Of all plants, I have the most varieties of succulents. I like how hardy they are—and I can go on vacation without getting a plant sitter. They survive for days without attention or water.
One of my favorite varieties of succulent is “Little Pickles,” Othonna Capensis, also known as “Ruby Necklace.”
Little Pickles can appear purple or green. The stem along which they are “strung” is purple. The color is not about variety. It is a reaction to the amount of stress the plant has.
The purple plant pictured in this post is my original plant. The green plant in the white pot that has a face on it is a cutting from the original plant. So, being close kin, you can see that color is not about variety. It’s about sunlight level, water level, soil, and more—the environment.
These succulents need to be watered like other succulents: wait for the soil to completely dry and then water deeply. They need this type of stress to survive, much like what we humans need as well (healthy stress, of course). It gives us purpose and we thrive as humans if we have work to do. Plants are the same way.
I have tried to propagate these succulents in water like my other succulents, and I have noticed they don’t react as well as other succulents do to this treatment. They don’t grow roots into the water. So I searched online and learned from Succulents and Sunshine that a clipping should be dried for a day and then placed straight into soil.
I did this in full sun and the clipping died in a day. So, I recommend doing this in shade until it is established.
Now I put Little Pickles succulent starts straight into the soil after sitting out for half a day and that seems to be about right. I use 3.5” pots for my starts—I have been using them for at least a year now and they’re the perfect size for starting succulents.
Savillum 