So Many Babies With Mother of Thousands Plant – Kalanchoe daigremontiana
For Mother’s Day this year, I located and found a Mother of Thousands plant for my daughter. In fact, we found two of them and they are of different shapes or types. One of them has the pointy leaves and I am identifying that one as the Kalanchoe daigremontiana. This one is called Alligator plant (for obvious reasons.) another name listed for it is the Bryophyllum daigremontianum. The other plant has more round shaped leaves or pointed leaves and that one seems to be labeled with the same name. Are there two different names for these?
I found one source that provided the name Kalanchoe delagoensis x daigremontiana for the Pink Butterfly type of this plant. So perhaps the more rounded leaf plant is just the Kalanchoe daigremontiana. Maybe you can help with some more information for me. These babies are aging into a bright pink color just as its name suggests.
We also have a version of the plant that is given the same name (not a Pink Butterflies, though) and it is shaped differently and has viable babies growing on its leaves. This is what that version looks like here. I think I favor the shorter and wider leaves of this type. But that is just me!
For myself, I prefer the look of the more rounded leaf. It just looks more pleasing to the eye for me. The other one is so tall, lanky and skinny looking. Perhaps it should have been pinched at an earlier stage to make it prettier, but at this point, it is about 15 inches tall. But it is about to get chopped and see if it will sprout some new branches or leaves to make it seem less top-heavy.
As you can see, I have snipped the plant into three sections and have let it set for several days to callous over so that it can be planted. I am not sure if I want to plant it in a large round pot as we did the other type. Since we don’t really need to worry about the plantlets growing, I could put it in a more closed pot. But then I would worry about the babies falling on the floor and perhaps the dog might eat them? These are poisonous containing bufadienolides, which are considered cardiac glycoside toxins. So those plantlets are not something you want an exploring animal to eat…or even a baby or toddler who puts everything into his mouth.
Replanting Both Types of Mother of Thousands
So now I have the Large Leaf type plant re-potted in a nice wide pot so that its babies can drop and root. How many babies will we end up with? Who knows, but I suspect quite a lot. As for the other Narrow Leaf Pink Butterfly type, I have beheaded it and made three sections to plant. These are currently drying or callousing so that I can put them into a good container.
Since the Pink Butterfly won’t produce offspring, I don’t think I need a wide planter. But if it is to get tall, I want something large enough to balance that height. I will need to update you on that. Maybe one of my hypertufa bowls would work? I will look over the selection and see. Or maybe I need to make her a special bowl just as she needs.
I will update you when that happens. Thanks for reading and be sure to watch the video!
I just purchased this succulent b/c I thought it looked like an alien. So she’s about 3 foot tall now and I have repotted some of the baby sprouts into new pots. Should I cut her back to a shorter length or is she supposed to be tall and lanky? I just want to do right by her and my husband said I made her look bad with my crap a** stake I have holding her upright. (she’s to top heavy and swoops downward). Help!
I cut my tall and lanky ones in several pieces and just stick them into soil in the same pot. The remaining stump will grow and branch and those pieces you’ve cut off will root too. Soon they will be tall and lanky. Just never quits growing.
Once a leaf has dropped all of its platelets can that same leaf produce more babies?
I don’t think it would but that would be a nice experiment.
I’ve laid my leaves that just produced, in soil, bottom down and get babies AGAIN in about 3 weeks.
So let’s clear this up… Kalanchoe Daigremontiana is the Mother of Thousands with the wide leaves & babies all along the edge. Kalanchoe Tubiflora is the Mother of Millions. It has long skinny leaves, almost round, with babies on tips only. And Kalanchoe Houghtonii, which is your Pink Butterflies, is a hybrid of the previous two which is called Mother of Millions hybrid. It has thinner leaves with markings like the Tubiflora but gets babies all along the leaf edge like the Daigremontiana. The pink babies rarely root as they lack chlorophyll, it’s why they’re pink, which it needs to make food.
Unfortunately all of these are usually called Mother of Thousands so if you’re looking to buy one, look for the botanical name so you know for sure which one it is.
Thanks for all that information. That should help if someone is looking to buy a specific one to get a specific behavior.
The difference between the two can be found in the shape of their leaves. Mother of Thousands have wider, broader leaves that grow in pairs, and plantlets appearing along the edges of the leaves. Mother of Millions have narrow leaves with plantlets appearing at the ends or the tips of the leaves. I have grown viable plants from the platelets of a pink butterfly only difference I have noticed is the Mother of Thousands (Green Wide Leaf) nearly all the babies will root and the pink butterfly not all the babies will take root. I’m just a hobbyist not a professional. I love these plants they are so beautiful and easy to grow and fun to share. Keep on growing and sharing!!!!! <3
If it were hardy in my area, I could probably do a lot of experimenting. But just in pots, it get pretty ugly, especially the narrow leaf one. Thanks for the info.
I purchased a Mother of Thousands in October of 2019. I have it in front of a window that only receives morning sun and it has developed a number of plantlets. I don’t like the Mother of Millions or the alligator plant. I have just recently retrieved some of the plantlets to start in other pots. I hope they do as well as their mother plant. Thank you for the video.
I do like the rounded leaf one better than the pointy one. Good luck on your new babies.
Hello- my platelets grow extremely slow- not even a half inch since June. The ones I landed last year are 2-4 inches tall. Seems like they should be faster growers? I have them inside in New England. C.
The babies have grown slowly, but once they take off, they get big way too fast. Just my experience.
I love the mother of thousands. It is one of those succulents that add so much character and interest. Plus it’s easy to care and hard to kill. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, I do enjoy those babies hanging off the sides. So cute!