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Cacti & Succulents

what happened to my succulent??

10 years ago

hello all,

near the end of august i picked up a succulent arrangemen from a local garden center. one of the succulents is (what I believe to be) an echeveria-- i've never been good with id'ing, but that's what he looks like to me!

anyway, as i was doing my rounds among my plants today, I noticed one of its lower leaves had a fairly large dark spot and was squishy to the touch. two other lower leaves seemed squishy as well. when i lifted one up to see if i could check out what was going on with the stem, it popped off pretty easily. This leaf had been resting on the lip of the terra cotta pot it was in, and had a brown mark where it had touched the lip. the lip is blackened where the leaf was. the same is true for the other two leaves, both of which also rested on the pot. all of the other leaves seem normal.

i've compiled some terrible cellphone photos in a flickr album here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/92835868@N06/sets/72157648498635380/

what's going on? is it possible that my pot burned the leaves? i've been rotating the pot, so that side wasn't currently facing the sun, but it was a few weeks ago. or is it mold? or rot?

any help is greatly appreciated. thanks so much for your time!!

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Comments (7)

IMCF
10 years ago
pull it out and check roots/base/stem for rot
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k8 (7b, NJ)
Original Author
10 years ago
checked for rot-- found nothing, but repotted him in his own pot just in case. Any ideas as to what this could be?? i'm stumped :c
0
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This is what always happens to my C. Muscosa. I'm not really sure how to get that thing to grow roots and keep them there. Am I watering too much, not enough? Is the soil supposed to retain more water? Less water? I would just take. Those pieces with green at the top and bury them up to the first set of undessicated leaves in a well-draining mix and let it reroot. Just don't let it get soggy. I like to use a spray bottle to root succulents.
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It is best to take off as much of old soil as possible - leaving it defeats the purpose of using different mix - at least to some extent. It is recommended to add 'generous amount of perlite, 50% or more' - I think you did well :) You could grow succulents in pure perlite, or pure pumice, or pure grit (or some other inorganics) - they all provide good drainage and aeration. Some bags of perlite have lots of dusty fines, so it may be good idea to sift it. I use a kitchen sieve to do that, putting all sifted perlite into a container with warm water (most likely it doesn't have to be warm, just the way I do it) and rinse it. Then I strain water using same sieve and use it. If I was to use the mix you mentioned, I would sift it too; most often there is still lots of fines in the mix. You should check if there is list of ingredients on the bag to see what it contain. Too much of organic ingredients may attract bugs like fungus gnats since they like wet organics. Not saying you shouldn't use it thou :) Many ppl. use this mix, just have to be careful about watering (that's why addition of perlite-to make drainage better). Personally, I don't buy it since I don't really see any benefit using it for succulents.
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Hi, Thank you everyone very much! To answer your questions: - Location: Melbourne, Australia - Sun: this area gets a good half a day of direct sunlight - Water/Drainage: This photo as I mentioned, was taken immediately after it rained, so it looks very wet. It is generally well protected from the rain by the leaves. Yes the rocks and sand and coal (i think perlite is another name) is ⅔ of the pot from the bottom. There are 4 big holes in the bottom of the pot and it drains really well. The plants were growing like crazy in this pot for over a year. And I replanted them 3-4 month ago, adding those rocks and sand. So the drainage issue is unlikely. The roots looked healthy. I could put some more rocks on top to protect it from the rain even more. -Plant type: don't know the name, it certainly looks just like K. luciae pictured above in Crenda's comment. There is a different succulent on the side. The very tall fast growing one. The leaves start to develop these black spots or dried edges and then bubble almost in an acid burn looking manner and die off. Should I trim those effected leaves?
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Your sempervivum looks OK, only a bit lacking in light. They can be grown indoors but they need a lot of sun. Your semp has flowered and you are seeing a normal flower stalk. The main plant will now die, leaving the pups around it to continue the plant. You should cut the pups off and let them root as separate plants and repot one back into the pot, otherwise you are going to be left with a gap in the pot and the pups hanging outside. The other one is an echevaria and also showing a litlle lack of light. You can cut the top off it, let it heal for a week and reroot it before planting it back into the pot. Otherwise it will have a long stalk with leaves at the top from now on. Give them as much sun as you can from now on.
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IMCF
10 years ago
its possible the leaves sat on the *wet/moist* rim for too long and rotted..what are you growing it in? leaves are quite prone to rotting when exposed to moisture for prolonged periods of time; your top dressing suggests that your soil may take longer to release moisture, and since you use a terracotta pot it would stay moist as well.

not sure if that is correct :s just my 2 cents.
0
k8 (7b, NJ)
Original Author
10 years ago
ICMF, i think you're right . . . it was in whatever it came in when i bought it, which looked like regular ol' soil mixed with rocks with sand on top, so yes, very moist :x guess i'll be repotting everything else from the arrangement as well to be safe!!!
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IMCF
10 years ago
In the case of repotting, you may want to switch to a better draining soil (and a pot with a drainage hole, if you're not already using one).
0
k8 (7b, NJ)
Original Author
10 years ago
haha yeah dude...its already got a drainage hole, but getting them in some grittier stuff is the entire reason I want to repot
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IMCF
10 years ago
well there are plenty of threads on the forum regarding 'the gritty mix' , just put it in the search bar :)

If you're looking for a quick temporary fix dunk a whole lot of perlite into the soil...maybe 50/50 ratio.

As for the sand, it tends to 'compact' when wet (bad aeration) so it's generally a less popular choice in growing medium.

Hope that helps, and goodluck with saving your plant :)
0

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