It’s essential to know your succulents type if you want them growth health.
Different types of succulents need different treatments, the more you can correctly identify your succulents type, the better you can take care of them.
You might be wondering how to identify my succulent between all these succulents types in the world!
But don’t worry. There are 4 simple ways to identify your succulents type correctly.
Benefits of Identifying Succulents Correctly
Knowing the types of succulents you have is critical because their water and light needs vary from plant to plant. Although some succulents may have similar appearances, their characteristics are quite different.
At times, the winter hardiness of a plant can be the difference it has. Failure to correctly identify your succulents may lead to death caused by cold or other climatic conditions. Some succulents are unsafe for pets and kids.
Therefore, correctly identify your succulents ensures the safety of both plants and family.
Basic Succulent Identification Tips
All succulents have clues and features that can help with identification. You just need to know what to look out for.
While some types look entirely different, some succulents are similar.
For instance, the Sempervivum and Echeveria species look identical and confusing. Both of them reproduce in the same way, with each succulent creating an offset which grows adjacent to the central rosette.
Whereas one can survive in temperatures below zero degrees Celsius, the other cannot and may die with any slight freeze.
There are finer details that differentiate various succulents. Like we have seen, some have ciliate hairs on their leaf’s edge, while others are smooth all around. Thickness is another feature that makes the difference. Generally, the Echeveria has thicker leaves than Aeonium or Sempervivum, but again not more packed than Graptopetalum.
There are lots of features that give you clues to what species it is:
- Size, shape, and thickness of the leaf
- Bumps or marks on the leaves
- Stem, flower, and leaf color
- Ciliate hairs
- Texture, color and length of the stem
- Growing conditions
- Spikes, smooth or spines
- Shape and color of the flower as well as some petals and blooms
- Cold hardness
- Shape and size of the plant
- Epicuticular wax
Proven Ways to Identifying Succulents Correctly
Unless you are explicitly asking someone, you need a high-quality photo of the plant. Ensure you take a picture of the succulent on its own, not in groups.
If the succulent is in a group of plants, zoom in or crop it so that only the plant you are identifying can be seen. Nonetheless, ensure the plant in question is visible enough that anyone can recognize it. The quality of the picture will help with easy identification of the plant.
Using Facebook Groups
You can take advantage of Facebook groups by posting the photo of your succulents to get the identity. It’s not only fun, but you are likely to get tons of responses in a few minutes.
Unlike forums, Facebook groups users are available and more willing to respond to questions. The following are some Facebook groups you may love to be part of:
- All About Succulents🌵💜
- World of Succulents Group
- Succulents, Tiny Gardens & Terrariums
- Cacti & Succulents Identification
It is necessary to show some gratitude to people who respond and reply to your posts with brilliant suggestions. Facebook groups require you to be more interactive.
Generally, the more interactive you become in a group, the more likely you will get help.
Using Phone Apps
PictureThis is a plant’s identification app for a smartphone. It features a simple, beautiful, and user-friendly interface. To use it, you need to have a picture of the plant you want to identify. Ensure it is inside the viewfinder of your screen then snap your shot. The app will return the name as well as another picture of the plant you are identifying. It also returns a link you may click to accept if the image returned is a match to the plant you are defining, and another for getting more details regarding growing, lightning and watering conditions.
PictureThis costs $19.96 per year, with seven days of a free trial. You can cancel your subscription through your iTunes account settings. It is quite impressive, you can test it by snapping the pictures of succulents you know to see if the app works correctly. You will realize this app works accurately for a wide range of plants other than the succulents.
Using Garden Web Forum
Garden Web forum is a reliable way to identify your succulents. To get started, you need to register for free and be able to post in the forum. After setting up the account, you can upload the photo of your succulents as part of a post in the forum. If you can guess the species or genus of the plant, mention it in the comments.
In general, members of the Garden Web Forum respond quickly and may reply to your post in a matter of minutes. Again, ensure you are thankful to people who give you feedback.
Using the Succulents Gallery
This is perhaps the hardest means of identifying succulents, but it is equally a great resource. Here, you have to browse the images one by one to help you identify the plant that matches your succulents. A great way to get started will be getting the genus of your succulents first.
Final Words
In conclusion, once you have identified your succulents, do a quick search of the name in google images. If the majority of the photos look like your succulents, then awesome, you have the right name for your plant.
If the photos are not similar, then the name should be your starting point. Ask a few people if they know that plant or think it’s a different thing altogether because even hybrids and cultivars are succulents too. This fact alone can confuse during the succulents identification process. Nevertheless, provided you’ve got the right genus and species of your succulents, you are close to getting the correct name of your plant.
Please comment below about this post on identifying succulents, and we will get back to you.
