Aeonium with moss on top, indoors? I'm guessing rot.

Your plant has been way too wet, it's rotting. Moss is not for succulents. It looks like it extends down the sides too? Is there a hole in the bottom?

Take a couple cuttings, let them harden off in a shady place, several days or more, replant in very small pots with proper soil which would be half cactus mix and half perlite. Do not water for a couple days after potting up. Pots need drainage holes. Clay pots are best. Don't keep in the sun until it roots, several weeks or so. Do not overwater.

I was concerned about the moss maintaining moisture, so I only applied a very fine layer to keep the soil from falling out. The reason it appears to be on top of the soil is because I was pulling at it to feel if it was wet. The roots were in succulent soil.

I killed my first succulents from over watering, so I was extremely careful to not make that mistake again. I had the plant 2 months and only watered about 3 times. Even when I watered I did not fully soak the soil.

The soil and moss were bone dry when I removed the plant so I am not convinced that overwatering was the problem. I mean it is definitely a possibility....but I am curious if there are any other ideas??

I think it wasn't getting enough light. I had the same thing happen to me with a plant that I kept indoors next to a window. I went to water it one day and I barely touched it and all of the leaves fell off. I had bought two of the same plant, one indoors and one outdoors. To this day, the one outdoors is doing great.

It really looks like it rotted. :( From water inside :(

I have had succulents that I thought were "bone dry" too but died of rot. Sometimes there is just one pocket of leftover water inside (that we don't see) and that's enough to kill them all. :( Sorry your plant died. I had many died too. It's really the nature of plant growing.. Don't feel so bad.. We win some, lose some.. You can get another Aeonium and start again. Good luck!

You should fully soak the soil...that soil though,should be full of things that don't maintain moisture. Store sold succulent soil is far too water retentive.

I had leaves on Kiwi falling off when underwatered...

Perhaps let's not use the word 'soak' w/ succulents, that's bound to go awry. I take the idea to be water thoroughly (vs. little sips which make future problems).

No disrespect Samantha, but it IS rot, we all recognize it here. There are no other causes (well maybe too big a pot too); we have all been down this road before, sadly it's part of the learning curve. But then one learns better & can then do better.

Moss is absolutely not something to use w/ succulents, for any reason, ever, not even small amounts.

Tho' Succulent soil may be packaged labeled as such, we've learned the hard way it too has too much peat & needs to be mixed at least 50/50 w/ perlite to be fast draining enough for succulents.

If you'd used a plastic pot for the plant which could have placed inside that lovely outer pot for decorative purposes, you could avoid the moss problem.

Someone above mentioned she bought two Aeoniums; the indoor one failed the outdoor one did great. I think that MAY generally be true. I dated a fellow who grew lots of these outdoors in So. Cal.

My efforts to bring some back & grow them indoors in NYC failed multiple times w/ 3 or 4 different kinds of Aeoniums. I think they really want to be outdoors.

Also, in case you haven't heard this, they go dormant in summer, closing up their heads & looking not so nice. After a while I gave up on them altogether.

Better Luck next time,

Lena

Those pictures do not show what happens when you underwater aeoniums. when aeoniums are underwatered they drop leaves and look like sticks with a tiny little rosette at top.

This is what an underwatered aeonium looks like.

It happens, Samantha. I had a kiwi that didn't like water, didn't like it dry, didn't like sun and didn't do well in bright shade, either. I could not please it. But like Lena mentioned, they go dormant in the summer and mine was not enjoying the heat and humidity outside. It never woke up in the fall.

I just went out to find an Aeonium that I had quarantined in a shady spot has jettisoned a bunch of leaves. I have been fighting mealies on other plants, and I wanted to be sure this one was clean before I brought it into the house for the summer. And I waited too long!

No mealies are apparent, but those brown spots are new. It looked OK yesterday morning, but I didn't look closely enough I guess. Hopefully it will survive the summer inside by a south facing window.

Hope you can salvage a part of your plant and figure out exactly what it wants. Lots of good advice here to help you out.

Cutting taken May 4th, 2016 (Kiwi on left, Balsamiferum on right):

Here is one of my aeonium kiwis,they live outside here in S.Cali year round.

