How do you grow Haworthia so they become plump and full?

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Photos: Curator

Location: Beijing

After the start of summer, our Sedums gradually turn green and thin out, and this is exactly when Haworthias look their best. Besides Sedums, the poster also grows some Haworthias, especially Haworthia cooperi, which I love very much.

The beauty of Haworthias lies in the windows, in the plant shape, and they grow very slowly, so after many years you naturally gain a greater sense of achievement. I am a complete layman when it comes to Haworthias, just muddling along and growing them blindly.

First to appear is my favorite. When I bought it, it was advertised asPurple Body, and for me, I can't identify it either, but after growing it for more than a year, its plant shape is always very short, and the windows reveal different colors too. It feels really special. First, let me post a photo from more than a year ago. Back then it was still a little baby, looking weak and frail.

A year later, it's much bigger. The leaves are plump and round too, and they reveal a beautiful luster~~

And inside the windows there's a sticky, glutinous look, which I really love.

Of course, this Haworthia cooperi has a particularly good plant shape, always short and stubby.

The second to appear is 'Sujin'. Actually, I didn't like it much at first, because its leaves are always long, and the poster doesn't have any particular preference for variegated plants either, but after growing it for a long time, I've come to love it more and more. Haworthias really are rewarding to look at. This one got a bit too much sun, and the variegation has turned red.

This is its main head... Why do I say main head? Because it has started madly producing pups...

Here come the photos of the pups. There's a dense ring of them underneath, and I don't even know exactly how many there are. Once they grow bigger, I'll take them off.

Hairy Haworthia cooperi~~ It's fuzzy, and recently the leaves in the middle have started to become wide and thick. It should be growing true leaves, I think. If all the leaves end up like this and replace the slender leaves around them, that would be great.

Top view. The leaves in the middle have grown much bigger.

Don't be fooled by the fuzz, we're still crystal clear too.

Next up is probably a variety many people have grown, the most, most, most ordinary Haworthia cooperi. This photo is from 1 year ago... See the next one for a year later.

Yes, a year later it has turned into this much...

To give it more room to grow, the poster switched it to a bigger pot, and its adjustment to the pot has gotten a bit worse.

Even if its condition has worsened, we're still sparkly~sparkly~~

This little pup fell off when repotting, and a year later it's a big potful again~~

Haha, the poster got ripped off buying this one. It should just be a hybrid, and I don't know exactly what its parents are. But it's nice and chubby too~~

This one's windows are quite big~!

Particularly sturdy!!!

A Hime hybrid! It's quite cute too.

Triangular windows, though a bit pointy.

A very sturdy mother plant, with a ring of little babies underneath too.

Loulan, a variety I dearly love. When it first came back it also had just four or five leaves, and now it's this big too.

Nothing else to say, we just grow neatly!

Neat, aren't they? Haha.

Bullet-head Snowflake Haworthia cooperi, another one I felt nothing for at first but grew to love the more I looked at it.

This one is quite big already, and I figure it'll produce babies soon.

It looks very refreshing, so in summer I look at it often when I have nothing to do.

This one should be called Baidicheng. I've grown it for a year, and true leaves have just started emerging in the middle. The leaves on the outer ring are too awful to look at, but the true leaves in the middle instantly bowled me over with their beauty!

Let me tempt you once more: a small N1 seedling. I have high hopes for it! I hope it grows more and more beautiful!

Right now it looks very promising!

We'll post comparison photos a year later, and it should change quite a bit.

The last one is also something many people have, very common, Haworthia cooperi 'Hime'~

It's just that we've grown up, become a mother plant

And a heroic mother too. A whole pile of babies, and I can't figure out exactly how many it's produced.

Above are some of the Haworthia cooperi the poster grows personally. Although they're all still small, their cute and plump shapes are still very endearing. Next, the poster will post some of the Haworthias I grow besides Haworthia cooperi, all crystal clear and juicy too.

These Haworthias include Haworthia retusa, Haworthia yushan, and Haworthia maughanii. Actually, the aesthetic for all Haworthias is the same: look at the plant shape, look at the windows, look at the texture. In short, they are very rewarding to look at. The beauty of Haworthias isn't like that of Sedums, which grabs you at once; theirs is the kind that needs to be savored carefully and enjoyed slowly.

Looking at some Haworthias in the middle of summer is still very soothing.

If I remember correctly, this one should be called "Mengsi (or Mengsi?) Haworthia retusa". When I bought this one, it was mainly for two reasons. One, of course, was that it was cheap, haha. The second was that this one was advertised as a miniature variety, and I thought it should be very delicate, so I bought it.

