Looks like roots rotted and it spread up the stem. Your mix looks very wet.

hmm, I see. Well I took the pic right after watering, I usually mist it because it does not require much water. My mix is 50% cac suc soil and 50% crushed lava rock and pea gravel. Top dressing is flourite. Ill take another look at the soil and see if its still wet. I water my plants once every two weeks or so.

Misting succulents isn't a good idea IMO. Plants take water thru the roots.

50% soil is probably too much (that soil, sold as 'well draining' is most often not).

Pea gravel is too large for a mix.

You should be able to water succulents thoroughly if the mix is well draining.

I mist the lower root so the water goes right down to the root. My mix is pretty good, they drain instantly and dry up quick. So I have to go back and check the pot to see whats going on.

Yea, thats my fault. I started misting because whenever I water, the water goes right down (exits the pot). Since I dont know how much its rooted, I was worried maybe the water misses it. Thats where I developed this habbit.

I uprooted the plant and the roots seem fine. But I guess its too late. Although the root is fine,right underneath the leaves its mushy. It wasnt the soil, I know my soil and its perfect. The problem here was me. When I got this plant, the first month or so I was misting the lower part around every 2 days. Big mistake.

Mix is quite good but pls. eliminate any large rocks - pea gravel is usually too large for a mix. It is great for topdressing. Particulates making the mix should be same size (as close to same as possible). That may have been reason that water drained out immediately (as per your description). Grit is smaller than pea gravel.

I see. My current mix is finished. When I make the new mix, I want to add turface or grit of some sort, but Ill have the research first. I honestly never saw an issue with pea gravel, but if you say so. Could you tell me why its bad though? Why should the entire mix be the same particle size? In nature its usually all over the place.

Yes, in nature it is, but we are growing in considerable smaller 'space' - a container/pot, and very often under very different growing conditions - temperatures, light, amount of moisture (we, people, tend to overwater), drainage.

I am assuming your pea gravel is too large - I have it too so know the size, but I only use it for topdressing. If used as part of the mix and is bigger than other ingredients, it creates very large spaces and water just drains straight thru. We don't want plant to sit in mucky soil, but if all water just runs off, there isn't anything for plant to drink. That's the reason you were spraying/misting the plant's stem often and it rotted - it was constantly wet, without having chance to dry out, but roots were not getting enough drink.

Try to get chicken grit, crushed granite - I believe in US it is sold often as Gran-I-grit? - something like that. Grower's size (or size #2 is best for gritty mix).

Thanks, I guess that makes sense. Rina, I live just NW of Toronto :p

Nametaken - You can get some nicely sized white granite grit for very cheap at Sharpe's Feed Store in Moffat (Milton). Probably not very far from you at all.

I also agree that you need to water the soil mix, not the plant. That's good advice. =)

Lava rock can hold a fair bit of water and 50% cactus soil even more.

I'm also in the Toronto area, nice to see another local!

Or, if you are close to Newmarket, there is farm supply store you can get chicken grit from - North York Farmers Limited, 17435 Leslie St, Newmarket

and turface from - Plant Products, 314 Orenda Rd, Brampton, ON L6T 1G1

NameTaken:

Pls. be reminded that these plants are succulents, meaning they hold water in reserve in their fat, fleshy tissues. This means they are able to live off that moisture while they grow roots &/or when water is scarce.

Pls. look to the leaves to tell you this, they'll get wrinkly if dehydrated, that's when you can SEE there's a problem, best not to assume it like you did with the misting & frequency of watering.

I grow a half dozen different Aloes in Cactus & Succulent soil w/ lots of added pumice or perlite in clay pots & they do just fine. Western exposure, these days I'm watering every 10 days to 2 wks or so.

I'd also suggest you try a smaller pot next time, sized more towards the size of the plant. Pls. notice the relationship here btwn the size of these plants above & the size of their pots, much smaller. They're pretty happy since 4 out of 5 of these plants have pups (baby plants or plantlets).

It's good too that Aloes are readily available, you can give it another shot.

Thanks Mayo for your comment (sorry, I just can't bring myself to call you Ewww) ;>)

Lena

Lena - As long as you remember I hate mayo, I'm okay with that! =P

I just want to add that when you water a plant, the water SHOULD run out the bottom of the pot. The only exceptions that come to mind right now would be small rooting cuttings, perhaps, or plants in dry peat, which has dried out into a hard hydrophobic ball of soil. In that case, you would want to get rid of that soil anyway.

breton is right; what I mean is all the water draining out immediately, without any being held by particulates (not the fine soil - that will soak up and hold too much water, even becomes muck), nothing getting to thew roots of plant.

Rina, Ill try to check out the store in Brampton as its the closest. I want to check out this huge nursery close by first. I think walmart had turface for car oil spills, but I think that might be US. Ill have to check it out too. I dont like perilite as it just floats up and gets wasted, want something heavier and not that expensive. I think turface is pretty cheap. Also, whats your ratio for pumice to soil? Are those the only two you have in the blend?

Peat is terrible, all the new plants come in it and it gets as hard as a rock. I throw that stuff out asap when I get new plants.

Im thinking of getting a pipette or something for tiny offspring, misting doesnt work as I found out and its hard to reach many pots due to space issues, which is why misting was easier for me.

Just waiting for the weather to warm up, winter does not want to go :(

Wallmart may have it & so does Canadian Tire - I bought some a while ago, didn't care for it too much. Turface is better for me & price too (50lb for just about $20).

I use perlite a lot; mix it with turface and grit. Grit & perlite in approx. same amount, less turface (it does hold quite a bit of water). I use larger grit (#3 size) or sometimes pea gravel for topdressing, keeps perlite from floating. Kevin is using very similar mix now. I don't use bark anymore - can't really find suitable size.

