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Cacti & Succulents

Please help my aeonium kiwi :(

6 years ago

Hi guys. So I am a noobie/beginner at succulents. I started my little pot of succulents last week. I bought this small aeonium kiwi and it had some small brown spots on the back leaves to start with. I depoted the succulent into a succulent mix soil with gravel on the bottom for drainage. I used a spray bottle to incorporate a small amount of water into the soil and mix it all up. The soil feels cool to the touch but not wet.
A week passed and my aeonium started to have more brown spots, spreader all around :( could anyone please help me diagnose the poor baby's problem? Thank you so much :(

Featured Answer

HawObsession VN

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Hi there,

It appears that there are some issues in regard to how you treat the plant.

First, I would say that your plant is struggling with the current mix. It would be great if you could tell which type of succulent soil mix you are currently using. If you are referring to the packaged succulent soil mix, such growing medium usually hold too much water for succulents to survive in general. Those black spots appear to be the 'too much water-stored' indicator, I'm afraid. I would suggest removing those spotted leaves to prevent the healthy parts of the plant from infection. They should come off easily. Please check the root system and cut those dead and rotted and let it callous over.

In my experience, the mix that I plant my succulents contains scoria, perlite, and a little proportion of akadama, all of which are inorganic materials, i.e. gritty mix. You can have some searches in this forum with many variations in terms of the mix's components.

Second it is the watering habit. Spraying does harm succulents in a great degree, which certainly causes rots to happen. The widespread of black spots is the solid evidence. Succulents in general should be watered only when the growing medium is completely dry and in the pot not on the plant. Water should run thoroughly and out the pot's drainage hole. The pot must have a drainage hole !!!

P/s: Sorry for being nosy but I guess that you are from and are living in Vietnam?

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Comments (7)

succulentss
6 years ago
My two aeoniums had this when I bought them.
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These plants are very bright light plants. Yours looks very much like it's been growing in the dark... that makes these very weak and grow abnormally. Wintertime water is good for plants growing in warm, outdoor climates, but you need to be very careful about overwatering indoor plants- can easily rot them. It is normal to lose those very abnormal lower leaves, though. Perhaps the new leaves that are forming will be more normal sized and healthier (keep in as much light as possible without full sun (will burn in full sun at this point I suspect).
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Hi Marty, Even though you just transplanted them I would still consider switching as soon as possible to the gritty mix. That mix you have them in now sounds like a death trap to me. I'm also not too familiar with aeoniums but most succulents require similar care. Deva is right about waiting to water immediately after repotting. Just take them out, get all the current mix off the roots completely, repot, do not water for at least a week. I have no idea what the temperatures are like there in CA, but if it's warm and getting a lot of sun you might be able to give them a drink after that. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can chime in about that... If you intend to make the gritty mix I would urge you to sieve your ingredients before you mix them together. I sieved my chicken grit and turface to about 1/8" and then I got all the fine bark out and sieved out the really large pieces. You want all the ingredients to be the same size for the mix to work properly. You can also soak the bark beforehand which will get out all the dust. -Erica
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I agree that the 2:1 granite:DE mix was too dry. They're in straight DE now. The pot is plastic. The problem appeared essentially overnight. It affected the undersides and edges of the leaves first. I think the shriveling is dehydration from that damage rather than a spread of the infection, but I could be wrong. They get about 6-8 hours of direct sunlight daily right now. We've had a few days in the low 90s (a real heat wave for here), but mostly 70s and low 80's. Note that none of the other plants in the pot are affected, but they aren't Aeoniums (Graptoveria, Crassula, Pachyveria, Echeveria...so quite different). I identified the grit issue some time ago, so I'd been watering them 2-3 times weekly. I think if it were dry media alone, the lower leaves would've been re-absorbed in that normal Aeonium pattern, don't you? I have no idea what fertilizer burn looks like on an Aeonium though, or what other diseases dry media or white leaves might've made it more susceptible to. I've read the same virus info about variegation. I'll have to research that. Interesting idea.
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They are dormant in the summer, as you said. They just sit, so less water is best. I'm wondering about the potting mix. I find kiwis change their colors a lot depending on season and light. For comparison, here are mine Are you doing the skewer trick before watering? I am partial to clay pots. They are not fool proof but with fast draining mix, they can be helpful. This is probably not much help, but no one else replied so here I am!
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Chris (6a in MA)
6 years ago
Plant it on a tera cotta pot with drainage hole. A glass bowl is not ideal for succulents.
HawObsession VN
6 years ago
Agreeing with Chris. Glass bowl serves nothing but only pure aesthetical function since it prevents water from escaping as well as halting air circulation in the growing medium, which suffocates the root. If you want your plant to thrive and happy, I would also suggest terra cotta pot for planting succulents.
Ngoc Dao
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you guys :( I will try to buy a new pot this weekend. And yes, I am Vietnamese but I live the US :)

@Succulents: what did you do to them after? Did they survive/recover?
HawObsession VN
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
The reason I ask about your location is that climate does matter in terms of a succulent's survivability. Many agree that a chosen succulent should be the one which suits most to your current climatic condition. Since you're in the US, some research in regard to your state's climate zone should be very helpful in order to find a suitable one. For instance, in my experience, as I live in the southern region of Vietnam, it is difficult for me to treat my haworthia cymbiformis var. obtusa well due to high humidity and year-round heat (but both of us just keep weathering the storm =)).

P/s: most aeoniums hail from temperate regions.
Taylor IS
3 years ago
I just looked at the underside of mine while picking dead leaves out of the pot and noticed this, mine was bought from an amish store and i just realized they potted it in extremely dense potting soil and the pot doesnt have a drainage hole, im so glad i found these, this helps a lot!

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