Can a leggy Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' still be grown into an old trunk?

Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' has thick, fleshy leaves and pink foliage, giving it extremely high ornamental value as a potted plant. But Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' rather prefers a light-filled, warm and dry growing environment, and has strong drought tolerance. As long as the potting soil stays loose, breathable and well-draining, and the care and management work is done properly, the plant can be kept in good growing condition and ornamental effect.

However, if Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' is placed in a rather shaded growing environment for a long time, and it is usually watered rather generously, the plant will become leggy due to lack of light and excess water. After most succulents become leggy, in order not to ruin the beauty of the original plant shape, they are either beheaded or cultivated into old trunks with higher ornamental value.

In fact, since Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' is just an ordinary succulent, when it becomes leggy we can still behead it, but the more reliable approach is to cultivate it into an old trunk to admire. In the process of leggy branches forming an old trunk, Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' usually needs to go through 1-2 years, and during this period the leaves at the lower end of the leggy branches need to be removed, which can speed up the formation of lignification in the stem and thus reveal the characteristics of an old trunk.

However, this is the practice of using leggy branches to cultivate an old trunk, and an old trunk formed this way is not an old trunk in the real sense. It is only that the outer skin of its stem has the characteristics of an old trunk, while the inside of the stem has not truly and thoroughly become lignified. So the so-called old trunk formed in this case is actually rather fragile, and its hardness is not sufficient either.

A true old trunk, by contrast, necessarily means that the stem of Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' has thoroughly become lignified and has relatively high hardness, making it an old trunk in the true sense. But this differs from the so-called old trunk formed by leggy growth: besides the difference in substance, there is also a fairly big gap in the time needed to form an old trunk. A genuine old trunk of Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' under natural growing conditions often needs 3-5 years to become fully lignified and form a true old trunk. By comparison, the time needed to cultivate an old trunk from leggy branches is much shorter.

It can be seen that the growth of succulents in this world still follows certain rules. If a shortcut is taken to cultivate an old trunk, the real goal inevitably cannot be achieved. Although it has some characteristics of an old trunk, the quality of the old trunk is very low, so it can be called a fake old trunk. If Pachyphytum 'Peach Beauty' could be cultivated into an old trunk that easily, it would be far too cheapened in value.

Of course, if we can let nature take its course, with suitable growing conditions and scientific care methods, an old trunk grown inadvertently is often a true old trunk, so its value multiplies. Do not deliberately make artificial changes to growth rules just to chase old trunks; this is often where the joy of growing succulents lies, and it often brings unexpected surprises.