A few days ago, talking to ewkaw in one of her posts, about succulents, I mentioned that I was not happy with the condition of my balcony plants. I have a few succulents, some are ok, but in the worst condition is aloe vera.
Basically and I don’t have a lot of plants, we’re talking about a few pots. But I have decided that I will show them again, in this condition and rant a bit about them...maybe ask for advice as well.
My terrace faces south. The position of the apartment is such that the sun's rays heat half of the apartment so that in winter we almost do not need heating. The terrace is sunny from morning until mid-afternoon, and there are my plants, on that sunny terrace.
In summer, there is less sun, because the sun is higher, so part of the roof obscures and creates shade. So it is ideal, less sun, less heat.
During the summer and autumn, I was happy with the plants.
One of my favourites is this one. Echeveria pulvinata, "Ruby Blush". It has long stems, I don't know does it have to be that long.. But I like it. The leaves are hairy and they have reddish edges.
Some time ago, one of my friends wanted to throw away this small plant, it was in dying point, but I didn't let her. I took it. I know it is not recovered still, it has just those long naked stems, but now I put the pot of it by side with the big one. Maybe it will encourage it to recover better and be as nice as the big one is.
This is a new one, a got it a few days ago. Adromischus cristatus. I read that it is easy to grow and that it is perfect for the beginners. Just perfect for me, I hope it will survive with me.
Here comes one echeveria, I don't know the exact type, is it echeveria elegans or echeveria colorata. But it is pretty easy to grow, I have another one, and when one stem was too long and heavy, it broke. then I put that into this pot, and here is the magic. A new plant has grown.
My Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is not in the best condition. I neglected it a little bit. There are some dry parts of the leaves and the moss that is covering the soil dried as well. The flowers have too long stems, so it has a bit awkward shape.
Here is also a Crassula ovata. It has never given problems, even in my hands it survived and I think it is in decent condition.
The baby aloe vera changed the colour of the leaves into some brownish shade. And the same happened with the mother aloe vera.
It hurts to see it this way. Here comes a photo of my big aloe vera from a few months ago... so nice green colour. I transplanted this aloe vera at the beginning of the summer into this larger pot, with soil I had brought from a nearby abandoned orchard. The ground was under the carob tree, and my plant loved that new soil so much that it grew very fast.
But look at it now. The leaves are brown, dried, some of the parts of the leaves are sticky. Two stems have grown in the last two weeks. Those will be flowers. But what to do with the leaves? I cut now after taking the photos two of them, the worst ones. What shall I do to help it? It is too much sun for it?
Any idea how to help this aloe vera?
Your Pulvinata is freaking lovely! I don't mind long stems, but if it gets too long and messy, just cut the heads and plant them again :)
Adromischus can be easy after you figure out what they want. I managed to rot one ;) They definitely don't like too much water and almost at all in winter. But in case that happens, they are super easy to grow from a leaf (that survives). Cute, small plants :)
I don't know what is wrong with Aloe. It looks like it would need more water.
Isn't it? ❤️ Hehe, those hairy leaves with coloured edges, and going where it wants :-) Will see if the rescued one will be something alike (I literally saved it from lending in trash, as my friend said that it died and I witnessed the act of throwing it away, nooooooo. I took it 🤣
The new one, adromischus, so no to much water? Ok.
The aloe. Such a pity how it looks now. I water it once a week, I thought it was enough in winter.. I will try to water it twice a week, and monitor it if there are better results. Thanks @ewkaw 🤗
Well.. I don't know if it needs more water. With too much it also may rot. So don't keep it wet all the time.
But the leaves look kind of skinny so that was my guess.
I have 3 types of adromischus. One I grew from a leaf that I found in a shop shelf :D Love those fatty leaves!
This one is yours
Cool 👍
Thanks for the link. It says can be toxic to humans...
🤫
:D
Haha yeaa... don't eat it :p
I will not :-)
You have a great variety. I recently got a succulent on the street and planted it at home, it looks great. I read that when they have purple leaves it's because they get a lot of sun.
Thank you @cryptoxicate. I suspect also that almost the whole day sun is the culprit of the purple-brown leaves...but they are drying as well 😔
Hope your succulent will have long life :)
Your plants look lovely!
