What to do with those Haworthia offsets? (19 pics)

When I said "Haworthias are next" in my last entry, I meant it literally 😄

I've grown several Haworthias before but wanted to expand the "collection" a bit these couple of years to have a more or less diverse selection of plants. The problem is I like them all! The big, the small, the fat, the delicate, the little offset-babies, the massive round stand-alone rosettes and the "hens with chicks" - all kinds and in all growth stages. I wouldn't have the room for all of them because they are not only generally bigger then the plants I usually grow. Turns out they also grow much quicker than expected. The majority of plants I bought were very young or sometimes damaged but they quickly outgrew the awkward age and damaged leaves. Others just kept on growing and developing offsets along the way which, of course, I simply have to keep and see what they'll turn into. Luckily they don't require sunlight to be very intense and grow happily on my bedroom's windowsill.

As the plants grew bigger I was presented with a dilemma. What is prettier - a single rosette or a bucket full of Haworthia heads? You gotta decide early on and it all comes down to the question of leaving versus removing the offsets.

With some I was sure from the start what I wanted the plant to be. It was clear that the final destination of the fast growing Haworthia attenuata was going to be a big bowl. And now it's in a 25 cm container with some more room left to freely spread.

With others I was pretty sure they're better off alone.

Like this Haworthia limifolia. With this type of leaves how would an offset sufficiently spread?

Or this Haworthia pygmaea. It's way too pretty in its symmetry.

While it was not that hard to remove the H. limifolia offsets (I've given away so many over the years), I didn't have to face this situation with the H. pygmaea so far.

This year it decided to multiply. And the offset isn't even growing from underneath. Instead it's pushing new leaves from the middle. I won't be able to remove it safely so.. bye bye nice round rosette shape. I'm sure it will grow into something beautiful eventually but it will never be the same.

Same story with this Haworthia magnifica var. acuminata 'Grey Ghost'. So far, I have removed 6 offsets from it as they were conveniently growing from the bottom. The one that's growing now is more of a second head. I'll have to leave it and see where it goes.

Initially, my plan was to remove all green-ish offsets while keeping any all-white ones on the plant (it had one already but I stupidly removed it and it of course never rooted). The plant had other plans, oh well. I guess I'll lean into it and just let it do whatever it wants going forward.

I did get two very promising "almost" white offsets from it. They rooted and are coming along nicely. They might become more green as they grow though.

With this Haworthia magnifica fa. asperula I 100% support the offset growth. Got the plant cheap at a fair, with all those strange and damaged leaves. With the new perfect plant heads all around it, it will significantly improve.

Here's a good solution! Just grow 2 identical plants and have one as a single rosette and another run rampant.

Haworthia cooperi v. truncata

 

Maybe in the end it's not all that important and it is best to just leave the plant be and let it grow in whichever way it wants. A healthy plant will always be beautiful, no matter its shape and size. I like each and every one of them!