No Maria, you've got to cut back more until you have good green viable stem. And as Jeff (CactusMcHarris) has said you don't need anything on the cut end. I leave cutting in warm indirect light sometimes for weeks and they just root from the natural humidity in the air. Having said this, it might not happen in very low humidity areas, but here in Michigan we almost always have 40% ~ 50% RH. I just cut this from one of my Echeveria to demonstrate what you want to see after cutting. I would allow my cutting to callous for at least a week until I see the cut end dry and looking like a callous on your hand or foot; it will look hard and dry and somewhat rough. The mix is something I make but you don't have to have the same thing. Again, as Jeff has said, Perlite is readily available at any Big Box store or Garden Center. Do NOT use regular sand because it packs down too much and dries slowly. If you have a problem finding something course or gritty, go to a pet store/Walmart/Target and ask for bird gravel; the stuff used on the bottom of a bird's cage that they eat to help digest food. It will be a bit pricey but if all you need is a small quantity, it will work. I'm personally not a fan of "Topsoil" as a portion of my mix because it won't dry quickly for me.

I decided to go with Mike's advice and cut the roots for a fresh start. I suppose I could have just replanted and crossed my fingers, but with my personality I would be anxious about it the whole time. I cut three of the four. The fourth looked pretty good after getting it all cleaned up and dry, and it also had three little pups (not sure if that is the term or not) which looked healthy so I will just replant that one soon. Here is a picture of the roots after cutting: I have two more questions for you guys and gals: Should I leave these fresh roots inside in the AC, or a shady, dry spot outside (humid, warm 90 degree temps)? Second, I am going to replant the fourth succulent (the one that did not need root trimming) into my new rock garden and am thinking about just filling a 4 inch terra cotta pot with an 80% perlite mix and putting the pot directly into the ground, with the pot lip barely above the rock dressing. I am thinking that will keep it more 'protected' and maybe I can refrain from having to dig it up and amend the entirety of the soil of my garden since my sedums and other plants seem to like the mix they are in thus far. Good plan? Bad plan? Doesn't matter?

Hello everyone. Just a little update on what's going on which is not much hehe As I mentioned last weekafter your advice, I dried all the adenium for 2 days, and then repotted them in new soil/perlite/bark. It's now been 3 days since I did and so far, I'm not seeing anything different. Caudices still feel soft. Today I took one and scraped the big root, and the caudex and from my point of view, everything is looking good, no rot at all. They're still going to dry for a few days or do you think I should let them dry longer? I have a total of 30 adenium affected with the "soft" caudex symdrom so I'm trying to stay on top of it hehe PS: I applied some cinnanom on the scraped area. Stephane

I find this plant very hardy and its stem gets very stiff as wood very soon after the last couple of pairs of leaves. hence the colour. It's not easy to get this plant rotten, but you never know. Just to be sure make sure you get a feel of the base of the stem and see if if feels mushy or not.