I can never see GW pics well on my little phone screen, but from your description and what I can see, it could be sunburn. South-facing windows can have very intense sun in some regions.

Your mix adds up to 110%, but even allowing for less perlite and granite, it's still a very dry mix. I found that 2:1 granite to Turface is too thirsty for my succs, even here in cool, damp, cloudy Oregon. My aloes and a wavy jade survive in it being watered every day, but even being watered every day, I had a dozen other succs that were losing roots and curling up. Once a plant is well-established in that mix, it'll probably be okay, but in my experience, they require constant care and very frequent watering until the roots colonize the whole pot.

Gill: I water about once a week and no fertilizer yet. I've only had it a month or so.

kwie: Yep! I just realized about the 110%. It should be 50% grit, 40% perlite and 10% turface. I'm in the humid south, so I've limited the amount of turface. Sunburn, huh? That's interesting. There are two other plants in the same window, another Haw and a Crassula rupestris. Neither show signs of sunburn.

So more frequent watering and/or feed it?

Any ideas on the variety?

Looks a little on the dry side, but otherwise fine. You can try bottom watering (soaking) to help encourage roots to colonize the pot. Just soak the whole pot in a plastic tub up to the soil line for a few minutes instead of top watering.

I find most of us let our Haworthia grow pretty luxuriously so the 'stressed' or 'hard grown' look is less commonly seen.

Yay! So happy I haven't harmed it.

mayo: I was hoping you'd pop in here since I know you have lots of experience with Haws. Since reading your post about bottom watering, that's what I've been doing with all my gritty mix pots. Maybe just not frequently enough?

Just occurred to me that the few plants I keep indoors may need more frequent watering since they're not as subject to our high humidity as their siblings outdoors.

Any idea what variety Haw this is, Kevin? (Your name is Kevin, right?)

UPDATE: Just gave it a nice soak in a tub with 1/4 strength all purpose plant food. Took 6 minutes for it to completely soak. I was actually surprised as I'd soaked it 4 days ago. Guess I will have to change the schedule.

Awesome. So glad you found the culprit.

Kevin? So, can I stop calling you Mayo now?

Ah, that's good to hear you've been trying bottom watering! I think it's worth trying a little more frequent watering for a couple weeks and see if the plant improves.

What about Haworthia reticulata? The unofficial synonym is Haworthia guttata. If so, it's growth habit is not so tidy. Which isn't a bad thing but rather just a different look.

You can call me Kevin, I don't like Mayo. =P

I was just happy to not call him Eww ;>)

Q about the Haw, am curious that the sun hardened color (if that) is around the base of the plant not the top. I would have thought if too much direct sun, it'd discolor on the top, not the sides, did I miss something?

Haha, thanks for that. =)

Haworthia tend to change colour at the base/lower leaves first, then the top and middle last.

Haworthia reticulata it is! Thanks.

A day later and that little guy's mix is almost dry again. I think it's the pot that's the culprit...thick terra cotta. I'm thinking about amending my mix to add a little more turface and a little less grit.

Almost dry at the bottom too?

If watering more often fixes the problem, then I'd look into refining the mix on the next repot. Usually takes me 2-3 repots before I really get the mix nailed down for a particular plant. Of course, during that time the root system changes as well (for the better).

Still somewhat damp at the bottom I think. Hard to tell with gritty mix. I really think it's the pot because another Haw that shares the windowsill is still a little damp on top. They were soaked together.

I will increase the watering on just that one and see what happens after a couple of weeks. If that's the problem, how soon should I see signs of improvement from the stress?

Karen asked, "Q about the Haw, am curious that the sun hardened color (if that) is around the base of the plant not the top. I would have thought if too much direct sun, it'd discolor on the top, not the sides, did I miss something?"

I'm assuming that the discoloration is the result of stress caused by not enough water, not too much direct sun. Is that right?

Thanks so much.

Things have not improved. :(

Today, when I was about to water again, I noticed it was very wobbly in its pot. So I dug it up and here's what I found.

<sigh>

Advice please?

Thanks.

I think you should have left it alone, disrupting it doesn't help anything.

Sorry, I have no further suggestions, but wobbly doesn't sound good.

I think those roots look OK, what did YOU think? Sounds like you think there's a problem.

Let's see what Kevin & other say (thanks for clarifying abt the discoloration on the bottom Kevin).

I think this plant needs TIME.

I disagree. The roots are gone. It should have thick, meaty, white roots for water storage.

I believe your plant is a victim of dehydration from gritty mix. Someone will likely jump in and scream bloody murder for me even making the suggestion, but I see it happen all the time, and I've moved all but a couple of plants OUT of gritty mix for exactly this problem.

