Colleen,

I don't know. Are your other Aeoniums (or anything else) unaffected?

I'd guess it's only a surface thing (and not big trouble), but still....

I'm dealing with mealies and having to bring all of my plants in today (in the cold rain, natch). I'll get back to you.

I'd spray with a soap solution / 'green' bug spray as a first response.

Thank God the other Aeoniums aren't affected thus far; I'd be over over-the-moon upset if that were the case. And thank God this isn't happening to my Haworthia, I guess. I'm guessing it's a surface thing, too, which I guess is something to be grateful about?...but just in a day's time it has spread. I could not believe the change when I went out to check first thing this morning.

Last night I sprayed with a soap solution immediately. It's what I had on hand. I had meant to note. And this morning, worse. If it's a disease rather than a pest, I don't have the knowledge for combat. I could cry, really.

I don't know if it could be related to a weather change... We had an increase in humidity several days ago before we promptly dropped in temperature from the 80s to the 60s. The greenhouse has never dropped below the low 60s thus far. Whether an issue related to moisture would trigger a permanent disease I don't know.

The soil should not be a problem; it was on the verge of dry last I checked and getting watering time. I just don't know. The spots that have dramatically grown just since last night are kind of terrifying to me.

Really, thank goodness it's not mealies, though. I'm sorry to hear that's your battle. It's an experience I have not had. It's one you and the plants did not need.

That looks like scale. Spray with Saffer's Spap do it now.Jeff is right . Aeonium are Winter growing
plants and don't like the heat of July, August ,Sept to Oct 15 depending where you live. If it is cold enogh you can cut off the heads and restart them. Set in a empty pot until you see roots coming, then set in soil and water. Remove new heads when they reach 3" This is protection in case one dies. Helpful hints for the beginners. Norma

Thank you, guys, so very much. There was much hurrying. I do not have that insecticide soap, Norma, but I conveniently found and purchased neem oil today, which I'd been meaning to do. I have it, so I sprayed it heavily on all surfaces of the plant. It will be absorbed overnight.

Yes, they're delightful winter growers. Just waking up right about now!

Good news: the scale appears to have stopped spreading. It didn't have time to completely ruin the uppermost few leaf layers of the mother plant, so at the very least, the mother plant doesn't look like crud. But four pups look pretty horrid.

All in all, huge relief. No one else was affected. I kissed the luteovariegatum and 'Suncup,' who by the grace of God were not infected.

What nasty crap that was.

When you cut the heads off of a Kiwi, will it produce new leaves from the stem left behind? Will this plant reproduce from leaf or stem cuttings as well?

Once the 3 in cuttings have grown roots, how deep do you plant them in the soil? I'm assuming that the roots will emerge from the cut end of the head. So there'll be a lot of stem just sort of hanging around...or will the roots emerge all along the stem?

Norma, all hints are appreciated!

Hahah, Penny, you crack me up with the questions. :) Anxious to learn; it's nice.

I've had no experience with a completely bare stem and having new leaves from that stem, but I imagine that beheading the mother rosette would probably encourage pups to form on the stalk. As far as how far down to put a stem in soil to root, well, I honestly don't think too much about it; an inch or two and they'll root quickly, I find. Mine develop aerial roots quite a bit near the soil.

Yea, I'm intensely curious, and that has both its good points and bad points. Like, I start buying books about whatever topic I want to learn about which causes me to spend $$$...good that I buy books, bad that I spend so much money. One of my favorite quotes is, "You have to learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself."

I saw a picture in one of these books where this lady just cut the head off of this huge succulent and laid it aside and roots just grew out of the bottom of it like hair. It was pretty startling to see what she had done and if I had not seen it I would be terrified of doing it to such a big gorgeous plant. Unfortunately, it did not show a photo of what happened to the rest of the plant after she beheaded it, nor did it describe the details about replanting the head. I would be tempted to plant it clear up to the base leaves of the head as there was about 4 inches of stem and the roots merely came out of the cut end, not out of the stem. With my luck, the stem would rot.