Echeveria

Light and exposure

The echeveria demands as much light as possible. Put it on the brightest windowsill in the house, ideally facing south, where it gets several hours of direct sun. It is this bright light that keeps the rosette compact and brings out the bluish, pink or purplish tones depending on the variety.

When light is lacking, the plant stretches: the stem lengthens, the leaves spread apart and the beautiful rosette reaches out toward the window. If you see this stretching, move it closer to the glass. Outdoors in summer, a full-sun spot suits it very well once it has been gradually acclimatised.

Watering

This is where most echeverias are lost, almost always from too much water. Water only when the substrate is dry deep down, then give it a good soaking and let all the excess drain away. During active growth, from spring to summer, that works out to roughly one watering every ten to fifteen days; in winter you cut back to almost nothing, once a month or even less.

Always water at the base, right at soil level, never into the heart of the rosette. Water that sits between the central leaves rots the plant from the inside, often without anyone understanding why. A saucer that you empty after watering is better than a pot left soaking.

Soil and repotting

The echeveria needs a very free-draining soil that does not hold moisture. A special mix for cacti and succulents does the job, and is improved further if you lighten it with coarse sand, pozzolan or perlite, up to a third of the mix. The aim is for water to pass through quickly and for the roots never to sit in water.

The pot must have a drainage hole, no exception. A porous terracotta pot is ideal because it lets the substrate dry faster than plastic. A layer of clay pebbles or gravel at the bottom is not essential if the mix already drains well, but it does no harm.

Temperature and humidity

The echeveria is happy with the ordinary temperatures of our homes, between 18 and 25 degrees in the growing season. It easily handles the heat of a sunny windowsill in summer. In winter it tolerates the cool of a lightly heated room, around 10 to 15 degrees, which actually suits it very well for a slight rest.

The real danger here is frost. The echeveria is frost-tender: it does not survive a frosty night, its water-filled leaves burst and collapse. In practice it never spends the winter outdoors in the Herve area. Do not count on its hardiness, count on your calendar.

Pruning and upkeep

The echeveria is not really pruned in the classic sense. Routine care means removing the lower leaves as they dry and fade naturally, which is normal: the rosette renews itself from the centre and thins out at the base. Take off these dead leaves so they do not mould against the stem.

If the plant has stretched and grown leggy, you can rejuvenate it by cutting off the head of the rosette with a bit of stem, letting the cut dry for two or three days, then replanting it. The cut base often starts up again by producing new offsets on the side.

Pests and diseases

The main enemy of the echeveria is not a disease but overwatering: rot. A heart that blackens or turns soft, translucent and mushy leaves at the base, are the signs of soil left too wet or of water that fell into the rosette. You then have to dry the plant out, remove the rotten parts and often save the head by taking a cutting.

As for pests, watch out for mealybugs, those little white cottony clumps that lodge between the leaves and in the crook of the rosettes. You remove them with a cotton bud soaked in rubbing alcohol. Aphids can attack the flower stalks in spring. A well-lit plant that is not overwatered generally stays healthy.

Propagation

The echeveria multiplies very easily, which is even one of its great qualities. The simplest method is by leaf: detach a healthy leaf by twisting it off cleanly at the base, let the cut heal for two to three days in the air, then lay it on a barely damp, free-draining substrate. A small rosette and roots appear after a few weeks.

Offsets are even more direct. Adult plants produce small side rosettes that you simply detach, let dry for a day or two and replant separately. That is the quickest way to get a new plant identical to the parent. In both cases, be patient with watering: too much water at the start rots the cutting before it roots.

Month-by-month care calendar

Green Hub tips

• Never pour water into the heart of the rosette: water at soil level, otherwise the plant rots from the centre.
• Bring the echeveria in before the first October frosts. A single frosty night kills it, it does not overwinter outdoors in Belgium.
• If the rosette stretches and grows leggy, it is a lack of light: move the pot closer to the most southerly pane.
• To multiply it for free, lay a detached leaf on dry soil after it has healed: a new rosette forms all on its own.