When my aloes start to look like that, I check the roots to see if they are being attacked by mealiebugs, which are similar to aphids, only they suck on roots. I can't see clearly but it's also possible that the leaves are being attacked by sucking insects. They seem to have a lot of white dots on them. Do you notice a lot of small red bugs that run very fast?
Thank you for your response 😇
So, I didn't see bugs... just the leaves start to have those brown dots, and they are sticky..and drying :(
Should I check the roots then?
Yes, check the roots. It does look like it's not getting enough water and many times, you'll find the culprits sucking on the roots. If there's nothing to see, Put the aloe into a larger plastic pot so that it's not drying out so fast. Also, plant the aloe back higher in the pot to give it more soil
Thank you all for all those great advices. I will try to do everything, and if anything helps, I will do an update or a new post when a change can be seen
🤗
Beautiful plants!
But the fact that the plant has a sticky part of the leaves means that there are pests.
You should take a good look at it.
Unless, of course, you fed him with honey :-)
😱 oh, eating my dear plant? 😤
🤣
Thank you @ludmila.kyriakou, with all of the help I got now, I hope I will find the reason.
So I have options
I will take a photo from close and show it in the flower shop, so if they can offer me some cure for the bugs. I am more and more convinced that it has to be the problem
@mipiano An ambulance for a plant from pests is:
1 tablespoon FAIRY dishwashing liquid
for 1 liter of warm water
Stir well and spray the plant from the pulivizer.
After about 2-3 hours, wash the plant under a warm shower.
Close the pot of earth so that water does not get there.
Repeat after a week.
It helps.
After doing this the 2nd time, let the earth dry out a little and pour some crushed charcoal into the pot and mix with the earth gently so as not to damage the roots.
Charcoal nourishes the plant, balances the water balance of the earth, disinfects and inhibits pests.
How many great advices I got!! Thank you for every tip, I will so my best to try to terminate the pest and do an update when it goes better 😇
Thank you very much all 🤗
Contact when you need help.
If I can, I will be happy to help! :-)
I sprayed the plant yesterday with the dishwasher liquid (the measures you said with water) and then showered it. It looks better, at least not sticky leaves now at the moment. I will repeat it as you said, and put charcoal to the roots and more soil.
:)
Fine!
This can also be done for prevention.
It is good to wash Aloe under a warm shower.
But after it it is necessary to remove the water in the axils of the leaves with a paper napkin.
I have been growing flowers for many years, but I still took courses in gardening and floriculture.
She finished 1 course. But because of the coronavirus, the second year classes did not start :-(
I hope that the classes will resume by the fall.
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I have found some possible culprits 🤦🏻♀️ in a plant I brought from the forest, so I even didn't watch this pot. Although I didn't see those in also vera plant, but that plant from the forest has also sticky dried leaves, and black dots.
Some transparent flees and jumping and running fast . I don't have macro lens, to show them better, this was fast seeing them and taking picture with the phone.
@ludmila.kyriakou
@hive-183841
I was blind not seeing them before😔
Thanks for putting my attention to try to find pests, I thought it was the problem just in sun or watering
@mipiano great advice gave you @hive-183841
This oil is not available in Cyprus, so I will buy it when I go on vacation.
Unfortunately, in Cyprus, flowers are often sold with "surprises" :-(
Having brought home a flower, I examine it through a magnifying glass.
Then I take a cellophane bag, sprinkle it inside and outside with cockroach spray and put the plant there, and tie it tightly.
I keep it like this (just not in the sun) for 2 hours.
And that's all, then I check for several days, there are no pests.
And everything is fine with the plant.
I found now what is neem oil in Spanish, will look for it.
You see, I didn't think about that I can bring home some bugs surprise with a plant 🤦🏻♀️ . Mistakes of a beginner 🤣
Thanks for so much help and advice 🤗
Unfortunately, pests can be brought not only with the plant, but also with clothes and shoes! :-(
Spray them with neem oil, that should get rid of them
You're right!
This can be thrips (order Thysanoptera).
Thrips at different stages of development, here is a photo
Omg, these thrips look so nasty. I think it is not the same I saw on that plant from the forest. "Mine" had small wings as well.
I showed you this photo just in case :-)
I wish your flowers never have them !!!
Hehe, thank you, I wish you the same, never have those in your flowers either (they are really scaring :D )
Unfortunately, flowering plants very often already have them.
These pests are very small and difficult to see.
Therefore, after bringing home, I apply cockroach spray as I wrote to you in the comments.