May I ask what is the large nursery you are referring to? I have been to so many, none carries turface or grit. I wish there was pumice available. Never checked farm supply store for Dry Stall - bedding for horses that is supposed to be pure pumice. But there is also Stall Dry that is made from a natural diatomaceous earth depositenhanced with Montmorillonite Clay - so very similar to turface and supposedly more dusty, so turface is better.

Humber Nurseries. I found out about them this past winter, so as the weather gets warmer I will visit them. I really like Lakeside Garden Gallery as well. I dont think any nursery will have turface, perilite or anything similar, I think thats too specific and the general public isnt looking for it. Previous summer they did have a 50% plant sale and I bought a few shrubs, Japanese maple and a few others as I re-did my front yard (last owners had a confused flower, plant bed. I wanted to post a thread about it on this site but never got around doing that.

Ok, I will def. get turface as both walmart and Canadian Tire, HD and Lowes are close by. I have to look into chicken grit though.

On the side, I will def. be getting the Musa Basjoo, they were on sale last year but I missed them. Ill be getting them this spring at full price so they will have a long time to grow. The r roots should be nice and strong for the winter (before I chop off the rest of the plant for the winter). My fig tree has also made it throught the winter.

I know Humber, have been going there for so many years...they got quite pricey - but most good nurseries are. Btw, all nurseries carry perlite, in small and in large bags (about $40).

Good luck with Musa Basjoo - too big for me (even with a 1/4ac garden - but what to do for winter???) I have 3 figs and that is enough. Not sure if I explained it clearly enough about turface - I would get it from Brampton (not CT or Wallmart...) HD or Lowe's don't carry it.

hmm, I will check out the large bag of perilite if they have it. I dont bother with small bags because I make my soil in bulk.

The banana tree you chop the whole thing down right before winter and put mulch bags and other protective things to protect it from the cold and water (basically make a fence around where the tree roots are, fill it with leaf litter bags and cover it with plastic.) During spring it regrows but also spreads. Im going to try to stuff it in my back yard, even though I dont have space.

I like the huge plants for backyard since they make it look quite tropical...but storing them during winter is bit of a problem. But I have too many other ones - like figs I mentioned, quite a few brugmansias, some olives - and they all need to be protected in winter. I don't think banana would survive outdoors unless protected with 'enclosure' as you described. Friends in Toronto did exactly same with 1 fig and lost it - something wasn't quite right. If I was in Oakville, I would probably try....

I have bought large bags of perlite at Humber, btw. Also Plant world in TO.

How is the succulent selection at Humber Nurseries? I've never been and a little curious. It's a bit of a drive for me.

Can come back & make another point pls?

"Basement is cool but never close to freezing."

This matters --- that COOL combined w/ the constant wet of the misting business is what did your Aloe in.

In succulent circules this is known as the Kiss of Death

cold & wet = death for most succulents.

I wonder if you might not be emphasizing soil mixes too much & care/culture issues too little for good results w/ succulents.

You've learned they can't tolerate overwatering.

They can't tolerate cool conditions either. If you can't control the cool, maybe succulents aren't the plant group for you to grow.

Sure sounds like you're able to grow other things.

I'm the one who uses pumice w/ C&S mix, informal measures, like combining 1 cup of each. I use the pumice w/ succulents & the perlite w/ houseplant / tropicals. I've never noticed the perlite floating or had issue w/ it.

Lena

I beg to differ, most succulents can easily tolerate cool conditions as long as they are dry. For overwintering indoors, a cool dry space is best, as the cool temps will discourage growth under lower indoor light conditions. I for one really wish I had a cool well lit location for overwintering my succulents.

I agree with breton - they are just fine in cooler temps as long as not wet (but I think that's what Lena meant: ..."cold & wet = death for most succulents"...)

I keep most of my succulents in colder basement (not enough space upstairs), under lights - but it isn't really as good as natural light. Definitely water them less. They spent couple of winters in temps approx. 8*C and none of them died. They got water approx 1/month. I call this 'over-wintering'; and plants don't grow much - I don't encourage too much growth since it would be weak and etiolated IMHO. If temps are kept higher and there is plenty of light, the watering will be more frequent - that's how Kevin grows his succulents. They grow for him much more during winter than mine that are under less light and lower temps.

I know Breton, but dry wasn't part of this story. This poor thing was watered to the point of saturation. I would certainly understand & agree w/ cool but DRY.

Thanks Rina, you understand exactly, cold AND wet = succulent doom.

I know, I read the original post. My comment was directed at your statement that if the OP can't 'control the cool' that perhaps s/he should not grow succulents. OP has already been advised to back off with watering, cool temps on their own should not be a problem.

Are these any good? I did a quick google search and some say its good but others say the consistency is all over the place. So if these are no good, Ill go to the store in south brampton (plant prods) and get some. At humber nurseries there is also perilite, I wish it was cheaper. But Rina, if this is a good price, I guess Ill buy this too. Although it wont make many pots.

Perlite (like anything else) in smaller bag is more expensive per unit. That is the reason I buy in bulk. But if one has only few plants, than bulk is not necessary. The large bags are now about $40 (when I bought it first, the were $30! - about 4-5 yrs ago :( IIRC, it is 4cu ft, each cu ft = 28l (calculations from google). Above shows 5l for $5 (?) Call Humber & ask them about perlite in bulk (exact amount & price).

I had same Qualisorb, it was first product I was able to find before finding turface. I am not sure anymore, but I think turface (buying in 50lb bags) is more economical - last time I bought turface, price was $20/50lb. Looks like there is a price tag for Qualisorb $14/15kg? Maybe you should call PlantPro first & find out how much turface is now. And again, depends on how much one needs - luckily, I have space to store it, so 'bigger (bag) is better' :)