I don't know how much experience you have with gritty mix, but there are several things you can do:

1. Get it out of the sun and water daily. Maybe it can reestablish itself. I didn't have any luck with this myself.

2. Re-mix your gritty mix with more water-retentive particles, then try #1.

3. Pot it in something else. It's salvageable. It just needs to grow new roots.

I see this happen a lot, Renee. It's not your fault. I'm not a fan of gritty mixes. They SEEM so logical, but they're often just too dry and roots die back.

I made up a bunch of gritty mix, ran water-retention tests, consulted the gritty mix king, Al, and excitedly transfered about 30 plants of all kinds into it. Months later they just weren't doing well, and some were dying. I finally dug them up and almost all had puny root systems- much smaller than what they had when I potted them. I planted them back in soil, and they came back in no time. Over the past year I've transferred all but 5 plants back into soil from gritty mix, and 3 of those five still need it.

Lots of people have the same problem. Bernard had it. Maybe he'll pipe in too. I'm not sure what he eventually did. I should bookmark all the threads about this.

Kwie,

Haven't you told us you don't grow Haws (yet???)

They don't all have thick, white meaty roots, some do & some don't (I've grown them for 15 yrs.)

Those who don't grow Haworthias may not know this BUT, it is characteristic for Haws to lose their roots from time to time, even w/ experienced growers. This is a known vulnerability of theirs.

I don't use gritty mix at all, ever. My C&S do fine in C&S mix w/ LOTS of pumice (or perlite). In that mix I don't water but every week to 10 days & they're just fine.

Renee, don't mean to add to the confusion but ...

I'd put it in a plastic pot, not clay (which is seems to be absorbing too much moisture from your mix).

If you unpot it again, pls. sprinkle some cinnamon on these roots & shake off the excess, & then repot it up DRY, do not water it in, wait 4 days or so.

Kwie, there's something to be said for moderation here (not to mention going SLOWLY). I wouldn't do anything to 30 plants, I'd try it on 2 or 3 at most, wait a month or 2 to observe & then re-assess.

Well, I do grow Haworthias now, Imontestella- keep up, man ;-).

My experimentation with gritty mixes was about 2 years ago. Too bad you weren't there as the voice of reason then, Imontestello. I had planned to try just a few plants, but others on the site didnt think caution necessary, so I jumped in with both feet. More recently, I advised someone else to experiment with just a couple of plants first, and Al jumped all over me about it- simply because I warned the person of some of the downsides of gritty mix. It's an insanely contentious subject on this forum.

It is true that I'm very new to growing Haworthia- like new in the last week, but I've been growing plants for 3-1/2 decades; I read, and my thumbs are very green. I had not read that Haworthias lose their roots occasionally. Why is this? That sounds like a reaction to some environmental stressor to me. Where can I read about the phenomenon? I can imagine root loss occurring as a plant uses that stored water during a drought, but it would be evolutionary suicide to lose roots at a time when there is adequate water and the plant needs it.

Renee, now that the search feature on this site is working, search the cacti and succulent forum for "failing to thrive in gritty mix" and you will find 2 pages of threads about dehydration in gritty mix and other people having problems just like yours.

Here's one of my previous posts attempting to draw attention to this exact problem. Lots of helpful commentary on it.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3068289/a-warning-about-gritty-mixes?n=31

Thank you both for your advice. I've put it back in its pot, seated it well with mix as support and will continue to water and watch.

Kwie, I know there are many who've had problems with gritty mix and I do appreciate your help. I've just never had an issue before. In fact, this is the only plant that's a problem. I have two other Haws, both H. attenuata, that are quite happy.

Considering what I'm experiencing with this one, however, I'll be extra vigilant from now on.

When transferring a plant to gritty mix, I find the biggest challenge is getting the roots established before the plant gives up and absorbs/sacrifices them or there is too much water available and they rot.

A plant's requirements change as it progresses through difference stages, which complicates care. Such stages would include: establishing roots, dormancy, semi-dormant, active growing.

One of my Haworthia was repotted and then moved outside after quite some time. I figured it was well established and could take the summer heat. For a few months it was sort of stagnated/looked a little stressed. It was semi-dormant for this period and I was watering it as normal (which I shouldn't have).

Eventually I was suspicious if anything was up and saw that the plant had lost all roots. There were at least six new roots growing out, so I just cleaned up the base/rotted plant roots and put it back into a slightly smaller pot. With a bit of time it should be right on track again.

Renee, I don't see what you are doing differently this time around. Unless I've missed something, it sounds as if you are going to keep the not-thriving plant in the same mix in the same pot and continue to do exactly what you were doing at the beginning of the thread.

i am new to gritty mix, but it makes sense to me that plants can dehydrate in it. Sounds like you are getting good advice about the potential problems of growing this plant in gritty mix. But I can't see how you've implemented any of it.

please correct me if I am wrong,