Crassula pellucida variegata succulents are such graceful plants that you will undoubtedly fall in love with.
These are hailing from South Africa, and they are native plants there. Crassula pellucida variegata succulents start growing slowly and tend to grow vigorously as they mature with age.
They are tiny cute little plants which belong to genus Crassula.
There are two scientific names which you could use to call them, and they are crassula pellucida variegata or crassula marginalis rubra variegate.
So, let us find out more on this plant and learn how to grow them well and how to propagate them .
Further I am going to cover the issues you may come across when growing them.So, if you are excited to discover more about these beautiful plants, keep reading this article.
How do I identify crassula pellucida variegata?
Crassula pellucida variegata plants heart shaped variegated leaves could be useful to identify these plants.
Their leaves consist of green, pale green, yellow green shades. In addition to that they may also consist of different shades of pink and cream as well.
If the plants are exposed to dry weather conditions for too long, their fuschia and purple-colored hues may get deep purple in color.
These little delicate leaves comprise trailing stems too and those are very fragile.
If you grow Crassula pellucida variegata succulents in hanging baskets, they tend to spill over from the pot edges.
Crassula pellucida variegata plants’ flowering process is also helpful in identifying them as they usually produce flowers in white during spring.
Size of the plant
Crassula pellucida variegata plants would reach a maximum height of 9 inches 12 inches.
Growth rate
Crassula pellucida variegata plants tend to grow slowly when they are too young. However, they grow vigorously as they mature.
One look care guide
| Botanical Name | Crassula pellucida ‘variegata’ or Crassula marginalis rubra variegate. |
| Common Name | Calico Kitten |
| Plant Type | Succulent |
| Mature Size | maximum height of 9 inches 12 inches. |
| Sun Exposure | Full Sunlight to partial sunlight |
| Soil Type | Well-draining |
| Soil pH | Neutral to acidic |
| Bloom Time | Spring |
| Flower Color | White |
| Hardiness Zones | USDA hardiness zones 9-11 |
| Native Area | South Africa |
| Toxicity | Toxic |
| Average price | 7 USD |
How do you take care of crassula pellucida variegata?
Light Requirement
Just like the rest of other succulents, you need to expose the Crassula pellucida variegata plants also for bright sunlight.
If you have grown them as house plants, a bright sunny spot would be great. It could possibly be a windowsill.
However, if you think they are still lacking sufficient sunlight, you could consider rotating them once every few weeks. That will consequently allow the plant to get sunlight in even amounts.
In case, if you grow your plants indoors and spot any leggy growth, it could be an indication of lack of sunlight.
It will give a misshaped look for the plants. On the other hand, if there are any burnt spots in the plant, it could be due to intense sunlight.
When it comes to outdoor lighting conditions, they would prefer to have partial shade and full sunlight evenly. However, do not expose them to bright sunlight at once as it could traumatize the plants.
Temperature and humidity
Crassula pellucida variegata plants can thrive in various household temperatures. Having said that, they cannot withstand the colder winter conditions.
In fact, they go into dormancy during winter. If you live somewhere where there is a year-round growing season for them, you could grow them outdoors.
On the other hand, if you expect to have colder conditions, you need to grow them in light containers which you could easily move in and out from the house.
In terms of the right humidity levels, it would be great if you could provide them dry to moderate humidity levels.
Is it cold hardy?
Crassula pellucida variegata plants can thrive in mild frost conditions and in temperatures which are slightly above the freezing temperature for a shorter period.
If you are someone who is lucky to live in USDA hardiness zone 9-11, you could simply grow them as outdoor plants right throughout the year.
On the other hand, if you experience any extreme winter conditions, best is to grow them in containers which are light.
That will help you to move them in and out from the house whenever there is any forecast of extreme winter conditions.
If it is not possible for you to move them easily in and out from the house, you could be tactful in covering them with frost clothes. Instead of that you could even place them in a mini greenhouse too.
