hanzrobo thanks for responding, you know I think I'm coming out of denial because I too noticed the spots on mine a few weeks ago and it was actually this morning my wife asked me , Hey whats up with your sunburst aeonium it has black spots on it? I thought to myself, emmm... I was wondering the same thing. I guess my next step might be to pull him up and out of the pot and check under the hood to see whats happening down there. I'll let you know what the results were. until then I'll lay of the water because I know it wasnt a lack of it.

I just saw your post while I was browsing for the same thing. I had a shrub expert tell me to wear gloves and scrape off the white tuffs with soapy water. Then spray with dormant oil when dormant and superior oil in growing season. If some of the branches are really bad, cut them off. I had a male and female dwaft holly and one developed this and died. I am hoping to save the other.

The plants need more light--they are spindly. Soft, new growth is easily damaged by some sprays, especially if the plant is on the dry side (which I suspect I see in the first image p leaf edges are dry). Environmental conditions when the spray was used also increase the likelihood of damage. the spray you used is an oil. That fact, alone, may be the cause of the blackening.

Plants that are struggling seldom give you cuttings that will root, so it's a good bet that any attempt at starting cuttings would be an exercise in futility. New leaves on ficus are typically a lighter shade of green than more mature leaves, and it's not unusual for anthocyanin to express itself (the purple pigment dots) in new leaves. It will fade as the leaves mature. If the image represents the roots current condition, I don't see why your tree shouldn't recover quickly, though you might have slowed recovery down if you didn't keep roots dripping wet throughout the procedure. It only takes a minute or two for fine roots to dry out and die. Closing your tree up with only a low light source might well have caused a corky layer to form where the leaf attaches to the stem. This is called an abscission layer because it's the point at which the leaf abscises (separates from the plant). Once this layer starts to form, it's not reversible, so some of the lower leaves might still be shed. You have a LOT of leaves on the plant for the root system to keep hydrated, so you might also see additional shedding as a drought response due to a compromised root system. This would be do to the repot, but the roots drying out during the repot would add to your shedding woes. You could remove some lower leaves or just let the plant decide what it needs to do to balance the top to what the roots can keep supplied with moisture. As long as you don't over-water (moist or damp as a wrung out sponge is what you should aim for) your plant should do the rest. When you're sure it's pushing new growth, you should start fertilizing. HOW you fertilize, solution strength and frequency, depends on your soil and how you water. Key, is your choice of soil and making sure your watering habits are appropriate. If you're able to water to beyond the saturation point, so you're flushing the soil when you water. without the plant having to suffer because the soil remains soggy for extended periods, you already have half of the battle won. Al