In the pictures, they had just been sprayed overtop after not being watered for a week, about half of them were also repotted last week, as they were still overgrown from when they were healthy, and I thought they looked a bit overwatered.

I haven’t changed my soil mix more than adding some extra pumice or perlite, as I was still researching on what soils are appropriate and wasnt sure yet what my plants require. I’d appreciate any advice or suggestions on what I should switch my soil to!

I’m located in Los Angeles, California and I keep all my adult succulents (and a few babies) outdoors in a spot outside that gets good filtered light almost all day, and some full sun for a couple of hours a day I believe. I have just temporarily moved them today to a spot that gets much more full sunlight everyday to see if that would help out too.

2hrs of full sun is not enough, even in LA. You may want to put them in a spot that is protected from mid-day sun - when it may be too strong, but in full sun in am and perhaps later on. I keep all of mine in full sun sunrise to sunset.

Moving into more sun should be done gradually, otherwise they could burn. So add just some, and after few days or so add some more.

Well draining mix is what you need, and you won't get it by adding just little pumice or perlite. Ppl that use soil in their mix will use Cactus & Succulent soil mixed with minimum half, or as much as 80%, of coarse perlite. You can use pumice or perlite or even both, but add generously.

Plants in photos potted in terracotta pots are too low/deep inside of pot; pls. add more mix when repotting.

Water when mix is almost completely dry - use bamboo skewer or chopstick to check: insert at least 3/4 deep into pot and leave it there for few minutes. If it is dry and clean when pulled up, mix has dried and plant should be watered. If it comes out damp/cold and it may also have small particles sticking to it, mix is still wet and wait few more days. Check again, water if dry. Watering should be thorough, not just sips, until excess water runs out thru drainage holes. Water the mix, not the plant.

Some plants have protective coating on their leaves, looking like dust or powder. It is there for a reason - to protect leaves - and should not be rubbed off.

Spots on some of your plants could be mold if they stayed wet for too long, or if very humid. Assure good air flow by leaving space between pots. Perhaps it is humid by the pool?

Good advice above, but also, NO soap, NO oil, both interfere with the powdery coating (farina) and can cause the spots you are getting, some are more sensitive to this than others. Some will tolerate a tad of soap, watered way down. but best to spray with diluted alcohol, IF you see bugs, which I don't think is what's going on here. If pool water is splashed it may have salt or chlorine which can cause the spotting. You've gotten good advice about soil and watering, and if you get these3 things, soil, watering and light, right you won't have many bug issues in LA. Happy growing!

Thank you for all of the advice!

I was thinking it must be something I’m doing wrong since it is happening to most of my plants, but was a bit confused when the couple of new plants got black spots so quickly before even doing anything to them.

I will definitely stop with the soap and oil! I’ll also definitely start figuring out a new soil to use ASAP.

my mom has started to put an umbrella up once in a while which may have been keeping everything a bit more wet lately, hopefully the new spot will work out, though it is sort of a high-traffic area and my plants might squeeze you over into the pool if you don’t want to break them!

I usually just never let a lone leaf die and have ended up with lots of different succulents for it, as many people around here have a lot of succulents!

I am not sure how would umbrella keep plants wet? If anything, it will protect them from rain...

Longer you leave them in water retaining soil, worse they will become. New mix should be priority, and proper watering (only when needed) next.

We have no rain in Los Angeles (yet? Haha) I thought the umbrella might be filtering too much sunlight and keeping them too damp and cool between waterings or something.

I will go out and get some soil today or tomorrow for my poor babies!!

here they are today in a less wet, but still quite unhappy state..

When the leaves die the brown marks get worse and blacken rot and kill the rest of the healthy leaf.

The only planter that seems to be less affected is this huge layer of sedum that I propogated from one little cutting which has obviously super overgrown the container with an Echeveria that I propogated from a leaf, however they are still the last ones in random cheap potting soil with nothing added!

Since those seem to be doing somewhat ok how they are somehow, I’d just been leaving them to overgrow as they please until I figured out the soil issues with the others