest control and common diseases. Echeveria belongs to the class of succulents, which are part of the large family of "bastards". The scientific name of the family in Latin is Crassulaceae, and the plant itself in botany has a middle name Echeveria (in Latin Echeveria). The habitat is the land in the south of North America - this is the territory of Peru, Mexico and the state of Texas (USA).
Echeveria owes its name to a Mexican artist who illustrated the flora of Mexico in scientific manuals at the end of the 19th century. His name was Echeveria Atanasio Kodo, and for the first time he depicted in his sketches a plant new to botany.
Description of echeveria
In appearance, it is a low-growing perennial plant that belongs to the herbaceous subclass and does not have stems. However, there are rare species that are considered subshrubs for their shortened, branched and fleshy trunk. The main decoration is thick pointed or rounded leaves, which are arranged in a spiral and create a beautiful echeveria rosette.
Decorative views show a bloom of a red hue placed along the edge of the sheet, which creates an interesting contrasting effect from the point of view of aesthetics of the appearance. Since hot tropical countries are the homeland of Echeveria, the plant had to adapt to the merciless rays of the sun in these parts. As a result, in some varieties, the leaves are protected by a thick fluff, in others by a pale gray bloom.
By the flowering period, a long peduncle is formed, which in some cases reaches 0.9 m. It is on it that inflorescences appear, which are decorated with umbellate or racemose inflorescences, consisting of yellow or, less often, orange flowers.
Echeveria is widely used in indoor and outdoor decoration. In botanical gardens, it is often combined into groups with other types of succulents, creating beautiful compositions using stones. It has become quite popular to use echeveria in the formation of alpine hills. For its specific appearance, it was also given the name of a stone rose or stone flower.
Types of echeveria
- The first and fairly common type is called agave … It is a representative of bushy forms with a short stem, containing rosettes with fleshy light green leaves, around the edges of which a red border is placed. The leaves of an oblong triangular shape grow up to 6 cm wide and 6-9 cm long. Their feature is a specific wax coating and translucent edges. At the beginning of the summer season, the agave form enters the flowering process and a large number of yellow-red bell-shaped flowers form on it. The height of the inflorescences reaches 40 cm, and each individual flower grows to a half-centimeter diameter.
- White-haired the variety also belongs to the semi-shrub varieties of Echeveria. Its scientific name in Latin is Echeveria leucotricha. Compared to the previous species, 40-centimeter peduncles are also formed here, but the size of the bright red flowers is much larger - up to 15 cm in diameter. The flowering period lasts from March to May.
- Variety shiny bears the Latin name Echeveria fulgens. This is another semi-shrub form with short thick shoots. Its broad, spatulate leaves grow up to 4 cm wide and 10 cm long. Abundant flowering occurs in winter and continues in early spring. This species pleases with its decorative qualities, demonstrating beautiful red flowers that grow up to 1.5 cm.
- View humpback-flowered acquired the name because of the bell-shaped flowers, the length of which is 2–2, 5 cm. In Latin, this species is called Echeveria gibbiflora, it has single tree-like stems on which dense rosettes of 1, 5–2 dozen leaves are located, which have a grayish-green base shade and brown at the edges. The shape of the leaf blade is shovel-like, and its dimensions vary in the range of 15–25 cm in length and 10–15 cm in width. In the last days of summer, the first spike-shaped inflorescences appear and grow up to 1 m in length.
- Variety Darenberg bears the Latin name Echeveria derenbergii. It belongs to herbaceous plants with shoots creeping along the ground and rosettes up to 6 cm in diameter. The leaves are 3-4 cm long and approximately 2 cm wide. The main shade is pale green with a grayish bloom, and the edges and top are dark burgundy. From April to June, short inflorescences (no more than 6 cm in length) form in the axils of the upper leaves, on which 3-5 bell-shaped flowers bloom.
- Graceful called Echeveria elegans Rose. This is a herbaceous type of Echeveria with a flat-shaped rosette, which is created from ovoid white leaves up to 6 cm long and up to 2.5 cm wide. Reddish flowers of delicate shades are collected in one-sided and drooping brush shapes. They appear at the end of spring days and delight with their beautiful appearance for the whole of June.
