Some ideas in potting Echeveria

Echeveria is arguably the most popular among non-cactus succulents, and for good reason. Their colorful rosettes evoke flowers springing directly from the ground, and often with a coating of waxy bloom which lends an opalescent and otherworldly quality that is not easy to resist. In this post I will be illustrating my typical approach on the potting of these plants.

Here is a plant that I presume to be E. cuspidata var. zaragozae, though I will be most glad if somebody can point me to the correct name in the likely case that I am mistaken. At any rate, note the soil used, which is crumbly sedimentary clay. Even though clay, which is also a mineral, is often advised against due to their potential for impeding drainage, I have often used this material without any incident, provided that these are used in small quantities.

The chosen container is a re-purposed glazed bowl drilled with a single hole at the bottom. A fourth of the bowl is then filled with gravel and medium-sized pumice rocks.

Our plant, I found out, was located in "nearly pure gypsum soil and rock" on gypsum cliffs south of Aramberri, just before entering Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. Many species of echeverias prefer acidic substrates, but here we have a plant that prefers more alkaline soils. Fortunately for me I have some gypsum and other rocks of calcium derivation that I can use whenever the need arises. For the 'body' I opted to incorporate some of the former soil to pumice sand, to which pumice stones were added for additional grit. Also added were 8 pellets of time-release fertilizer.

At about three-fourths of the way I placed the plant together with the larger chunks of rock and 'sealed off' the crannies with the remaining mix. To top it all off, I crushed some pieces of the clay and distributed these evenly across the surface. I am often reluctant to spray water on newly acquired echeverias to avoid marring the frosty coating (the pruinose layer is more resilient in hard-grown plants), so what I often do is place the entire pot (or in this case, a bowl) on a pail of water and allow the water to enter the drainage hole and percolate on the mix. 

And that's it. We have just created a more or less naturalistic set-up for a plant from one of the most popular genera among the succulents. Things should look better as the plant and the soil ages. As for watering, I use either rain water or water that has been stood overnight to allow chlorine to dissipate. Echeverias love soft (acidic) water, hence my use of rainwater. During periods with no rain, I resort to water from one of my aquariums, but only from those that contain some driftwood. If you do not keep fishes at home, you can experiment by adding vinegar or beer to your water; there's plenty of information hovering on the web at your disposal.

Update: Amon Arrojo-del Rosario, an Echeveria colector from the Philippines, suggested that this could be E. chihuahensis.