Cotyledon Pendens, the beautiful trailing succulent named also Cliff Cotyledon. Cliff Cotyledon is native to South Africa and grows on sheer cliff faces with round, fresh leaves, and orange bell-look flowers.
As a member of the Crassulaceae family, Cotyledon Pendens is easy to grow and often used as a decoration in the home and office. The low-maintain succulent is the perfect indoor plant for anyone who doesn’t have a green thumb.
The Cotyledon Pendens blooms when feels happy. The hanger leaves with pink bell-shaped flowers look like a beauty! Such a unique succulent plant smells so good, like honey or lemon, and some people think it is a woody fragrance.
In this article, we will explore how to care for the charm succulent plant-Cotyledon Pendens:
How to Care for Cotyledon Pendens
Sunlight
Like most Cotyledon succulents, Cotyledon Pendens require little care but a lot of sunlight. Full to partial sunlight is ideal for the succulent species, sufficient light for about 6-8 hours allows it to keep its full body, and in the sun, you can expect them to take on richer colors like red and pink.
While plenty of sunlight can bring happiness to your Cotyledon Pendens, that doesn’t mean it should be fully exposed to direct sunlight throughout the day. The harsh sun may cause sunburn.
So keep the type of succulent in a sunny position without direct sunlight, for example, you can grow Cotyledon Pendens outdoors in spring and fall if your area where the sun is mild and not intense at this time.
If you grow Cotyledon succulents indoors, the south-facing windowsill is ideal. Remember to rotate them and provide shade when summer comes. In order to prevent Cotyledon Pendens from drop leaves in winter due to a lack of light, you can even add grow light.
Watering
With thick leaves, Cotyledon succulents can store a lot of water. Therefore a period of neglect is permissible. On the contrary, frequent water supply will be detrimental to its health and even may kill your succulent! As a drought-tolerated succulent, Cotyledon Pendens dislike sitting in wet soil for a long time, overwatering and frequent watering put your succulent plant at risk of rotting.
Just remember these tips:
- Use your fingers or moist tools to check that the soil is completely dry.
- Observe your Cotyledon Pendens, a wrinkled leaf at the bottom means underwater.
- Thoroughly soak until extra water comes out of the drain holes.
- Watering should be less frequent in the winter and summer.
- Try not to wet the leaves when watering.
- Place your succulents in the ventilated position after watering.
To learn about the signs of overwatering or underwatering succulents, please click here for more information.
Soil
Cotyledon Pendens does best in well-draining and porous potting soil for succulents that can help to quickly remove excess water and prevent Cotyledon succulents from overwatering.
The cactus soil mix prefers to most succulent plants. To improve drainage of the soil, you can add some medium such as soil with sand, grit, perlite, and pumice. Click here to get the best recipe for succulent soil.
In addition to potting soil, it is critical to pick a plant pot with a drainage hole for Cotyledon Pendens. Consider Cliff Cotyledon as the trailing succulent, recommend growing it in the hanging planter pot so that you can fully take in its beauty.
Fertilizing
For most Cotyledon succulents, nutrients in the soil are adequate. However, if you want to feed them to help the succulents fast grow, the fertilizer special for succulents is recommended.
Use fertilizers that are low in nitrogen, and follow the recommended water ratios for different succulent fertilizers. You can add more water to avoid burning plants with high concentrations of fertilizer.
The best time to feed your Cotyledon Pendens is in the spring, the season when new babies grow. Fertilizing once a month or so is sufficient.
Temperature and humidity
Ideally, the Cotyledon Pendens requires a temperature between 30°F to 50°F. According to the USDA hardiness zones, zone 10-11 is better to grow the succulent, if the area zone you live in is low for it, the type of succulent should be kept indoors in winter to protect from frost. Click here to learn how to care for succulents in winter.
Cotyledon Pendens can thrive well in humidity areas that levels are 40%-60%. Pay attention to the humidity in the area where you are growing succulents, high humidity can affect succulents and lead to fungal infections and root rot. You may need to use a humidifier if you live in a dry climate. The plants stop growing when the air is too dry. Click here to learn how humidity effect succulents.
Propagation
If you want to get more babies from a succulent, don’t miss the succulent variety. Cotyledon succulent is an easy-propagate succulent. There are many different ways to propagate Cotyledon: Seeds, cuttings, leaves, or offsets.
You should get a portion of leaves, cutting, or offsets from the healthy Cotyledon Pendens, waiting for the wound to dry and stick them in soil. If you want to know more detail about how to propagate succulents from stem cuttings, this blog may be helpful.
Pests and Toxic
The succulent may get mealy bugs or spider mites, they will attack your plant and suck the sap out of it. It is difficult to save the Cotyledon Pendens when an infestation becomes a serious problem. So once you notice bugs, just get rid of the pest as soon as possible by washing succulents with water, soap or neem oil.
Keep Cotyledon Pendens away from your pets! The succulent plant is toxic to most pets, for example, dogs, cats and rabbits. Your pet may very ill after eating the plant due to the neurotoxins found in its leaves. The pet-safe succulents are here.
Let’s Wait for Blooming
The more patience you take care of Cotyledon Pendens, the more flowers it will reward you! Let's wait together for Cotyledon Pendens to be full of flowers.