- View Lau refers to herbaceous perennial plants with a large rosette (up to 20 cm in diameter). Fleshy leaves grow up to 3 cm wide and 6 cm long. Due to the thick coating of wax, they have a milky hue. The flowers are orange and small (up to 1.5 cm). The development of Echeveria Lau is extremely slow, requiring increased attention from the grower.
- Echeveria type Peakotsky It is also a herbaceous plant with a perennial growth period, with a rosette 10-15 cm in diameter. The leaf plates at the base are quite wide and sharpen in the shape of a triangle closer to the apex, dimensions: 2, 5–3 cm wide and 5 cm long. The shape is flat with a whitish bloom and a red border. Deep red flowers form a one-sided raceme and appear from April to June.
- Cushion the variety, which received the Latin name Echeveria pulvinata, belongs to small semi-shrubs (up to 20 cm in height). The rosette consists of obovate leaves up to 5 cm long and 2–2.5 cm wide. Their thickness is 1 cm, and there is a small thorn at the end of the leaf. Flowers with a yellowish red tint grow up to 2 cm and appear in March.
- The next type of echeveria has a short name Shaw … In science, it is known as Echeveria shaviana. In appearance, this variety is similar to a head of cabbage, with leaves tightly pressed against each other. In July, 2-3 flower stalks begin to form, each of which is soon decorated with 20-30 beautiful flowers. In winter, Sho throws off a significant part of the leaves, renewing them in spring.
- Variety bristly echeveria is referred to as bushy plants. In Latin it is called Echeveria setosa. A distinctive feature of the variety has become dense spherical rosettes, which form about 100 leaves of a rich dark green hue. A single leaf extends by 8-9 cm and is about 2-3 cm wide. At the beginning of the summer season, small (up to 1 cm) beautiful flowers of a red-yellow hue appear, which form tall (up to 30 cm) one-sided inflorescences.
Echeveria care
- Lighting. Each type of echeveria is photophilous, therefore, for cultivation, you should choose places where there is a lot of sun. In a homely atmosphere, south-facing window sills are best suited for these purposes. Under the influence of intense solar irradiation, the leaves of Echeveria acquire a rich pale blue or gray-blue hue, and the tips and edges become saturated red. In extreme heat, the rosette of leaves can shrink as the plant engages a mechanism to prevent moisture loss. After the end of the winter period, especially if it was cloudy, plants should be accustomed to the sun gradually in order to prevent sunburn.
- Temperature. The optimum temperature for keeping is considered to be 22-28 degrees in the summer and 6-8 in the cold season. But in home cultivation in winter, you should not create special conditions and Echeveria feels quite well at a normal room temperature of 18–20 degrees.
- Air humidity. It is not necessary to specially monitor the humidity of the air, since all types of echeveria are perfectly adapted to dry climates. Moreover, spraying the leaves can even damage the plant, and it will lose its beautiful appearance.
- Watering. In the spring and summer, watering must be moderate. That is, between the individual watering procedures, the soil in the pot should dry out to the very bottom. Water should not be allowed to stagnate in the pot, as Echeveria reacts extremely negatively to excessive moisture. If, during periods of extreme heat, the leaves of the plant wrinkle, do not be scared, just water it, and they will straighten out again. In autumn and winter, Echeveria is rarely watered, especially if the plant is stored in a cool place. At room temperatures of 18-21 degrees Celsius, you may need to water a little more often, but you don't need to be zealous. Usually, the first signs of wilting of the leaves will be a signal that the plant needs water. For irrigation, soft, settled water is used, which should be carefully directed to the soil around the plant, preventing drops from falling into the rosette from the leaves, as this can harm the echeveria. The accumulation of water in the outlets usually causes rotting, but if direct sunlight falls on the plant, then their refraction by drops of moisture can even lead to severe burns.
- Top dressing. During the period of formation and blooming of flowers, that is, usually in spring and summer, the soil for echeveria can be fed using fertilizer for cacti for these purposes. But when diluting it in water, it is required to make the concentration 2 times less than the recommended one. Excessive feeding not only does not help, but also harms Echeveria. In autumn and winter, fertilization is not required at all for comfortable development.