USDA Hardiness Zone
Crassula pellucida variegata plants are hardy in USDA hardiness zones 9-11. You could grow them as outdoor plants if you are in these zones.
Watering Requirement
Crassula pellucida variegata plants used to grow in hot and dry weather conditions. Hence, they can survive with minimum water levels.
You do not need to follow a watering schedule or anything as long as you do not provide them with water in abundance.
Just like the rest of other succulents, Crassula pellucida variegata plants hate to be over watered as it could lead to root rot.
You should water them according to the weather conditions. . Literally, you could water them once every 10 days.
On the other hand, you could water them once every other week when the weather conditions get much cooler.
You could water them once every month also depending on the soil condition. Having said that, you do not need to water them at all if you get winter rainfall.
On the other hand, if you are growing them in humid locations, you could suspend watering them too.
Moreover, you could minimize watering them if you are growing Crassula pellucida variegata succulents as houseplants, as they do not get strong sunlight levels.
Lack of sunlight and excess water could be lethal on the plants.
First check whether the soil is dry or soggy and depending on that you could water Crassula pellucida variegata plants.
if you still cannot figure out how much you need to water them, you should always under water them without over watering them.
That is simply because there will be severe repercussions from over watering rather than from under watering. Check whether you could spot any signs of under watering or over watering.
Soil Requirement Type / pH
A soil medium which has excellent drainage is essential for the Crassula pellucida variegata plants to grow well just like the other succulents.
Growing them in a well-draining soil mix is quite important unless your plants may suffer from excess moisture even though you water them well.
You could utilize a cactus soil mix along with some perlite from which the draining of the soil mix would be benefited. You could blend them at a ratio of 2:1.
You may also use coarse sand instead of perlite. If you use coarse sand along with cactus soil mix, you need to mix them at a 2:1 ratio too. Not only that but also, you could mix all three of these elements at 1:1:1.
When it comes to the right pH of the soil mix, it should be ideally neutral to acidic.
Flowering and Fragrance
Crassula pellucida variegata plants produce flowers in white which you could spot in spring. You would be amazed by its beauty when it is in its full blossom.
Having said that, there could also be some plants which will not produce flowers too. Crassula pellucida variegata plants could bloom only if they get the right growing conditions.
However you could practice the aforesaid guidelines to encourage blooming.
You could consider feeding them when they are flowering as it would stimulate the flowering of the plants.
They need a lot of energy to produce blooms and hence providing them extra nutrients would be helpful for them.
Apart from that, it is important that you let them go through a wintering period which would also be helpful to stimulate the flower blossoming.
To do this, you could simply keep them both cool and dry in winter, ideally in temperatures slightly above 35-44 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pot size Potting and Repotting
If you are wondering as to what type of pot would suit these plants, you may go ahead with terracotta or clay material pots.
Further, you may grow them in hanging baskets as well. No matter what you should ascertain that your pot has sufficient draining holes for the excess water to move through.
If you wish to repot the Crassula pellucida variegata plants, you need to first wait until their soil gets dry.
Next, you may take the plant out from the pot. You need to get rid of the old soil around the roots and check whether you could see any damaged root parts in the plants.
If you find any, you need to snip them off and treat the cuts with a fungicide. Next go ahead and plant them in a fresh well draining soil mix.
Where to Plant
Select the brightest sunny spot at your home to plant them. You could consider growing them closer to a window as it could possibly be the best place where they can gain a lot of sunlight.
Having said that, if you have grown them near a glass window particularly during extreme summer conditions, it could badly impact them.
On the other hand, if you think they are lacking sunlight, you may shift them outdoors for a few hours and relocate them to where they were before.
Fertilizer and time of year
Crassula pellucida variegata plants do not need a lot of fertilizers. Having said that, if you wish to feed them, Crassula pellucida variegata plants’ active growing season would be the best time to do it.
As such you could consider using a balanced blend of fertilizer or even a special cacti / succulent fertilizer for them.
