You might wonder why I thought of writing an article about succulent flower stalk. But believe me many have questions on this topic.
Even Though you thought it is not necessary to learn about succulent flower stalk, in the end of this article you will understand the importance of this tiny part of succulent
What is the importance of succulent flower stalk?
The main function of the flower stalk is to provide support for the flowers once they bloom. Flower stalks are known as peduncles as well.
So, the flower stalk is helpful when the flower tries to elevate towards the pollinators.
Further, a receptacle would also be available at the stalk top beneath the main part of the flower. They could sometimes enlarge to provide support for the flower weight.
They could further provide support for any fruit which could develop too. Moreover it would be useful to adjoin the stalk to the flower as well.
Why is my succulent growing a long stem with flowers?
Generally most of the plants have longer flower stalks when compared to leaves.
The purpose of the peduncle is to provide support for the flower when it elevates itself to attract pollinators. Then it is easy for them to reach the flowers. And long stalk help pollinators to avoid succulents leaves.
Succulent with pink flowers on long stems
Crassula Ovata ‘Jade Plant’
They are endemic plants in South Africa and in Mozambique. They are a set of versatile plants and would require only a minimum maintenance from you.
They would form pink or white blooms. Further they would resemble star in shape too.
Crassula Rupestris ‘Baby’s Necklace’
This is an attractive plant in which the leaves would usually tend to grow in a spiral way around the stem.
They would form pink or white blooms in clusters. That is what makes this plant so distinctive in color.
Crassula Perforata ‘String of Buttons’
String of buttons are endemic plants in South Africa. Their leaves would grow while stacking on top of each other in a crisscross pattern.
Leaf’s color would be blue-green in color along with rosy, pink margins in the edges.
Echeveria Elegans ‘Mexican Snowball’
Mexican snowballs are endemic plants to Mexico. Their leaves would be gray green colored. On the other hand, they would consist of pink, red margins.
When the plant is going through stress, their pink color would be more highlighted. They would produce flowers in bright pink. Flower shape would be more like a coral bell.
Echeveria Peacockii
this is an echeveria type plant which has blue gray colored leaves along with edges in pink. You could easily care for them.
Further they would start flowering when they reach the mature size. They would form a long pink colored flower stalk.
Chances are that you would spot more than one flower stalk in one single plant. flowers would be bright pink in color and would resemble bells in shape.
Zebra succulent flower stalk
This is about the Haworthia Flowering Stem . When the Haworthias flower, those flowers would form on edges of the long stems.
These are tiny plants, and they would rise from 4 cm to 20 cm maximum when growing. On the other hand, the flowering stem would grow longer.
Their stem would tend to look more like the Aloe Veras as the stem would be long and slender.
When the stems grow longer, there would be more and more buds appearing on the edges. They would flower several times before they perished.
Propagating succulent flower stalk
You could use the flower stalks for propagation just like you use cuttings for the propagation.
To do that, you need to snip them off from where it is growing and leave them for one day or for two days so that those wounds can heal.
After that you could stick those in the succulent soil medium. Alternatively, you could grow them in a seed raising mix as well.
When doing this, be mindful not to expose them for full sunlight particularly in seasons like summer as the sunlight would be too intense and too harsh. Having said that, you still need to place them in a bright and sunny spot outdoors.
Even though it is possible to use the flower stalks for the propagation process, I would not urge doing that as you cannot really rely on the successful results.
In other words, it is very unlikely that you will get new plants if you conduct the propagation through flower stalks.
It would be better to propagate the plants using either leaves or stem cuttings or even offsets. On the other hand, it would take a little longer simply because the flower stalk needs to root itself and after that only it could produce the new pups.
Besides all these, you could always try this way of propagation and get new experience by doing it.
There are some flower stalk leaves which you could use for leaf propagation. Having said that, chances are that those flower stalks would end up producing flower stalks instead of new plants.
Which succulents die after flowering?
There are some succulents which would die right after flowering. For example, monocarpic plants die right after they flower. As such they have inherited a name called the bloom of death.
Many Aeoniums and so many Agave plants are monocarpic. You could tell if the plant is monocarpic simply by looking at the way they flower.
If the flower is appearing right from the center of the plant and if you could spot a transformation of the entire plant to a bloom stalk, that could most probably be monocarpic.
Unless, in general context flowers would pop out on the sides of the plant.
There is nothing much you could do to avoid this as that is how they have constructed naturally. So best is to enjoy watching their beauty while it lasts.
Even though these are monocarpic plants, they would not die just like that. Instead, they would produce so many pups or baby plants and only after that they would perish.
In the meantime, the new pups and baby plants would live even after the mother plant dies.
How to trim off the flower stalks
You could trim the flower stalks whilst using sharp pruning shears which are sterilized and clean. Instead of pruning shears you may also use scissors as well.
When you trim the stalk, try to trim as much as you can. Further you need to make sure that you do not cause great damage to the plant at any given point of time when pruning them.
Avoid scratching the plant leaves specially. When you complete trimming off the flower stalks, they would tend to grow well and bloom as they used to do.
Should you remove flowers from succulents?
It depends on the succulent variety you grow. Usually, the flowers would remain alive for weeks or may be for months before they perish.
However, if you leave those flower stalks just like that, they will make the plant look ugly since they will only wither further.
It will be quite unpleasant to watch them that way. As such it would be ideal if you could cut them off and get rid of them once they completed flowering.
Usually making the succulents flower is not a major requirement of the people who grow succulents.
However, anybody would love to see their succulents in full blossom. So, all you need to do is keep looking after them well and they will reward you with flowers during their blooming time.
On the other hand, succulents would take some energy to produce flowers and to keep them alive.
So, there may be some people who would not wish to have flowers and who would only want to grow them for their plant outlook.
In that circumstance, you could snip the flowers stalk off from the plants so that the plants could use that energy for the plant growth.
In my opinion, it is always lovely to have flowers on your plants, as they would add so much grace to the whole set up.
So, it is up to you to decide whether you need to cut off the flower stalks or whether you need to keep them.
There could be some who wait and trim off the flower stalks once they complete flowering. On the other hand, there could be some who just do not want to have them. So, it is your personal choice!
Disadvantages of flowers
There is a downside of having flower stalks on the plants too. In fact, they could be so attractive towards the pests.
For example, pets such as mealybugs and aphids could invade these flowers before they even open.
As such it is vital that you keep observing these flowers to spot whether there are any pests’ attacks going on. They could be so dangerous since they could even invade the rest of the plants as well.
Trust this article was useful for your knowledge.
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