At the beginning of this month, I tried something new, planting three Sempervivum Chick Charms in a 15-gallon grow bag along with a Demosperma and a hardy Sedum. Frankly I don't know what is special about the Sempervivum 'Strawberry Kiwi' at left in this image. It has gotten a bit darker but hasn't done much else. I want to zero in on the other two Sempervivums, 'Berry Blues' at the top and 'Appletini' at right. I selected them for this bag because their offsets were overflowing their 8-inch pots and they needed room to spread.
Some of the 'Berry Blues' offsets are developing roots but none of them have dug into the soil yet. But a couple of the 'Appletini' offsets are rooting. I want to see the two clusters grow, but I also want to separate a couple of the offsets.
I will use the same technique I use for strawberry runners. Put a pot under the offset/runner, pin it down with a landscape staple so it doesn't wander off, let it root, and at some point cut it loose from the mother plant. This strawberry runner is in a pot precariously perched in a hanging basket (hmmm, looks like I have to spray for aphids), but with the Sempervivums there is plenty of space in that big grow bag just to bury the pot in the soil temporarily.
Speaking of aphids, it has been a constant battle this spring on a lot of non-succulents, peppers for example, but the only time I have seen them on succulents is on flower buds. A few hits of soap and they were purged. The above image is the first I have seen on the strawberries. There are more than 4,000 species of aphids and apparently the ones that go after peppers don't do succulents. Except for powdery mildew on the Crassula 'Campfire' and whatever killed the two Echeveria 'Rainbow' plants I received, I have been fortunate with the succulents this year.
A few months ago I'm fairly certain I saw a mealy bug infestation on succulents at Lowe's, then I started having nightmares when the Canadian dude on Everything Plants said they can get into your house on bananas. Don't store your bananas next to your succulent collection.
June 30: Here are the 4" pots embedded in the grow bag. I didn't use staples. Unlike with strawberries, they don't seem to be necessary.