- The soil. When choosing a soil, you can dwell on ready-made substrates specifically for the genus of succulents or independently form such a composition: coarse sand, mole earth, charcoal and pieces of brick are taken in equal parts.
- Transfer. Echeveria should be repotted every year, choosing compact, low pots for this and ensuring good drainage of the substrate. During the transplant operation, the plant is carefully taken from below, trying not to touch the leaves, so as not to damage their protective coating. Echeveria does not need to grow in the ground and is great for hydroponic use in your cultivation.
- Flowering period. During the period when the first flowers begin to form in echeveria, the plant should be provided with a temperature regime within 15-18 degrees. For flowering to be long, you also need to limit the length of the day to them within 12-13 hours a day. These conditions are observed for 50-60 days.
Reproduction of echeveria
Echeveria reproduces with the help of cuttings, daughter rosettes, leaves, seeds, and varieties of dwarf shrubs also with the tops of their shoots. The most common methods are cuttings and seeds.
Sowing of seeds begins in the second half of February or at the beginning of March, using for these purposes a mixture of soil, consisting of 1 part of sand and 1 part of peat. After planting, the containers should be covered with a bag, and the temperature should be maintained at the level of 20-22 degrees Celsius. The first shoots should be expected in about 2 weeks. As soon as they grow up and take root, you can dive them, placing them in small containers, in which a substrate should be present, consisting of 2 parts of leafy earth and 1 part of sand. As soon as the rosette grows to 2–3 cm in diameter, Echeveria is transplanted into a pot with a prepared substrate for succulents.
When propagating by cuttings, the latter must be planted in small pots with a diameter of 8-9 cm. Before planting, the cuttings should dry out a little, and they are placed in the ground of such a composition: 1 part of compost soil and 1 part of clean sand. The process of rooting cuttings does not take much time, but it usually begins in the spring, from March to May. But this is only a recommendation, since cuttings at home can be carried out throughout the growing season.
Echeveria pests and diseases
When growing echeveria, you need to prepare for the fact that they can become an object of attack by a wide variety of pests. To combat, a number of preventive methods should be used that create uncomfortable conditions for the settlement and reproduction of various parasites. If it was not possible to prevent problems, then one should resort to treating plants with chemicals or more gentle folk remedies.
In addition, in order to prevent situations when echeveria can no longer be saved, it is necessary to carefully examine the plant, timely noticing the initial stages of the life of the main pests, which include aphids, mealybugs, scale insects, etc. protect the affected plant from others by quarantining it. Otherwise, pests can spread quickly, causing a lot of trouble. The next step is to wipe the plant with a damp sponge or cloth, which must first be moistened with soap or alcohol solution.
If this first measure does not help, then you will have to buy chemical reagents and use them in accordance with the recommendations on the instructions. There is no particular specificity in the application of fungicides to echeveria, it is only important to adhere to elementary safety rules - to work with gloves with a respirator and ventilate the room after treatment.
The main enemy of echeveria is the mealybug. This is a small insect measuring 3.5 mm, which settles on young shoots and in the leaf axils, after which they are covered with a cotton-like bloom. The vital activity of the pest leads to deformation of shoots, flowers and leaves. In the initial stages, the fight with a soap solution with it is quite effective, but if this measure did not help, then one of the following chemicals can be used: Fitoverm, Biotlin, Vermitek or Aktaru.
Of the diseases, the main harm is caused by powdery mildew and rot, which appears during excessive watering. If a high temperature is constantly held, then phylloxera and felt mongrels can become its consequence.
The main difficulties in growing echeveria
- The appearance of spots on the leaves usually leads to disturbances in the natural leaf cover due to careless touching or falling on them of water droplets.
- If dark spots appear on the stems and leaves, this indicates a low temperature or high humidity.
- Deformation of leaves in the absence of pests is usually caused by the use of inappropriate insecticides or their excessive concentration.
- The looseness of the rosette and the loss of their natural green tint by the leaves appears due to a lack of illumination.
- If there are few leaves on the echeveria or they are small, then you should pay attention to the intensity of watering and the size of the pot. It may be worth replanting the plant or watering it more often.
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