Bruce before

Bruce now

Bruce now

{{!gwi}}

It does appear to be rot, or post-rot. Sometimes it will get squishy initially, and then become hollow and dry out. I would cut the stem above the brown, or even into it for starters so you can see what's going on in there. If it's not looking good, cut until you see only healthy green tissue. I can't really tell the size of the plant now; hopefully there will be something left that you can re-plant. If not, it looks like you still have a few healthy leaves, and I have found this to be one of the easiest plants to propagate.

I'm sure others will chime in with their advice.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks for your response spapa! I will try doing that now

Update:

Like you said, I did have to cut away a good amount of the stem before I saw healthy tissue again. Bruce is looking pretty short now. He has a few roots going but I think they are connected to the small offshoots.

I've had luck with propagating Sedum rubrotinctum (Jelly bean) but not so much with other cuttings. Do you have any tips for propagating these guys?

This post was edited by Mighty_Metis on Tue, Sep 23, 14 at 15:45

At least you have some healthy plant left - that stem looks nice and green. The roots look like a good sign. Make sure you let it dry out for a day or two to callous over before planting, and don't water right away!

In my experience propagating this plant, the leaves dry out more readily than other species/hybrids, so rather than leaving them fully exposed to the air, I tuck the tips under the soil after a day or two of callousing.

And mist the leaves every day or so, as long as they're in a warmish environment - they'll root out in two weeks or so.

Thanks to both of you for your help! I'll keep you updated on how it goes :)

Hi Mighty Metis and Spapa,

Hope bruce is doing great again

(not the best picture - its neighbour is a stone rose I'm keeping there to get a big bigger before repotting)

I'm writing because I think I'm heading towards a similar situation with my panda. A break-off branch was given to me recently by an acquaintance, I planted it just before summer, it really transformed around 3 weeks later (spreading its leaves, growing very fast) but now I see the lower stem getting darker, greyish and loosing density, it looks like its drying out.

I presume the roots are also affected by rot possibly. I certainly planted it into unsuitable soil for succulents, the weather went from very hot to very dry constantly and I also planted it into a terracotta pot (I think it retains too much moisture with the wrong soil mix).

I'm watering every three days once the top soil dries out in a hot and humid room.

If you guys can see this post, I'd much appreciate a knowledgeable glance and comment, as I'm not sure what's happening here.

Thank you for the advice! Would you say the stem looks like its rotting?

You're welcome! Honestly I can't say for sure, just by looking at the photo, but I recommend changing out the soil asap if that is plain potting soil. Here are two pots of mine. The first is outdoors where they get late afternoon sun. And temps are around 99F. The second is a pot I have indoors where they don't get enough sun and I didn't use the proper soil. I'll be repotting that second pot soon.

I'm not an expert grower like many of the others on here, so you'll see bark in the soil in the first picture, but it's doing fine that way. It's better than pure potting soil that isn't mixed with pumice 50/50.

Nice plants! And what a difference between room and open air, even though the indoor plant looks interesting that way, but not happy ...

Thank you for the potting mix tip, I'll do that asap. I'll have a look at the roots while doing it

:-)