Huernia Schneideriana red dragon cactus growing in water

A friend shared with me a cutting of Huernia Schneideriana, also known as red dragon cactus, on July 12th, 2020. 

The cutting is about 5 cm long and it has a root. 

The stem has a 6 pointed star shape looking at it from above. 

Initially I put the cutting in a small plastic cup.

 Secure the cutting with gravel. 

Add dechlorinated water. 

And I placed the plant on a windowsill. 

Add water as necessary every week or so.

 6 weeks later on August 25th, I decide to move the cutting into an aquarium garden. 

The plant already has nice roots. 

Oops...it does not fit in the planter... 

Hmm...okay. 

Let's cut the stem of the plant in half. 

So, now I have two cuttings.

 One is rooted and one is not. 

I put the cutting without roots into a plastic tube of the same size I used for the planter.

 In a plastic cap it goes. 

Secure the plant with gravel and add water.

 This way roots will grow inside of the tube which would make it easier to move the plant later into an aquarium garden ;) 

Now, let's see what we can do with the rooted cutting.

 Hold all roots together and put them into the tube of the planter, slightly forcing the stem in as well.

 About 3 weeks later on September 17th. 

The cutting already has roots long enough to move the plant into an aquarium garden.

 Here it goes. 

At least some part of roots always have to be in water.

 October 3rd. 

It's been 5 weeks since I made the cutting and look! 

A new plant started growing from the cutting. 

The roots did not grow at all...that's weird. 

The root on the other cutting got longer. 

This aquarium does not have scuds... 

That is something to keep in mind ;) 

A couple days later I moved this cutting into another aquarium without scuds.

 Here you can see the Huernia plant on May 16th, 2020. 

It's been growing with roots in water for about 10 months now. 

Scuds love to chew on roots of lifesaver plant.

You can see them swimming around in big numbers in this sustainable aquarium garden. 

Here you can see the same Huernia plant on November 7th, 2020.

 The plant has been growing all year around with its roots in water. 

Gammarus feeds on the roots and soft stem of Huernia succulent plant.

 The bottom of the plant has been chewed thoroughly. 

Did you notice the green strings of land moss mounting the plant from the water :) 

Here you can see the land moss growing up all the way from the bottom of the aquarium. 

There are seed shrimp, scuds, and snails in this one liter sustainable aquarium garden.

 Let's see if I can focus my camera on some of them.

 Here we go. 

The Huernia grew to about 11 cm long from a 3 cm long cutting in the past year. 

An impressive growth for a land plant growing with it’s roots in water.

 It makes Huernia a nice addition to my collection of land plants and succulents, in particular, growing in water.

Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)