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Landscape Design Cacti & Succulents garden

Succulent leaves are falling off!

5 years ago

I bought a black prince succulent and replanted it after the soil is completely dry, and let it stay under the shade for about 2 weeks. I just watered it after 15 days or so. As I checked this morning (2 days after being watered) and slightly touched one leaf half of them fell off. I don't know what to do. I'm still a novice at succulents. Please help me.

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cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5

5 years ago

Karen, here's why I posted what I did. '... a black prince is not a type of succulent, maybe it's an Echeveria? '. My goodness, if that's not a question as to what it is, my English comprehension is falling faster than I thought.

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Comments (8)

Stefan
5 years ago
Hold up.

What about temps, previous plant condition, humidity,

root systems and overall health of the plant beforehand and now?

And a photo perchance? A picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to plants....
Karen S. (7b, NYC)
5 years ago
If you're new to succulents, a black prince is not a type of succulent, maybe it's an Echeveria? Pls share a pic, as that's not supposed to happen, a leaf fall when you touch it. Was the rootball (the soil) hard to your touch when you watered?
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To answer you original question "Succulents dying, how can I save them?". The quick answer - you won't save them. Throw them away. If you really are interested in growing healthy plants, you have lots of work to do. It's a great hobby, but you can't go into it blindly. I will try and keep this as simple as I can, please don't take offense: - You should not be growing these plants until you have done at least a modicum of research, unless your intention is to only have them as temporary, short-lived decorative plants. These plants were doomed from the start. Poor pot selection, poor soil mix, inadequate light, inadequate air movement, inadequate temperature range, and an owner with a lack of information. I partially blame the retailer for selling an attractive but terribly ineffective mini-garden. - Succulents ARE NOT houseplants. They will not be healthy indoors without significant effort. What you may think are "healthy" plants are instead plants that are tolerant of abuse which can only put up with so much before they start to go downhill. Most succulents need fresh air and sunshine for at least a few months a year. Indoors year-round they are essentially being tortured. -"gnats" are fruit flies. They feed off of organics in the soil, like decomposing peat. Peat is probably the single worst ingredient for growing pot plants. -We have all been in the same position. We have all killed plants in the beginning. What defines success, IMO, is how you take it from there. /rant
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Hi there. There is quite a bit of rot due to the fact that your soil is too water retentive. You will want to make a clean cut on the stem using a sterilized pair of trimmers, let the stem callous for about a week, and plant it into either a gritty mix of your choice or cactus and succulent soil with AT LEAST 60% perlite mixed in. It is also etiolated, stretching for light. So, you definitely want to make sure it gets at least 4 hours of bright sun a day. They can handle more though. I hope you are able to save it. :)
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cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
5 years ago
Karen, it is an Echeveria, a cutivar name 'Black Prince'.
Karen S. (7b, NYC)
5 years ago
Yes, Jeff, I can figure out it's an Ech, but the post didn't say so.
socks
5 years ago
People need more info in order to help you. A photo is most helpful.
geoforce
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
AA...

I had exactly this same thing happen with a plant of Echeveria 'Licorice' which I believe is closely related to Black Prince. I up-potted it as I have done on others, and about a week later, all of the leaves fell off. Most of these have shriveled and dried up by now, but a couple are starting to root and form plantlets so I haven't lost it totally yet. The old stem has done nothing yet in way of recovery.

No idea why this went so different from any of the others which have given little trouble at all with same procedures.
Alain (Pacifica, CA;10a)
5 years ago
There was a discussion on that same topic some time ago. It happens!!! I had the same problem too, all leaves fell off all of a sudden, they all look good, firm, no dry, no rot. None were able to reroot. The stem and roots looked fine as well. Some tiny bug, fungus or other challenging to detect microbes??? I have another one as well as a black knight going strong under the same conditions. The one that's now gone was growing next to them... The same also happened to Pachysedum Ganhzou, twice, 2 years in a row, both times after a few cold winter days... in San Jose!!! Not sure why but anyhow, the latter is now planta non grata in my backyard!

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