Hi JK,

No, this is the perfect place. I've never experienced planticide on the scale (no pun intended) that you're mentioning.....but have you checked the soil for root mealie bugs?

The roots *do* appear to be what is going first --- I noticed this when trying to salvage the Haworthias. Some of them looked healthy from the top, but the roots were rotted under the soil.

What am I looking for for with root mealies? I didn't see anything obvious when cleaning them off...

They look like flecks of ash in the soil.

I can tell you from rueful personal experience, they love certain Aloe, Gasteria and Haworthia roots. In fact, there was also a certain surface mealy (Planococcus citrii, if I recall correctly) that would also eat up certain of these genus, while not bothering at all the plants (of the same genus) next to them. Strange, but nothing to do with your problem.

I'd say from the symptoms that it has to be the roots, and it might be the aforementioned dastardly critter.

Root mealies seem to be a likely culprit. They are difficult to eradicate because they take residence in all sorts of nooks and crannies within the plant, underneath the pots and wherever the pots are sitting.

You definitely need to uproot your plants and inspect them as well as the pots. You should find small white cottony tufts underneath the pots and under the pot rims, as well as on the walls of the pots.

If you indeed find these little bastards, it is time for treatment. The best thing to do is repot all your plants into new pots and fresh new soil mixes. Wash away the old soil from the roots. Unfortunately there will probably be some surviving eggs. The use of a systemic with Imidacloprid is highly effective, as it will kill breeding adults and will protect the plant for many months.

Chemicals should only be the last resort but when so many different plants are affected, you need to wipe them out with "cluster bombs".

x

junglkitty, I'm not getting into this, but want to give all of you a tip. I grow 17 flats of Haworthia, 25-36 per flat, I use diatomaceous earth in the mix for my Haworthia no root mealies in 5 years, It works here but perhaps not for you. If you water on a regular time, not letting your soil completely dry out you will not have root mealies, I don't take any credit for this but it works at the Huntington Gardens and want to pass on why we water on a regular time program. Haworthis natuarally lose there roots at the beginning of spring or summer, I just let them dry out until the new roots grow, this may not help you. Norma

Hmm, so taking your comments under advisement, I checked the pot of the recently salvaged Haworthias. I'm not seeing anything fluffy or white at all, not on the roots or pot etc.

I have had regular mealies before (ugh) and the root mealies look similar, correct? At least I think they do from my trawling of Google images a few minutes ago.

I did see two very tiny fast moving ovoid gray bugs in the saucer and another in the soil that looked similar but even smaller, but I don't think they're mealies. My careful inspection also found one tiny fellow that looked to be a red spider mite. It's a zoo in there, but I am not sure these guys are plentiful enough to be the issue.

Thanks so much for the comments so far. Continuing thoughts?

Continuing thoughts? Heck, I'm lucky if there's one foot ahead of the other.

Nope, root mealies are rather different than their above-earth counterparts. No, spider mites wouldn't do what you're describing.

I'd change the soil completely and start over.

Hmmm...

Have you had particularly warmer or more humid weather the last few weeks?

What is your potting mix made up of?

I wonder if you have some weakened plants with poor root systems that are unable to cope with hot summer weather.
Sempervivum are alpine plants, and many Haworthia are not accustomed to hot and humid conditions. It's a balancing act when dealing with succulents and heat. Most people are under the false assumption that our cactus and succulents want to be in a hot or dry situation. The truth is that most suffer in pots with cramped roots that heat up and dry out too quickly.

Unfortunately succulents are so tolerant of poor conditions that one can grow them for years, thinking all is well because they are still alive...and then are surprised when all of a sudden they die.
I'm not saying this is the case here, but it's something to consider.

X

It's actually been oddly cool here in Chicago for the past month. The coolest July I since I've lived here, actually...

I think the suggestion to change the potting medium on any/all affected plants is a good one. I did check again though, and definitely don't see any bugs at all on the roots, just a general rotting from the bottom up on the "infected" plants.

