Heat

Keep +5°C and over winter in a dry cool place.

Light

Aeoniums are always the first to complain if they are not getting enough light. They will lose the vibrant colour in the leaves quickly as light levels drop. We see this at the shows when we bring our dark Aeoniums inside and by the end of the week they are certainly much greener.  Careful transitioning back to a bright location over another week then follows.  Sharp light changes can scorch these beautiful plants so watch out when we get our first sunny days each year.

Water

Aeoniums are one of the few succulent plants that do need a little water in the winter to see them through. They often flower early in the year and are keen to grow throughout the winter albeit slowly. Water in the winter sparingly especially if keeping outside; do not soak the roots as you might do in the summer…. and pick a day to water with some winter sunshine and no frost on the horizon.

Food

Aeoniums need very little food to survive indeed we have found over feeding / fertilising this group can be detrimental to producing strong plants.  That said they do want to grow in Spring and Autumn especially so we  re-pot and feed our Aeoniums at the start of the year, so that they have what they need to see them through the year.

How To Take Cuttings

You can take Aeonium cuttings at anytime of year, but they will root quicker if this is done in Spring and Autumn.  Simply cut off a head with about 2-3cm of stalk.  Allow the cutting to dry and callous over completely, this will take about 2 weeks.  Put the cutting somewhere dry and shady whilst it is callousing over, we put them under the bench in the greenhouse.  Then pot up into some dry gritty compost and leave for another 4-5 days before watering.  This will allow any damage (caused by potting) to roots / base of the plant to callous over again before receiving water.  Watch our videos to see how to take an Aeonium cutting and  How to mix your compost.

How to make your Aeonium Branch

There are many different types of Aeoniums and they all grow in different ways, some grow tall in a single head like  Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’, and others naturally freely branch like Aeonium ‘Toffee Apple’, some are small growing like Aeonium ‘Tip Top’, and others have huge heads like Aeonium ‘Colossus’, however they will all branch from their growing point (head) if it is damaged.  Some people like to pinch out the center of the head, but we simply chop off the head and pot up and where you have chopped it 3 or 4 or 5 new heads will appear.  Watch our video of Daniel explaining this process with some we have done earlier!  How to take an Aeonium cutting and  How to mix your compost.