Beginner Gardening: Miniatureized Aeonium arboreum doesn't make sense, 3 by kwie2011

kwie2011 wrote:
How old are your Echeveria "babies?" They look very nice, and healthy. They have many more leaves than my little ones. Do you know what cultivar? Someone told me that the shiny leaf cultivars appear easier to propagate from leaves than the chalky leaf varieties. All mine have chalky leaves, and I don't think they root as easily as you describe. Sedums root like you describe, and so do my furry little Kalanchoe leaves, but I've lost numerous Echeveria, Aeonium, and Anacampseros leaves.

I will try rooting some inner leaves of my Aeoniums. I have only used outer leaves before. Maybe that's been the problem. I also don't water them, but just mist the soil lightly for fear of rot. I bought the Zwartkopf at the nursery yesterday, and they let me "rescue" several dropped rosettes, so I have plenty to practice with. You don't use rooting hormone? That stuff's so expensive. For the cost of a bottle, I can buy several plants, although that takes the fun out of. I prefer to grow plants from cuttings or seeds. Buying adult plants isn't nearly as satisfying.

First photo is my little ruby Aeonium when I got it a few weeks ago. I don't have a photo of it closed up, but the second photo is of it today after opening again. More open than when I bought it, and growing nicely, but also more green now than ruby.

The next 3 photos are the same Pearl von Nurnberg. It looked like the first photo until a week or so ago when I saw its central leaves lifting. It was in bright shade, except about 3 hours of direct southern sun from around noon to 3 pm, but the sun is already low and southerly here. It was right next to the Aeonium, and as the Aeonium opened, the Echeveria seemed to be getting etiolated. I had put them in a shallow, dark blue Rubbermaid box (no lid) preparing for the impending move, so they were probably warmer than before, but the Aeonium was in the same box, so I can't imagine it was too hot.