I got this crazy Aloe...

I got this crazy Aloe from Bitis Botanical yesterday, and it's gorgeous! I potted it up today and did some other stuff in the greenhouse.

I repotted around 50 plants today. Most of them were my small Echeveria. I had noticed at my last watering that some weren't fattening back up, so I uprooted them early last week and saw that my soil mix was off and their roots were in rough shape. I cut their roots and left them out to callous until today. Then I hit them with some rooting hormone and potted them in a much grittier mix today. They are in a shadier spot for now. I'll give them some days before I water them. I think they'll be ok.

I also had 3 trailing succulents that weren't doing as well as I'd hoped. I think the pots they were in were wayyy too large. So they were put into a grittier mix in smaller pots. I think they'll be ok, too.

Years ago the plants would have probably had to get into worse shape before I knew to take action, but these days I am better at spotting when something isn't right. I don't get out to the greenhouse every day, but when I do I'm testing the plants for thirst, watering the ones who need it, and checking within the next day or so if they've drank or not. If they haven't, I know something is wrong.

I'm posting this picture just because it's pretty.

This last photo is one of the plants that got mealy bugs last year. I sprayed it down with alcohol to kill the bugs, which worked; however, it messed up the farina (the powdery coating on succulents), and that's why the lower leaves are orange. The blue/pink/lavender growth at the top/middle is what it's supposed to look like. I'm happy to see that it's doing well after that ordeal.