Who knew that this guy is actually not small at all. It must be ten cm across now, and it's still growing, though the leaves really are delicate and not large.

It's also possible it won't grow especially big, but it really is very cute. And juicy too.

This is a very, very cheap variety, Haworthia retusa 'Xishan'. Even today, when Haworthias have been hyped to sky-high prices, this variety can still be bought for a few dozen yuan and not a small one either. The poster has grown this one for more than a year. Now the window body is becoming more and more transparent, the leaf shape has widened too, and it's gradually getting bigger.

Thick, smooth leaves, and the inside of the window body is a bright, misty white.

Let's find a nice leaf and do a close-up.

This one's nice too, another close-up.

'Yukigesho', a variety that isn't expensive but is very famous. This year a large number of tissue-cultured ones hit the market. The poster bought it relatively early, so it should have escaped being tissue-cultured. But it doesn't matter anyway, since I've grown it this big from just a few leaves.

The leaves on the outermost ring are rather slender and long. On one hand, they were young leaves at the time; on the other hand, the care back then may not have been adequate. Now the leaves in the middle have become a bit rounder.

From this angle, the curve of the leaves is much rounder too, extremely cute.

Mm-hmm, one more shot of it, and then we'll get ready to look at the next one.

A small offset of Haworthia maughanii 'Yukiguni'. At the time it was a rootless offset cut from an old master grower's large mother plant. The poster couldn't resist, and after two months at home it finally grew roots, but then I accidentally broke the roots off while messing with it, and then it took another two months to grow roots again. Still, this little guy has gone from three leaves to five leaves.

I hope the little guy grows up quickly. And seriously, Haworthia maughanii is really slow!!!

This one has gotten a lot bigger, hasn't it? And doesn't it look a bit like the 'Yukiguni' above? Because this is a Haworthia maughanii hybrid of 'Raincoat' and 'Yukiguni'. It counts as a little guy too. Look carefully at the patterns, and it's still different from 'Yukiguni'.

Because it's a hybrid, and it hasn't fully inherited the traits of its parents, nor does it surpass the beauty of its parents, this one, despite being a bit bigger, was actually bought at a pretty good price.

It's said that when Haworthia maughanii has a very good root system, it only grows 4 leaves a year...

Haworthia truncata seedlings make their entrance. I like varieties with thick leaves and curved leaf shapes.

I like the leaf on the far right the most. If only they could all grow like that.

Haworthia truncata grows relatively fast, and I figure it'll look different in a year.

A Haworthia retusa 'Galaxy'. The density of the tubercles on the new leaves is gradually increasing, very promising.

Mm-hmm, not bad, it's starting to feel a bit like a round-leaf form.

A close-up, beautiful.

This one was bought not long after I first fell into the Haworthia rabbit hole, a Haworthia retusa of the silver-white line. Compared with the previous one, its quality really is quite a bit worse, but the tubercles in the middle are increasing too.

Look carefully and it has its own unique charm.

This is my King of Round Leaves. Absolutely round leaves, just like a meatball. And the windows are especially clear, with a special kind of beauty.

From the side, it's just like a little steamed bun.

A little steamed bun, a little hill, in short, a very good plant shape!

One more close-up of it. Aren't the leaves refreshing?

Haworthia retusa 'Sanxian', truly fairy-like.

Why do I say it's fairy-like? Because not only does it have back windows, it also has an ahoge on top of its head.

Juicy and lively, and the leaves are always a bit wrinkled, yet it doesn't look like it's short of water.

Another Haworthia retusa 'Sanxian', but this is an offset just taken off another large mother plant. It has only just adjusted to the pot not long ago, and it's still small.

Judging by the windows, I feel its quality can surpass the previous one.

I just ask that it grow up quickly.

Qingxie Huakui, this is a small seedling. Now that Haworthias are so expensive, buying small seedlings is a good choice.

The windows on the leaves look like crab shells.

A close-up. Since it's a crab, the sides of the leaves should have spines like a crab shell, and you can clearly feel them when you touch them with your hand.

A large Haworthia truncata. Actually, this truncata isn't a rare variety, nor is its quality especially good, but having grown it this big, I still like it very much.

Actually, the poster has a particular fondness for Haworthia truncata.

A patternless Haworthia truncata, with windows like jade.

It seems the leaves on the two outermost sides should be removed to leave growing space for the middle.

I love it too much, one more shot.

This isn't a beef tongue, this is called a Haworthia cooperi 'Woniu', haha.

It just quietly crouches there.

This is also a Haworthia cooperi 'Woniu', and it has produced lots of little pups.

Full of vitality.

