Epi rescueplea for advice!

In the '70s in SoCal, my boss had a fabulous collection of succulents & epis. At the time, I'd never even heard of them, but soon I was hooked. He gave me a start from his beautiful pink epi, and I had it for about a year. Then DH and I got shipped overseas, so I gave the plant to my MIL. When we came back to CA 5 years later, SHE was hooked. She gave me some starts from hers, but I didn't have a good place to keep them safe from the winter cold, so I didn't ask for any more after the starts died or got devoured by snails.

When she passed away, I asked DH to bring me all her epis, which no one had been taking care of. I now have a small greenhouse to winter them in, and I'm a lot more plant-savvy than I was 20 years ago. But I didn't know what I was getting into. When he pulled into the driveway and started unloading these poor babies, I almost cried.

As you can see from the pix, these plants are in VERY sad shape, and I don't even know where to start. Should I pull them out of their pots (many of which are broken anyway) and try to repot the whole thing, or would it be better to just take some leaves off and try to start new plants? Or should I try to get them healthier in their existing pots before moving them?

If I can salvage these plants, I'd like to try, but I'm more than a little overwhelmed.....advice would be deeply appreciated!

There are more---these are the worst of the lot.

I know I'm not the right person to try and help so hoping someone more knowledgeable will come along. I would say though to first clean all of the debris, lvs, etc out of the top of each pot. Then take your pruners and cut off all the dead,
dried up growth. I see a few shriveled lvs so maybe they are all needing a good drink. You can lift each one out of it's pot and see if there's any potting mix
left or if it's all roots. If all roots, time for a size larger pot. Or, see if there's room
left in the pot to add a couple of inches of fresh potting mix to the bottom.
You can take some cuttings. I see some of them have extra long stems.
Just some ideas to consider.

Jackie

Jackie: Thanks for responding; I got a dmail from one person with advice to both take cuttings and try to repot, which makes perfect sense, of course!

I've watered them a couple of times, but I don't want to overdo. Drainage seems to be good in the pots, but the leaves aren't plumping up like I'd expect.

I usually water my succulents once a week; do epis need more water than that? And would they rather have their roots watered, or their leaves misted, or both? I thought since they were epiphytic that they would prefer more moisture in the air than water in the soil. Clearly, I'm out of my element here!

Another piece of information----assuming they survive, I want to put them in hanging containers.

When you water and the leaves don't plump, then it's rootbound and the water is just running straight thru, not doing the plant any good. So those need repotting.
Epi's dont need misting. They're very tough plants, taking a lot of abuse.
The bad thing about bottom watering is that it doesn't leach out any built up salts, fertilizer etc. Top watering flushes out any build up of the above.
Hanging baskets might be fine for some of them but others will get too large for a hanging basket. I've had them throw out 5 foot stems or longer.
With some types of plants, you can cut the top growth back by 1/3rd and then
cut an equal amt off the roots. That gives you room to add 2-3 inches of fresh potting mix at the roots w/o going to a larger pot. I don't know if that will work
with epi's. It's hard to tell someone how often to water, my growing conditions,
climate might be different than yours. Once you get them repotted, they will hold
moisture longer and you might be able to water ever 2 weeks or so. Better to be
a little dry than too wet.

Jackie

Thanks to everyone who responded with all this good advice and the detailed instructions. II got some plain terra-cotta planters, and 've decided I'm going to transplant and root-prune these one at a time. I've done lots of bare-root fruit tree pruning, so hopefully the process is similar. I'm glad to know they're not too fragile and don't like misting---I don't have the time for plants that need to be mollycoddled!

5-foot stems? Yeah, I guess the hanging basket idea wouldn't work for one of those! I guess I'll have to "wait and see" about that idea! With any luck, there's that beautiful pink one that I got from my boss in here somewhere.....

The one plant I've had for a couple of years bloomed last week, so there's hope!

Couldn't resist putting my two cents worth in. All of my epis are in hanging pots. My "mother" plant (the one I've had the longest) has one stem heading west that is 6 feet long, one stem heading east that is 5 feet long, and this year, has one going straight up that is four feet long. I know I need to prune it back, but those stems are the best bloomers, so I've let them have their way. My greenhouse is only 17 feet long, so I know its only a matter of time before I have to cut it back, but I will definitely wait until after it blooms out.

I have no place I could put it on any kind of shelf as it is. It *has* to hang. My idea, if I had what you have to deal with would be to repot them for sitting on a shelf for now, but try to think in terms of hanging that pot at a later date - as needed.

I'm sure you will be able to save many of them, either by repotting or taking cuttings.

Try to sort them by type and start with the healthiest of each type - if you aren't sure what is what just save what you can, then go from there. I suspect you will have most of them growing and healthy before its all over. They really are tough.

I hope someday to add more variety to my epis - all I have right now is the hooherii, but I have to clear out some room before I get any more of *anything*!

Good luck, have fun, and remember its really hard to totally kill an epi!

"Hard to kill" is someething I look for on plant tags LOL! And I think I have just the shelf to put them on----a lattice-covered space east-facing space outside the bedroom window. If I get the "hang" of transplanting them (no pun intended) I can put some in hanging baskets later after they're stable.

So my plant that bloomed doesn't seem to have what I consider "leaves" any more (the wide ones)-----it just puts out the long skinny stems. Does that mean it's in need of something, or is that just a characteristic of the plant? I haven't done anything with it for at least 3 years except water it about once a week. It was the one start I got from my MIL that I was able to keep away from the snails / slugs by putting it in a hanging pot. (This year I started using Sluggo in the garden every couple of weeks, and it seems to really be helping, so I should be able to keep the little buggers away from the ones I transplant.)

Well, guess I'd better get off the computer and go get some actual gardening done!

Do you have an update on your plants for us???

Judy