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South African Native Plants Cacti & Succulents House Plants

What do with my poor zebra succulent

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

My lovely husband left my poor guy outside and down poor rain. I have tried not watering and realized I needed to replant it so I took it out dumped out the old dirt have it drying out in the strainer like I read. It said to let it air dry for 2-3 days then replant it back in new dry soil! Should I cut the tips off or leave it be? I took off the old dying leaves and hopefully its not a complete loss! Photo is in comments sorry!

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hc mcdole

3 years ago

They may have been too wet earlier? I had standing water in some pots this morning (and Sally passed through at least 2 or 3 days earlier). The succulents in full sun are okay.

I emptied this bowl before Sally came in and it is full now. Not that this is a good rain gauge but I heard others say they got 5 inches or more.

The hole clogged on this bowl of philodendron and some haworthia or a hybrid of it.

This trug had several inches in it (no soil) so I dump it after a rain as the mosquitoes are vicious.

bigger pots blown over (at least no hard rain or falling limbs)

I like to use aluminum pans for starting lots of things including succulents (perlite and whatever debris ends up in there after several years).

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Comments (16)

Tracy Benson
Original Author
3 years ago
socks
3 years ago
You can clip the brown tips if you want, or not, just don't clip into the green. I hope the plant was not in a very big pot because it looks smallish and roots not too big. Also it should be in a pot with holes. You could refresh the potting mix with commercial cactus and succulent mix combined 50/50 with perlite from your nursery. That's a fast draining mix which is good for haworthias. Don't water immediately after repotting. Your plant will be fine.
Tracy Benson thanked socks
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Rhea, pruning off inflorescence is actually really common and it will definitely help your plants refocus its strength to grow newer leaves. But as Rina and Brenton suggested, your immediate aim should be controlling the infestation. Pest are a pain to get rid off, even if you kill the surface ones, they might have eggs or another colony within your soil or well hidden between the crevices of the newer leaves. Eggs will be immune to most pesticides, so even if you had the bugs under control, you might want to reapply pesticides after 2/3 weeks after the eggs hatch. Make sure you do not expose your plants to any direct sunlight after any pesticide applications, they are tonnes of HORROR stories of plants being baked/cooked to death. Give them about a few days to a week for the chemicals to slowly subside before giving them some sun. This is also a good time to bare root your plants, clean up the roots/inspect for pest and switch up your mix for a more well-draining one as Rina suggested. I believe there are a couple of members from the UK and they have a recipe in modifying Al's Gritty Mix. I don't believe in forcing people into the gritty mix camp, but one of the major reasons for infestations are because pest like aphids and mealy bugs are attracted to damp soil, and maintaining watering balance are considerably a difficult thing for amateurs growers, let alone someone new to succulents. But once you have a girtty mix in place, it is very easy to water and you'll save yourself alot more future problems.
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Tracy Benson
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank yoy so much!
Tracy Benson
Original Author
3 years ago
I didn't have it in big pot but i have had this guy for a few years and its done fine in my bayhroom and was really green and growing till my husband did this! I have recently been reading about them and have really grown to love this type of plant!
socks
3 years ago
Great! Don’t be mad at DH. Stuff happens!

You’ve got a couple pups on your plant. I like haworthias too because they don’t get too big. Have you found the website haworthias.com? If not, you might like to take a look.
Tracy Benson
Original Author
3 years ago
awesome thank you!
Tracy Benson
Original Author
3 years ago
so the roots came off im pretty devastated it was doing so well and now this! I just ordered cactus succlent and perlite is it even worth saving Its like my baby!
castro_gardener
3 years ago
Tracy, I'm thinking that new roots will come out of the brown parts of the stem. Maybe let it callus for a day to dry off the parts where the roots came off. Put it back into dryish soil, prop it up with something and let the new roots come naturally. That's what I would do. I also grow these.
Tracy Benson
Original Author
3 years ago
ok, I'm picking up stuff tomorrow to replant in soil for succulents and perlite aswell!
socks
3 years ago
Yes, hang in there with it. After potting up, don't water for a period of time. Wait a couple weeks unless it starts to look bad.
hc mcdole
3 years ago
If they were outdoors in a sunny location they should dry out fairly quickly. A clay pot is better than plastic but plastic is doable. Haworthia and Gasteria can take more watering than some succulents IMO.

This is my mother's plant I gave her a small starter of years ago. If it rains, it will get soaked but it has been in this same pot for years - it needs some work as it is overgrown.
Tracy Benson
Original Author
3 years ago
I'm letting the dry out hopefully they will make it!
Tracy Benson
Original Author
3 years ago
wow they are beautiful!
SoCal Stewart (San Diego, Ca Zone 10A/10B)
3 years ago
hc, did you say you have philodendron and haworthia in the same pot growing together? If so, for how long and both are doing well?
hc mcdole
3 years ago
Stewart, yes both in the same pot - the one pictured above that was in standing water. The haworthia (2 offsets) were just laid in the pot (not pushed into the old soil) back in the spring as I had extras. The heart leaf philodendron is the same thing except been in the pot for at least a year or more - it crept into this pot from another pot of philodendron and rooted in, so I didn't have the heart to toss it on the compost heap the last winter or two. The pot originally had some kind of fern in it which died.

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