Mother of Thousands

13 years ago

Hi all. I received a Mother of Thousands a few months ago and just wanted some advice about potting it. When I got it, I had actually been getting some aloe veras from a friend, and 3 seeds had fallen off of her Mother of Thousands, and sprouted in with one of the aloe veras. She didn't tell me much about the plant except that it grew a lot, and produced babies like crazy. I repotted everything, and gave 2 of the Mothers to a friend and kept the biggest one which was about 12" tall, in a 6" pot. I just measured it today, and it's 32" tall now. I've got it propped up with a stick, and sort of against the side of the house .. it's currently in my screened in porch. When I repotted it before, it's roots were very shallow. Should I leave it in this pot? Or should I put it in a bigger one or shallower one? The pot it's in is about 5" deep. Any advice would be much appreciated .. and thanks in advance.

Comments (4)

birdsnblooms
13 years ago
Abi, actually, MOT's will grow anywhere and everywhere. One leaf will literally produce hundreds of seedlings.

When a baby or leaf fall on the ground, it takes off like Jack and the Beanstalk. LOL. Many of my plants have MOT's growing alongside..It wasn't intentional.

Is this the MOT you're talking about?

{{gwi:109655}}

Do you have a cool to cold spot to keep in winter? If so, it'll produce beautiful, orange bell-shaped flowers, grown off tall stalks.

If you repot, first, make sure roots are filling the pot it's in now. Remove carefully, so roots aren't disturbed. Messing with roots might prevent flowers. Toni
abigail1280
Original Author
13 years ago
Mine doesn't look quite the same as yours. The lady I got it from couldn't remember the name of it, and I asked on another website, and that's what they told me it was, or a Mexican Hat Plant.

This was it before it got repotted. I took some more pics of it just now and I can't get them to show up for photobucket.

{{gwi:109656}}

{{gwi:109657}}

The lady I got it from told me it would get flowers on it. If it is a MOT, how cold of temps can it stand? It's been down in the 40s here the last few nights, and it's done just fine. It never drops below zero here, rarely even gets in the teens, though it does frost.
pirate_girl
13 years ago
There are a number of varieties of this, technically called Kalanchoe or Bryophyllum (which has the plantlets on the edges, making them look like the 'Mexican hats').

You can try checking the site:

Desert-tropicals.com

& see if you can see any pix which resemble your plants.

Some are green, some are grey/brown w/ darker spots on underside of leaf.

I don't hold about how cold they'll take or when they'll flower.

Hiya back Toni,

Nice little MOT forest you've got going there, cute.

Regards,

(PG) Karen
birdsnblooms
13 years ago
Abigail..there are many varieties..does the name, Kalanchoe sound familiar?
It also has many common names, such as Mother of Thousands, Mother of Millions, and Mexican Hat.

Here's a Google link with your Kalanchoe.

http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS336US336&q=mexican+hat+plant&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=VlWxTNKuENDmnQej4ozuBQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CD4QsAQwAA&biw=1106&bih=515

I hope you can click on it..lol..if not, Google, Mexican hat, plant. Quite a few pics will pop up.

Here my Kal in flower..pic taken in Feb.

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At 40F, make sure the soil doesn't stay wet.. If you get a lot of rain, and temps are low, it's best to place in a sheltered area. 45-50F in winter are ideal conditions. 'Especially for flowering.'

Howdy Karen...thanks much..Hope you're well, Toni