Ensure that you apply them at quarter or at half strength once every two weeks.
Refrain in feeding them during their dormancy since it is their relaxing period and since they do not require any energy during this period.
Outdoor grown Crassula pellucida variegate plants do not require fertilizers Having said that you could consider adding a compost layer as it could be useful for them.
Dormancy
Crassula pellucida variegate plants go dormant during winter.
Can be toxic to pets
All crassula plants are toxic to cats and dogs. Therefore keep away your pets from this plant.
Common bugs and illnesses
Crassula pellucida variegata plants require only an easy maintenance and they are usually resistant to pests’ attacks and for other diseases as well.
Having said that, chances are that you could see brown spots on them as a result of being exposed to excessive intense sunlight.
This could be so annoying as you cannot get rid of them forever and they remain on the plants leaves permanently. As such, the best is to propagate them.
If you spot your Crassula pellucida variegate succulents leaves have become mushy and soft, it is an indication of over watering.
As such at the very moment you spot them, you should minimize watering them. Further check whether you have grown them in a well-draining soil mix and whether their pot has a draining hole also.
In addition to aforesaid, chances are that they may also come across pests’ attacks from mealybugs and from aphids as well.
These pests are fond of the Crassula pellucida variegate plants sap and tend to feed on it. To treat them, you could use an insecticide or treat them with rubbing alcohol and spray water on them.
Special Care tips
As aforesaid these are easy to care plants and all you need to do is to fulfill their basic growing necessities.
They could thrive well with minimum supervision from you. Having said that I recommend you to conduct check ups on your plants on a regular basis so that you could see whether your plants are growing healthy
How to propagate crassula pellucida variegata
Using stem cuttings to propagate them is the most convenient and the easiest way to propagate a Crassula pellucida variegate plants.
You may also use Crassula pellucida variegate plants leaves to propagate them. However, the leaf method is somewhat challenging and tricky to practice as you need to have a lot of patience when doing this.
In fact it is time consuming. Let us find out more details on each method.
Stem cuttings
First grab a stem cutting from a mother plant and leave it somewhere where they can wither. You could let them wither for only a shorter period as their stems are anyway thin.
Keep in mind that you need to obtain stem cuttings only from healthy plants and not from stressed plants.
You may dip the cut edges in a rooting hormone now. However, you could do this only if you wish to do so as it is not mandatory to do.
The purpose of using a rooting hormone is to stimulate the root forming process.
When they are completely dry, you could simply stick those in a well-draining soil mix. Avoid exposing them under intense direct sunlight and do not forget to water them when their soil is dry.
They will start to form the roots after a couple of weeks’ time. The specimen will complete forming roots within six weeks and by then you may see their new growth.
Then you could go ahead with the regular care treatment.
Leave cuttings
To start off, you should remove a leaf from the plant by simply pulling it off. When you pull the leaf, make sure that you are obtaining the whole leaf without leaving any part of it on the stem.
In addition to that make sure you are obtaining a healthy and plump leaf for this process unless chances are that it may go wrong.
Further you could use several leaves to propagate so that there will be a high successful rate.
Just as with the stem cutting, you could dip them in a rooting hormone if you wish to do so. Next you could grow them in a well draining soil mix once they are calloused.
You could spot them sprouting within two weeks’ time. However, it could take a few weeks to months for the entire process.
As aforesaid, it will take a little longer to have results if you are using the leaves to propagate a Crassula pellucida variegate plants.
Further you can rely on the stem cutting propagation than the leaves propagation as stem cutting method has a higher success rate.
If you adhere to these steps, you could succeed in propagating the Crassula pellucida variegate plants.
Conclusion
So, to sum up the things which we discussed above, they are such an amazing set of plants which you could start growing and which you will fall in love with.
Hope now you are much more confident in handling them and excited to commence growing them. So, hurry up, grab your Crassula pellucida variegate plant and start growing them.
Do not fidget to share the experiences with us also. Happy gardening!
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