All plants and all living things need water at some point, by some means or another! Why did you think they wouldn’t ever need watering, I don’t understand?

They look like that because very few plants will survive and thrive in a glass container which doesn’t support good growth. They don’t have drainage holes....but realise you say you don’t water them. The glass can magnify the sun’s rays and cook the plants. They’re tremendously etiolated/drawn out from lack of proper light. They should look like tight rosettes, not with those long weak and spindly growths.

The mix they’re trying to grow in is also wrong I imagine, succs need fast draining gritty mixes....yes I know you don’t water!

Personally I think they’re beyond redemption. Your cultural methods need some drastic attention. Why not take a pic of any plant you obtain, post on here and ask for advise? Otherwise every plant will end up like these.

For the life of me I can’t think of the type of plant they vaguely remind me of as they’re so etiolated, but I’m certain they’re a hardy outdoor type even here in the UK. ‘Sempervivum’ keeps popping into my head, but I don't think that’s right!

Gill

Succulent plants store water - which makes them succulent - and can go a long time between waterings. But they must have some water. And a glass bowl is the worst thing you can use for a succulent - please put them in a proper pot - plastic or ceramic - with a drain hole.

You wrote: "This happens to every plant of this type that I get and I don't understand why." If you do some reading and research here, you WILL understand why. And frankly, people will tell you why. 1) Use real terra cotta pots, not glass. 2) Use SOME grit in your mix. Even 50% cactus soil and 50% perlite will do for starters. 3) Acclimatize to bright light and sun. 4) water thoroughly only when dry and let it drain out. In just about EVERY other post on GardenWeb, you will read that advice. Your plants will survive if you follow it.

Hi Karen,

We don't wish to sound so discouraging, but unfortunately your growing conditions are opposite of what these plants need. Broadly speaking, succulent plants need maximum light & good drainage from fast draining soil & pots w/ drainage holes.

Sunlight thru windows is much weaker than direct sun, even in some of one's sunniest spots. Etiolated means stretched out from reaching upwards looking for more light. The leaves being spaced so far apart tells us that.

I agree w/ the suggestion above for you to post a pic of your next plant & get suggestions for care & growth for better results.

You could also consider lower light succulents like Haworthia & Gasterias which prefer semi-shade.

Karen J

Those are Sempervivum as Gill suggested. They are hardy plants and should be grown outdoors year-round. They will overwinter under snow, hardy to z4 and even z3. You didn't indicate your general location and/or growing zone.

Pls. read all posts above - there are helpful tips in every post.

Thanks Rina for that confirmation, something kept telling me my idea they were semps was wrong, but it turns out I needn't have doubted my ID!

Gill

Wow, It never occurred to me that I would be insulted when I posted here. Thanks a bunch for explaining to me that all plants need water - who knew? I am not stupid, as your responses seem to imply. I purchased these recently exactly as they are (only a little greener) from my local botanical garden, at a fundraiser. I know they are succulents and can be easily overwatered, which is why I didn't water them when I got them home. I was wondering why every time I purchase certain succulents they seem to immediately either shrivel up or turn to mush when I get them home, within days, thinking perhaps there was some garden-store practice that weakens them. I was hoping someone could give me a suggestion about what to do after purchase to revive or ensure the extended health of this type of plant, rather than watch them decline... I know what to do with other plant types, & I know succulents can be damaged by the same treatment. I knew what kind of plant it is, I have multiple plants both inside and outside of my home that have lived for years, believe it or not, but this specific kind of plant does not seem to survive the trip from store to my home. I've tried to grow these both inside and outside, in a variety of containers, using soil formulated specifically for succulents and cacti. Most other succulents and cacti I've purchased and grown have been happy and healthy. I know I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue, especially since I frequently see succulents in various states of decay while still on store shelves. I did have this happen to other plants, which I purchased from Wal-Mart or Lowes & repotted, etc. & I hated to see it happening again. I'm sorry I tried to reach out on a web forum that I thought looked like an interesting group... little did it know it was populated with rude internet trolls. Thanks anyway though - I'll just find someone else to ask that doesn't talk to me like I'm dirt beneath their flower pot.

lol I just sat down to read while having my lunch of calamares.

You probably just found this forum so you don't know the people who regularly post here. I do, so you'll have to take my word for it when I say no one was being rude to you, KAREN Jeanne.

Karen Sternberg was even careful to point out that no one meant to be discouraging, just that there are so many things wrong with the condition of your plants. There were also suggestions on what to do to avoid the problems you are having, using the only information they were given. "Plant of this type" is not enough information, especially since yours are so deformed it's hard to tell what they are. That anyone was able to identify them at all is testimony to how much more familiar this forum is with your plant than you are. To avoid further confusion, I am not pointing out idiocy in that statement, just lack of experience. In further point, the two are not interchangeable nor are they mutually exclusive.

I have a ton of these plants myself (sempervivums) and they'll do great in the ground, outside. Unless you are in the tropics.

You should apologize to all those who bothered to reply to your question. Because if you were being trolled by the internet trolls you say you found here, other words would have been used ("search-impaired" would be my first choice, if I were inclined to trolling which I am not because it's boring, trolls typically mistake the use of all caps as a weapon for discourse and can't move beyond two-syllable words).

Whoa.....take it easy!! No one is insulting you and we are not trolls!! You asked what was wrong with your plants and several very obvious reasons were given: they lack adequate light; they are planted in a glass container that very likely does not have a drainage hole and is not able to 'breathe'/is non-porous; and the potting soil looks to be very dark and peaty and therefore too water retentive. Any or all of those factors will result in your plants' current condition.

