I didn't buy it from a store, but from someone who's growing them in their backyard as a hobby so I'll feel a little bad trying to return it. I think I'll just pluck out some of the healthy leaves and behead most of it since leaf propagation takes forever for me, there might be a tiny chance for the head to still survive. Thanks for the advice though!

HM L

You shouldn't feel bad about returning the plant. If you got it just few days ago and it is in this condition, I believe that backyard grower should know plant wasn't in good shape. Sometimes, they don't notice, and should be made aware of the problem. It isn't something that happened overnight - it takes a while for stem to start rotting (at least that is how it looks in photo).

BTW, was it potted up?

Leaves should propagate easy, but if they have rot in them, they may not. Looks like there are few healthy leaves there. If you were to cut off damaged stem, remaining flesh should be clear of any darker marks (that is sign of rot). If there is rot left, it usually continue spreading, so make sure t is clear. Not easy to work witj such short stem! It looks quite short-tiny, so good luck. But really, at least talk to person you bought it from. If they are serious, they would replace it.

Let us know what you decided to do. If you keep it and it survives - we like to see success stories. In case it doesn't work, we all can learn.

Probably too late now, but I wouldn’t behead if it’s not mushy. Pot it higher next time. The side of the pot shades the plant. Be sure it’s getting plenty of light but not full sun while it recovers. Gently remove dead leaves. If the mix is dry, water the next day after it settles in. Give it time.

Rina, ok I'll tell the seller when I see them again, at least to let them check their other plants. I bought quite a few plants from them and they're all in great condition except for this one so I don't really blame them for this, these things just happen sometimes unfortunately.

And yes I moved it to a larger pot since it was previously in a pot that was way too small for it. Kind of redundant now though since I had to behead it. I've now moved it elsewhere to callous over first.

Socks, I've beheaded the plant, so ya it's a little too late haha but thanks anyways, hopefully the plant will survive this ordeal.

I had a black prince go from gorgeous to falling apart from rot in just days. It looked fine, but it got lightly bumped and I was shocked when one side just dropped all its leaves. I tried saving the crown, which was as tiny as yours, but the rot had gone all the way up and I lost it.

I kept all the leaves from the one good side and I did get a few babies to grow, though :) here’s a set of triplets I got from one leaf:

Bunkfree, yes it's a little crazy how some succulents can look perfectly fine one moment but suddenly die in just a few days. But wow the one in your picture is beautiful, and 3 rosettes from a single leaf? That's amazing. I can only hope mine somehow propagates. I've been trying leaf propagation for some of my plants for a few months now and only a handful of them have survived to grow into tiny buds, so I only try leaf propagation now for really desperate times.

I literally dump leaves on a shelf (sometimes in dishes). Every once in a while I go over and see some with wee roots or sprouts then I’ll move them to soil trays. I’ll also pluck up the ones that have dried out and toss them.

The triplets above are two years old now I guess ... I remember the leaves taking a long time to root. Here is my rot thread from Sept 2016 when I lost the original plant (my own fault, too)

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4159467/oh-no-i-knocked-over-my-prince#n=6

He was a beaut :(

Kd

An update on the little guy a month later: it survived its beheading, grown quite a few roots and this morning I've placed it into a new pot of soil. :) Will give it its first watering a few days later, but only a tablespoon of water for now I think.

It's so tiny it doesn't really have a stem even, the new roots had to grow in between its leaves! I think it's gonna take about a year for it to grow to a size that fits its new pot, but I don't mind rough looking plants, as long as they're alive. Hoping it'll survive its new pot, gonna be checking on it regularly.

Congratulations! Good job. If it were mine, I would put it in the smallest pot possible. I feel like that's way too much space and medium for so small a plant with roots just starting. Also, whatever pot I put it in, I would fill with medium to the rim of the pot so that the plant has plenty of air circulation and light and so that the plant isn't sitting down so far inside the pot.

SoCal, unfortunately that's the smallest size terracotta pot I have, the only smaller sizes I have are plastic and I was thinking something porous that would dry out faster would be better for it. Btw your point on potting it higher makes a lot of sense, I'll adjust it later to be higher.

Nice save!

You can get small terra cotta pots at the dollar store. They seem to have ridiculously small drain holes though, I’ve had to drill more into mine.

I agree with Stewart, fill the pot up to the top to get the plant up to the air and light, or use a plastic one until it grows more roots then move up to the terracotta. If you leave it in the bigger terra cotta, don’t water ALL that soil, just water the top around the plant. If you water the whole pot, the soil will stay soggy and it may rot all over again.

Bunkfree, weirdly all the dollar stores and garden centers near where I live don't have smaller size terracotta, I've tried finding for awhile now. Daiso has the smallest size and it's about 3" diameter, which is the one I'm using.

I'll only be giving it about a tablespoon of water at each watering now to avoid rotting. The little guy's been through so much already, don't think he can handle more hardship.

I've bought really small terra cotta pots (they have them smaller than 3") at a Michael's craft store, so if you have a craft store near you, take a look :-)

I bought these at Walmart for 30-40 cents each (can't remember exactly). Agree that the holes are too small.

I do have problems with Echeverias. They don't like my hot wet summers and the mealies really like them! So I will definitely use terra cotta for those if I can.

Good luck! It's looking great so far!

Yup, I’ve also found small pots at Michaels and Walmart too! I bought a slew of tiny (1-1/2”?) ones that I start leaves in, at Michaels (that store can be expensive :( They were 79 cents each I think?).

It’s SO dry here that I personally have no problem with plastic pots. I generally have more problems due to etiolation than rot, though I have lost a few.

As coarse as your media appears to be, I think you'll be fine. I would, as others have said, fill up the pot more to raise the plant higher in the pot.

SLD, hmm I didn't think to search craft stores, thanks for the rec, I'll try checking them out next time I'm nearby one.

Crenda, I only have the confidence to use plastic pots for my haworthias and a stonecrop. They seem to tolerate dampness more than my other succulents. And I live in southeast Asia so it's pretty much hot wet summer year round haha. So far I've only found 2 mealy bugs a month or two ago so I've luckily not had much of a pest issue.

Thanks for all your advice and well wishes you guys! :)

"And I live in southeast Asia so it's pretty much hot wet summer year round haha. "

In that case, you may be best off using a media which has zero organic matter.

Paul, I have considered using a mix of just inorganic matter but so far my plants have been alright in my current soil mix that has a bit of coco peat and gardening soil, and a lot of charcoal, perlite and pumice. They're all outdoors with a roof over them so they get full morning sun + no rains (unless there's a storm and winds are crazy) and dry out 1 or 2 days after watering. Once the gardening soil and coco peat finishes I'll try growing some of my plants in just perlite, pumice and charcoal.

I dislike the coco peat quite a lot because it seems to compress and lose its airy quality quite quickly. The coco peat and gardening soil was in the succulent mixes i bought when i was a beginner to all this :( but i hate throwing away things that can still be used so i just try to make them work.