@cari, yes, I will work on acclimating it so it doesn't get shocked. I use pebbles on top of most of my other plants and will do that here too. @rina, I don't know a ton about growing succulents and was trying to err on the side of not being too wet. (Most of my other plants are ferns that I water with mindless abandon and they couldn't be happier. I know succulents need to be treated differently.) I read that succulents absorb water through moisture in the air around their roots, which is why it was important to have coarse soil. Is that incorrect? Mostly I didn't think about it being difficult to rewet until Cari asked, and apparently I was somewhat overconcerned about accidentally drowning the plants. I plugged up the drainage hole last night and have it a long, slow watering to completely soak the soil, and then opened the hole again. Should the echeveria completely dry out until the soil is bone dry before I water again (provided it doesn't croak) or can it be watered when it's just a bit damp still? I was thinking of seeing how the plant does with more water before trying to repot. What are your thoughts? Here's a picture of the soil mix I used. The white bits are pumice. I'd say that picture makes it look like there's more pumice in the mix than there is (meaning more has settled toward the top), but there's definitely a lot more in this than there is vermiculite (I think) in "normal" potting soils. Also this is a pretty small bag, maybe a total of two gallons, just to give some scale to the size of the pieces. Thanks!!

That could be drought stress or fertilizer burn. skuiiy: We bought the plant with the shown plastic pot and kept it in there since it seemed to be doing well & producing flowers and fruit. A plant from the nursery producing fruit is often doing so because it's stressed. When tomatoes are stressed, they fruit because the plant rushes to reproduce before it dies. So assuming it's happy because it's fruiting could be incorrect. Even if the pot is OK now, it won't be much longer unless that plant is a dwarf or small determinate. skuiiy: -Gave it liquid fertilizer. -Added about a spoonful of epsom salt to the soil/mulch mix it's in and mixed it in a bit. Epsom salt is really only necessary if the plant has a magnesium deficiency. If not, it could cause problems. Also, it's possible you've given the plant too much fertilizer, which can manifest as leaf burn skuiiy: now I'm watering(about 2 cups of tap water, instead of just 1)every other day starting today to see how that goes. First: Pot it in a much larger container. Gently knock off as much of the current potting mix as possible so that almost all of the mix is fresh, as this will help correct the problem if nitrogen burn is the problem. Use a normal, fluffy, well-draining potting mix, not a mix advertised as moisture-retaining, and not anything labeled as "garden soil". Mix water into the mix well before putting it in the pot, as peat-based mixes can initially repel water if they're dry. Second: Don't measure your water or water on a set schedule. To determine when to water, stick your finger down into the mix a couple inches. If it's dry, water and water very deeply, until the water is running freely out of the bottom of the pot. If it's still wet a couple inches down under the surface, hold off. In your climate, when it gets hot, don't be surprised if you have to water daily. As for fertilizer, you can give the plant a dose according to instructions once a week or every two weeks (depends on how frequently you have to water), or you can water at very dilute strength with every watering (dilute more the more frequently you have to water).

I'm thinking underwatering for the pots is the culprit, although overwatering can also cause the yellow leaf symptoms, though usually not so quickly here. Agree with Mad, going with heat stress & find it nearly impossible to overwater a potted rose in active growth as long as the pot size is adequate, the potting mix good & drainage holes functioning. Like Valrose, potted roses here are watered at least once a day & often twice when the day temps get to 80 & above. I water each one & then go back & water each again to make sure they're thoroughly watered each time. If we get a soaking rain, I skip the watering. Hot days after cooler ones increase water needs here. And it's not only the warmer temps, but the greater intensity of sunlight every year that affects plants whether potted or planted. In the last few years, plants that were formerly happy in part sun part shade conditions have needed more shade as well, which I also chalk up to the intensity cranking up. With such frequent watering of pots, I subscribe to the "weakly weekly" fertilizing routine, using Neptune's Harvest liquid at half rates for larger plants & quarter rates for younger ones, on a second watering of the day. A good bit of rain usually falls here year round, with cloudbursts & storms frequent over the growing season. Though the land is clay based loam, the roses were never more lush & happy than a recent Summer when storms came by daily. Agree with Mad here again, in those circumstances, even with the soil saturated to puddles, no roses (or other plants) seemed to mind at all. What we see as red pigments in rose leaves, such as apparent in new leaves, actually protect the leaf by dissipating heat. Mildew can be brought on by underwatering in heat here, but it's opportunistic, does't bleach leaves & treated by washing the leaves with water wand & making sure the roots have adequate water. Occasionally see older leaves bleach out quickly right ahead of or at the same time as a growth spurt occurs. Just some random thoughts over a late lunch break & likely not well organized, but hopefully food for thought. Are your pots protected from heating up in the sun? I'd water the pots a good bit more, the planted out roses too, and start them on the Neptune's once satisfied their water needs were met daily. The Neptune's also great as a foliar spray applied in early evening when the temp's below 75 & leaf stoma open to absorb it completely. Sue

We have an Update. It's Squash Vine Borers. As of this morning we trimmed our 3rd and only surviving Turban/Buttercup (not quite sure which was planted) plant. We found the larvae in the stem. For some reason we thought we might not have as much pests as we live in the middle of a city. That was wrong. These are the Squash and the Damage done: - 2 Buttercups/turban completely dead and stem base is mushy as if its rotted - 1 Buttercup/Turban has been trimmed in half, other half is still thriving - 1 Pink Banana has fruit growing, 1 leaf is wilting, will keep careful eye on this as it is susceptible to SVB - 1 Pink Banana is growing with no signs of SVB - 1 Pink Banana was growing find and has been wilting on and off for 2 days, will keep a close eye on this too - 1 Fairytale looks very healthy, not susceptible to SVB or Squash Bugs, but has 1 or 2 small holes in one leaf. Fruit is growing strong. Most healthy plant we have! - 1 pepo at the front is just making a fruit now, appears to be the delicata we planted, appears healthy, has 1 burst or damaged vine either from SVB or when we moved it and strung up said vine to our tree. Will keep an eye on this and possibly use some surgical methods (as Grow Veg would say) to slice open and inspect for the SVB grubs. - 1 Casper/Pink Banana, again not sure which germinated in this pot. Has no damage, also is so small it hasn't any male flowers yet. - 4 Early Butternuts, these are also so small they don't have male flowers yet. Looking healthy though, and they aren't susceptible to SVB. I should note some of these plants were not closely inspected today. Got turned off gardening after seeing the wrigglies, so we will do a closer inspection soon. We are looking at methods of killing them. Does anyone know if amending the soil with say, selenium or sulphur could help the plant kill insects? Recently found a paper saying selenium in plants kills aphids when they eat the plant. One more question: Does anyone know if C. pepo is susceptible to SVB or Squash Bugs? Thank you.