"I know I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue, especially since I frequently see succulents in various states of decay while still on store shelves."

And this is typically also due to all the same conditions as above, as well as almost total neglect once in the store. Or serious overwatering, which is equally as frequent!

I am not convinced that these are semps/hens and chicks but they could be. The plants are just too deteriorated to confirm an ID at this point.

Excuse me. No one who has posted on your thread is an ‘rude internet troll’. I take great exception at being labelled as such by you, and no doubt so will each of the others who have suggested help in what you should be doing.....if you consider I am one, then report me.

If you knew what type of plant it was then you should have known what conditions it prefers to grow in. It most certainly does not like the conditions you currently have it in for instance, as we all state. If you bought these as recently as you say you have, it ‘implies’ you don’t know what these plants should look like when grown properly. They were already in a state of decay and should have been left on the shelf with the others in the same sorry state....just as you mention you observed others in your last post.

You posted vague information in your opening post such as saying you ‘didn't water your plant’. What were we to deduce from that other than you’ve never given it water?

Your soil mix is ‘specifically formulated for c/s’ , what exactly is it please?

Gill

Flaming of responders due to some perceived slight in answers they bothered to take the time and trouble to offer must be just about as old as Garden Web itself is. When I griped about this phenomenon one time to an uninvolved third party, who used to be a public servant they replied immediately that the problem would be that the site is free - that the help often rather generously given here was not valued the same as it would be if those posting their questions were paying for the privilege. Here as elsewhere in our lives we all have to learn how to deal with the sometimes difficult or unfortunate expectations and preconceptions that a percentage of others we find ourselves encountering come loaded with.

title of original post: ..."This happens to all my succulents"...

statement in last post: ..."Most other succulents and cacti I've purchased and grown have been happy and healthy"...

Not quite sure which statement to consider.

These are some of the easiest succulents to grow. Unless you live in extreme cold location or very hot one - but you didn't indicate where you are even when asked - and if you want to grow them outdoors. Nobody asked you for address, just a general location.

Got it! Saxifrage was what I was thinking of not sempervivum.

Gill

Could also be Jovibarba, maybe allionii. Severely etiolated.

I bet my money on semps, lol.

KAREN Jeanne, NO ONE here is an internet troll, and frankly, no one was being rude to you. Your original post said that you put the plants in direct sun and didn't water them -- and quite visibly, they are in glass. And then you ask why your plants are dying. People are telling why your plants are dying.

I have been frequenting GardenWeb/Houzz for several years. MANY others have been here much longer than that -- and let me assure you, I have learned from the majority them what to do, what to try, what not to do -- and why. But I also spent a lot of time lurking and reading and studying what other people said, long before my first post. It doesn't appear to me that you have spent ANY time reading and studying this web site. It is LOADED with information, far beyond what a hobbyist gardener would need. You are not going to find a more knowledgeable group of people anywhere, and people here are HAPPY to share their knowledge and experience. But I'm not sure if that's really what you are looking for.

I don’t know where you live but semps indoors will be tough outside of AZ and NV, and even here (NV), they don’t do wonderfully indoors in a southern window with blasting sun. They don’t die, but I’d not call it “thriving” either.

As others have mentioned, the glass bowl is your biggest problem. You may not have watered them but that soil is not dry, so there is water. Combine that with inevitably weaker sun indoors, and the succulents are bound to fail.

I’m guessing you wanted to go for a terrarium type of setup here? It can be done, but you need layers of different components like charcoal, sand, gravel, etc. with a good understanding of succulents to manage. Frankly, succulent terrariums look wonderful when created but over the long term, it’s not ideal. I’ve made some to gift them, but I always tell them to pot the cuttings separately after 2 months and to not water for those two months. If you still want to do a terrarium, I suggest looking into the multiple layers and doing it properly with better indoor succulent choices.

If, as you indicated, you have an outdoor area, I’d pull each of those out into a clay pot with just perlite or gravel, and let them hang out outside in the shade, totally dry. A shaded area outdoors is still more ambient light than most areas indoors despite what it may seem like to our eye. A few look viable so they could reestablish themselves with some care, brighter light, and no water. After a week or two, slowly move them into full sun.

There’s no big secret or conspiracy to succulent growing. I’m sure all of us have spent mega bucks at HD, Lowe’s, Walmart, etc. keeping corporations rich with our plant purchases, haha, though Lord knows they could be more educational with their sales or at least labels. (I’ve killed plenty in my lifetime too, through my own fault.)

It’s kind of like children (who really should come with instructions too). The kid will become what s/he is destined to become, though Lord knows us parents find that hard to accept sometimes. Right now, you’re trying to take a future quarterback kid and force them to become a harpist. :) If you want to grow indoors in bright light, you could look into Haworthia (so many beautiful kinds!), jades, etc. Haworthias “pup” like most semps do, too (well, most do—not sure if all do). The one below on the left (which was actually sent to me by a forum member I traded with a few years ago as a small cutting), I grow indoors on a mantle adjacent to corner northern and eastern windows minimal to no direct sun. Notice they’re grown in what amounts to small rocks, and I water them maybe once every 2-3 weeks. You can look up “gritty mix” for more info. If you imagine how little water that is in an area that averages 10% humidity, with how much a hole-less glass bowl of damp soil holds—it is an enormous difference.

Hope that helps.

Also, I’d suggest not getting so easily offended. The forum members may not have told you what you wanted to hear, and I know reading that you’re the problem always blows (but in 95% of cases, the human is the problem, haha), but the advice they offered is sound. You’d benefit to consider what they’re saying, I think.