Alright, that's it for this update. A bit tired. Every time I photograph the succulents, it's a huge project, and then cropping them to a size suitable for viewing on a phone, it's enough to make me cough up blood... But good-looking things should be enjoyed together, and sharing is the root of happiness.

The poster posted photos of Haworthia cooperi, and those juicy, chubby little things are so endearing. Many friends asked me underneath how to grow Haworthias so they're juicy and plump. Actually, I really don't dare say much about Haworthias. In this circle, I might not even count as a beginner.

There are far too many masters and old experts when it comes to Haworthias. Some people spend a lifetime, even two or three generations, cultivating a single variety, and I express my most sincere respect to them. I just grow them blindly out of interest, so this time I don't dare talk about experience; I'll just talk about my methods from a few aspects.

Soil

For my Haworthias, the soil is pure grit. Even if there's peat, it's peat granules. Pure grit has no fixed recipe; just casually mix four or five kinds of grit together. Haworthias have very powerful root systems, all thick roots like radishes, not fragile like the fibrous roots of Sedums. This is also why I chose pure grit.

Top dressing

Top dressing is mainly about looks, really. You can use akadama, or diatomite, or even kanuma. Because the soil is gritty, sometimes it doesn't look bad even without top dressing.

Pots

Pots for Haworthias save money. That's right, especially money-saving. Because I always use plastic Haworthia pots. The poster found some pictures of pots online, and all of these can be used to grow Haworthias. They all share one common feature: the pots are very deep.

This is to leave growing space for the Haworthias' powerful root systems. Just how powerful are Haworthia roots...? Anyway, if you dig them out, you could slice them up and sell them as ginseng... If some friends' Haworthias won't grow big, you can check whether the pot is too shallow or too narrow.

Light

Haworthias need continuous but soft light. Continuous means they need enough hours of sun all day, preferably from morning to night. But the light must be soft. This is why we use shade netting, rather than simply blocking it with a board. The purpose of shade netting is to reduce light intensity, not to shut the light out.

If your Haworthia has turned red from the sun, that means the light is too strong, and you need to provide shade. Absolutely don't be like when growing Sedums and think that turning red means it's showing its colors. Of course, a small number of red varieties are the exception. If the light is especially insufficient, Haworthias will also grow leggy.

Watering

I always water until it runs through directly. A master once taught me that for Haworthias you should water thoroughly once a month, and this thorough watering should last twenty minutes, so that the salt and alkali that have accumulated in the soil can be flushed out. Of course, he uses atomizing spray equipment.

At home we can adopt the method of watering thoroughly several times within a concentrated ten minutes, which can also achieve a certain effect. What I mean is flushing through several times in a short period. For example, water thoroughly once, wait a few minutes, water thoroughly again, and do this a few times within ten minutes.

Humidity

Compared with Sedums, Haworthias need very high humidity. And this humidity needs to be continuous. To increase humidity, I chose the method of enclosed growing. Except for the hottest summer, I always grow them enclosed. Roughly, grow enclosed for one or two weeks, then grow normally for a week, then continue enclosed, and cycle like this.

In summer I no longer grow them enclosed. One reason is to reduce risk, and another is that the humidity in summer is already very high on its own. For enclosed growing tools, you can use mineral water bottles, or search on Taobao for enclosed growing boxes or whatever. Don't message me privately about it.

Ventilation

Haworthias don't depend on ventilation as strongly as Sedums. But I suggest that after a period of high humidity, for example after two or three months, deliberately let them dry out and ventilate and stop watering for two or three days. The purpose is to let the roots dry out and breathe, and to let any rot that may already have occurred repair itself. This increases the plant's resistance.

Adjusting Haworthias to the pot

If a Haworthia you just bought back has roots, or if you're repotting a Haworthia at home that already has roots, then after repotting you can just care for it normally together with your other Haworthias. Before planting, you can pull off the dead old roots, and after pulling them off, let it dry for a day to dry the wounds.

If it's a rootless offset, then just sit it on the soil and wait for it to slowly grow roots. Haworthias grow roots very slowly, so absolutely don't be impatient. You can water during the rooting process. In fact, it can be treated the same as normal care. If the succulent gets injured during this process, it's most likely that the light is too strong.

If it has adjusted to the pot well, it's like this... you can lift it up.

Overall, Haworthias are much easier to keep alive than Sedums. But to grow them well and beautifully takes a lot of knowledge: the transparency of the windows, the plant shape, the shape of the leaves, the state of the tissue inside the windows... etc., etc... far too much... But this can't stop us from loving them. Let's all cheer each other on and grow our sparkly~sparkly ones well.

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