What's your recommendation for the best potting mix to stave off rot/disease? I generally mix my own, but don't have a particular formula.

Thanks again, so much, for all your suggestions...

I use a mix for all my succulents and cactus..I just recently changed and made a better mix do to some problems I found with my old one.

I mix one part good quality potting soil, one part pea gravel and 2 parts perilite. This gives very good drainage without making the mix to heavy or compact. It seems to work very well for nearly all plants.

Others can tell you what they use also.

Mary

It sounds like what got my aloes last winter. It turned out to be a viral infection.

Even a new shipment of rare plants that I potted up today at the Huntington had mold growing on them. This time of the year I am finding mold.
Haworthia, from my experience of growing them for the past 30 years, I noticed in hot weather even in Africa they shut down part of the year for about 3 months, they shed the old roots, which will become their fertilizer. I take a plant out of the soil when it does this which is now, law it on it's side on the top of the soil, and wait until I see the new roots growing, then replant it in fresh dry soil, and wait about two weeks before or longer before I start to water again. At that time I take off the dead roots, leaves and while upside down inspect for scale, use Windex, mealies, and wash with soap and water. This works for me, it may not work for you, I also add diatomaceous earth agg. quality that the mealies cannot live in, get it at a nursery. This information is not meant to start a war here, the lady is asking for help. Norma

Would you mind tell which species this is effecting. That may be a help to all of us to help you. Crasulady2

Norma: The only affected succulents so far are the one large pot of Haworthias and 5 or six pots of mixed Sempervivums. I keep many other succulents (jades, aloes, sedums etc) and luckily have not seen this on them (yet?). I don't know if it's an issue of susceptibility or just chance/proximity? Thank you for your excellent advice on the Haworthias, this is just what I'm doing trying to save my batch.

Metha: I did suspect a viral infection, as I have not been able to spot an insect pest. How were you able to identify your problem as a virus, and were you able to do anything to prevent it's spread?

Mary: Thanks for your advice on the potting mix. Sounds good for when I repot these poor suffering guys, if they make it. :(

Again, thanks to everyone on the forum for pitching in with all of your help...

JK,

This is how we do it.

Personally, if you can, suggest put your Semps in the ground - they'll like it there more so than in pots.

Make sure the Haworthias have (1) very good drainage and (2) aren't overwatered (3) little to no peat - just some suggestions.

As someone mentioned, I would depot and desoil all of the plants and clean their roots with sprayed isopropyl alcohol, 409, Windex, or something like that. Wait 5 minutes and then rinse with water. Let them dry in a shady spot for a day and repot in fresh soil.

Lots of luck!

I was told it was viral on another forum and was told to cut off the infected part, let the good parts dry for a couple of weeks then repot in new soil. I was able to save one out of all the plants I had. I kept cutting off bad stuff every few days, it had spread way too quickly.

I think that whether it's virus-related or caused by a very hard to see/find pest, the consensus seems to be to depot the plants, toss the old soil, spray, let them dry for a while, and then repot. I am hoping that this will stop the madness! ;P

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Help!!!! Im having the same issue!! It's contained in one pot.. one day a succulent will look fine, literally the next day one is dying! I don't want this problem to spread to any of my other succulent pots or flower garden.. has anyone diagnosed this issue?!

I've had something similar happen to my aloes before (I had a large quantity of the same type). It happened very rarely for me.

The key was to deal with it as quickly as possible. Cut and remove all affected mushy portions. Wash your pruners between plants and even cuts if it is that messy. Any heavily damaged plants went to the garbage.

I threw out all the old media and repotted the affected plants. Also tried to segregate the plants away if possible and watered extremely carefully.

If you leave even partially mushy/softening parts they will get worse. In my cases, I never saw any insects and some pots were even completely dry.

That's just my experience! Hope your plants survive. It is quite stressful.

I'd bet that 95% of the time when people have a sudden collapse of a plant, it's root rot due to overwatering.

This is particularly problematic for indoor C&S because they don't consume much water and air circulation is poor.