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Cacti & Succulents

Beheaded echeveria and see brown in the stem, is it rot?

gardenwombat (6b)

6 years ago

I have an Echeveria Melaco (fairly sure that's it) that was etiolated until I put it under a grow light in June. It's grown beautifully but I decided to behead it since it was starting to look a little tree-like. I cut it and took a look at the stem and I see some brown in it. The plant itself shows no signs of rot, at least that I can tell. The stem is firm, leaves are firm, the stem is green except the very top which is pale, almost white. It has been in gritty mix (bonsai jack) since June and I water this particular plant about every 5ish days. So any thoughts? Is this rot or is it normal?

Bottom of plant:

Top of plant:

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Comments (4)

bikerdoc5968 Z6 SE MI
6 years ago
Cut down on the bottom portion of the remaining stem and see what it looks like. Could be rot. If it is just continue to cut up the head until its all green
windberry zone5a BCCanada
6 years ago
It doesn't look like rot to me. If you looked at it through a good magnifying glass you probably could find out by yourself. The plant looks very healthy, I don't see any white, so I would not worry.
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Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
6 years ago
There’s not a thing wrong with that stem. Just keep it completely dry until it throws roots and you’ll be golden. E. melaco roots stronger and better than most others, in my opinion. Love them.
laticauda
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Does anyone have one of these? Is it supposed to have that ring? This reminds me of a certain symptom of a certain fungal disease in orchids. They say it's been found (cultured) in Echeverias but there's not much information on the visible symptoms or diagnosis. If it were mine, I'd want to know if that's normal, healthy tissue or a sign of something else. The only two options for that would be to (I don't recommend this on such a small cutting) keep cutting to see if it eventually gives way to normal, green tissue or if the whole plant is that way. If the whole plant is that way then it doesn't do any good to have just destroyed the plant. Alternatively, you can contact your county extension office of the state Dept of Agriculture and ask them about getting the tissues tested/cultured for foreign pathogens.

I just saw your name has combat in it, does that mean you live in Aus Tas? If so then I don't know how you would go about getting testing done but with their strict guidelines for flora and fauna, I'm pretty sure they'd have the resources available to you for diagnosis.

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