You could have left it outdoors - I can't see any cold weather enough to 'kill' succulents for a while yet. I start bringing my plants indoors when night time temps start staying consistently around 50*F mark - many could stay longer, but to make it easier on myself, I just bring all of them in at that time.

If the mix is well draining, it would be easier o under water than over. Not that you want to stress plant for no reason, but under- is better than over watering - that could cause rotting very easily. Personally, I don't like the attached (if it is) saucers, as they keep too much water for too long. It would be best to make sure that any excess water is drained out of the saucer within 20-30min after watering.

Your plants probably need more light. I see a small succulent to the left that looks like burros tail, it also will need more light - it is showing signs of etiolation. Haworthia on right will tolerate lower light. You may want to check out supplemental lighting.

Not that you asked, but I think I see some cuttings in water?

I was worried light might be the problem. :( We have very few outlets in our apartment and nowhere for me to put in supplemental lighting; I might have to re-home this guy. The saucer is detached FYI.

Yes, I do have some cuttings in water! Two purple queens which are ready to plant, and two monstera adansonii which I just took (from another plant that is having issues--things aren't looking good over here!).

I was going to post separately about the burro's tail actually as I'm concerned for it as well. I repotted it at the same time as the echeveria from bare-root plants I ordered online. It's only been in its current spot for about two weeks. Is it possible for it to develop etiolation so quickly? Here's some closer shots:

It lost a few leaves in the shipping process but otherwise appeared healthy. Some of the leaves are turgid and plump, while others are shriveling. Again, I can't tell if it's too much or too little water. The mix is well draining, when I water it freely comes out of the bottom of the pot.

Oh, and we did have a random night where it was only 50 degrees a few weeks ago which is why I brought them all in.

I can't say that it's a trait of Echeveria's foliage to resist rebounding to its former spatial position after it has wilted, but I can say that it's not at all unusual for that to occur in the plant kingdom (witness Ficus lyrata and elastica). My guess is, the leaves lost turgidity and wilted soon after the repot and never recovered.

Al

It should have recovered from the repotting by now - were the roots in good shape? How often do you water? You may not be watering enough. If I let my echeveria go thirsty, it looks similar.

Burro's tail is definitely etiolated, it was likely before you received it - the leaves are spaced far apart along whole length of stem. The leaves shrivel when thirsty. They will drop with slightest touch, you can put them back into pot (on top of mix) and many will grow into new plants. BTW, is there a drainage hole in the container it is in?

To get watering right, you can help yourself with a bamboo skewer or chopstick: insert deep into pot avoiding the root ball. When taken out and it feels damp/cold when touching top of your hand or your cheek and/or tiny particles are sticking to it, the mix is still moist enough.

In my zone, I am hoping for another 1- 2 mo before having to take plants in. We also had temps dip down to about 48*F, but it is usually for a short while and only on couple of occasions.

Rina, for the echeveria, it was in nursery soil so I removed all the original soil from the root ball. The roots looked in good shape to me, though I am new to root pruning.

Burro's tail's leaves are shriveling, but they don't fall off when I touch them. Weird, right? There is a drainage hole, yes.

I have some skewers for that trick but I noticed they were getting moldy. Should I not leave the skewer/dowel in the pot, but take it out and only insert it briefly? Also, and I believe I had touched on this with Al in another thread, since the roots on both plants are very VERY shallow right now, I should make sure that the dowel is damp at the level of where the roots are, right? And do I want to keep the dowel at that level moist always, or let it dry out?

Al, it's strange to me that the echeveria's leaves feel firm and stiff, which I thought is what turgid meant?

I think there's a misunderstanding. If the leaves of a Ficus elastica or lyrata lose turgidity and wilt, upon regaining turgidity they very often aren't restored to the same spatial position they originally occupied. IOW, once wilted there is often a permanent 'sag' to the foliage, even after regaining full turgidity. I don't know if this trait is a part of Echeveria's make up, but it would explain the change in the attitude of the older leaves.

I wouldn't leave the skewers in the soil. I'd just keep them close at hand and use them to test moisture levels as needed.

You should try to keep a mental picture of where the main body of roots is positioned in the soil mass, and for at least the first couple of weeks after repotting, make sure the roots in that part of the soil are getting an adequate amount of moisture.

Al

Oh, I see what you're saying about the turgidity Al. I hope that isn't the case!

I think with watering I'm having a really hard time overcoming my old habits of watering with soil-based mixes. When you say the roots should get an "adequate" amount of moisture, do you mean they should remain constantly moist? I keep reading that it's hard to over-water with the gritty and 511 mixes, but I seem to have a neurotic fear of doing it anyways!

In most mixes based on a very high % of fine ingredients, over-watering is nearly an inherent issue. With soils like the 5:1:1 that are based on a very large fraction of coarse material with only enough fine material to supply enough water retention to satisfy the grower, over-watering is much less common, but still doable. Media like the gritty mix that if made to embody the concept that large enough particles = no perched water, you have to work pretty hard at over-watering, but it can be done - especially when dealing with plants that have low tolerance for wet feet.

"When you say the roots should get an "adequate" amount of moisture, do you mean they should remain constantly moist?" There isn't a one size fits all answer to that. For instance, when jades are growing robustly, you can keep the soil constantly moist w.o issue, but when they're not, it's best to let them dry down to almost completely dry before you water again. Most houseplants thrive under consistently moist or damp conditions, and rebel when it's necessary to use descriptors like wet or soggy. Some succulents are best left to go completely dry while they go through a seasonal quiescent phase.

I think the reasons many people so enjoy growing succulents involves their unusual appearance and the fact that they're something more of a challenge than houseplants. Even those that SEEM to thrive on neglect require the grower's sense of when to neglect them to be in keeping with the plant's natural rhythms.

Al

Hi I got an echevery about a month ago.. but the leaves started to droop.. I water it when the soil is dry and the place where I have kep it has enough light..not too bright not dark either.. don’t know what I’m doing wrong.. any suggestion ?

There is a sheen on top of the soil that says the plant was watered immediately before you took the photo; or, the soil is inappropriately water-retentive ...... and it looks very water-retentive as well.

Waiting to water until the soil is dry doesn't negate the limitations and damage done to the root system by a grow medium that takes too long to dry to an appropriate moisture level.

How tall is the pot? How do you determine when it's time to water? does the pot have a drain hole?

Al

I watered the pot the previous day.the pot is about 6-7 inches tall. Has a lot of drainage holes too.. i Live in a place where it is hot most of the time..so i water it around once a week or when I touch and see that the soil is dry

It's of little informational value when you determine the top of the grow medium is dry unless you're growing in bonsai or other very shallow pots. To wit, your 6-7" deep pot can easily have 3-4" of grow medium 100% saturated with water. What's most important is how moist the soil is at the bottom of the pot. Below, I'll leave you something I wrote about using a 'tell' to 'tell' you when it's time to water. It's much more accurate than trying to use a finger or "moisture meter".

Also, how many drain holes there are in a pot has no bearing on how well a pot drains and no meaningful bearing on how fast it drains. 100 holes in a pots bottom or 1 hole, when the raining is done there will still be the same volume of water in the pot. Your choice of grow medium, and more precisely the size of the particles from which the medium is made, have the greatest impact on moisture retention and aeration.

Over-watering causes the same wilting/drought response in plants as under-watering. Too much water in the medium = too little air = roots inability to function normally = plants' inability to maintain enough internal water pressure (turgor) = wilt.

Using a 'tell'

Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant.

Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

Thanks a lot..it was in fact overwatered...I have taken it out and dried it and repotted it..fingers crossed..hoping it survives