Kathi

Even if you didn't over water, the moss can likely ––– retain–– moisture. Good air circulation is mandatory for growing succulents. To me it looks like not enough light. Also, if the roots died back from being too wet one time, the plant will look like it was under-watered because of root loss.

What causes the tip of an aeonium kiwi leaf to start turning black and soft?..I keep pulling them off when I see them starting and I spray it with an organic fungicide..yet I still have the problem.. Their at the bottom of the plant..

Rot? If you provide more information on your plant - what mix and type of pot it's potted in, your climate if it's left outside, your watering regimen, some photos, etc - you may get more/better answers.

Well I'm in Northeast NC the plant is in a glazed pot with a cactus mix with perlite and chicken grit the climate is humid and I water only when the soil is dry I use a chopstick to check to see if water is needed in any plant if its anyways moist I usually don't water (especially succulents and cacti).. and yes its been outside on my porch that has a eastern view all spring and summer...I have noticed this problem since the beginning of July.. Pics there's really nothing to see cuz I always pull the ugly leaves off the plant when the black spot appears..the stem of the plant is sturdy and doesn't seem to be mushy all all.. but if a pic might help anyway I could post one I suppose..

Question: the leaves that are black, are they black marks or mushy, black leaves?

Not sure why, but I've been lucky with aeoniums with an expanding collection. Every since I realized they like cool weather anyway

Its like mushy black leaves and it starts at the tips I cant stand to watch it consume the entire leaf so I pull it off as soon as I see one and I use a fungicide every week and spray the whole plant its been over a month since it was watered..

Bring the plant indoors, at least out of the heat and sun. It is dormant in the summer and doesn't need water like your other plants. Meager watering in the summer is all it needs. It will perk back up when it cools off this fall.

I left this one outside too long and you can see what happened with the leaves. Is this what you are seeing?

This is another one that didn't like the summer heat and humidity.

Ok i'll bring it inside and see if its health will improve..ty for the pics I tried to post some but it didn't upload them =/

Good luck! I do hope that will help your plant. I think it is our humidity that they can't take. I've lost several different Aeoniums in the past because I didn't protect them in the wet and humid summers. Even when I moved that kiwi to the shade, it was still too hot and humid.

That first plant looked great in June, and by July it was getting the spots and dropping leaves. My other plant is looking ok so far. So here's hoping both of our plants make it through the summer!

I have tried and tried to post some pics but it just wont work I saw on another post on here I'm not alone in this problem..ugh

Where are you posting from?

From a pc/laptop, try using Houzz photo instead of Photo icon. 4 photos max. I don't know about posting from the phone (never used posting from phone).

Posting from my phone 99% of the time here ...

I click "Photo" beside the little camera icon there

Then I select my "photo library" (because I like to crop my pics most often before posting, otherwise they end up distorted)

Once I select my photo, it sometimes takes a few seconds to load. You'll see a little green spinning cricle where the photo will be dropped in.

If you don't see it, just try again. It took me three tries to load a pic just now.

I'm on a laptop ..I don't own a cell phone people nowadays are just to "busy" their like pod people everywhere you look someone is using one..anyway I took the aeonium out of the soil and washed the roots off and pulled any dead roots I saw off it has lots of lil white roots (Dear God I hope that's a good sign) and it doesn't smell funky and the stem all the way down to the root system is strong and sturdy there was some dark coloration near the bottom of the stem but I rub it with a q-tip and it cleaned up.. Thanks Rina i'll try Houzz Photos maybe that will work for me.. Nope still nada no pic =( It worked one time and then when I tried to change the pic (I uploaded the wrong one) it wouldn't let me ..darn.. Should I spray the roots with an organic fungicide before I repot the plant just to be safe?

pharaoh

You washed the roots, trimmed off any dead ones. There is no need to use fungicide - IMO, it would be like taking aspirin just in case :) If there was rot, it would warrant fungicide. You can leave it in open air, out of sunlight, for few hours, to air dry and pot up after.

Btw, cinnamon powder is a natural fungicide too. I have used solution made of cinnamon powder and rubbing alcohol on rotting orchid and also on aloe with a fungi infection - it worked.

Try with photos again, sometimes it is slow (probably depends on size of photo?) Do you have Windows 10 on your computer - things work differently...