So, your succulent is looking a little worse for wear? You’ve come to the right place.
Despite the fact that succulents are touted as some of the easiest plants to grow in your home, they can actually be tricky little devils to keep alive. Trust me I know! Sometimes, for what may seem like no reason at all, they start to wilt and die, and with the wilting of those succulent leaves, so too your soul dies just a little. But fear not! There’s always a reason, and perhaps even a quick fix you can use to give them back their sparkle. A while ago we put together An Illustrated Guide to Caring For Succulents, and today we’re sharing with you another in our green series… We’re answering the age old question ‘WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY SUCCULENT?!’… (Usually said with a bunch of expletives).
To make it easy for you, once again we’ve put together an illustrated guide, this time outlining some of the common issues that happen with succulents, with the goal of answering your question about what’s wrong with my succulent. Once and for all!
What’s Wrong With My Succulent?!
Leaning Towards The Light
If your plant starts leaning towards the light, or growing in length towards a window, that’s a sure sign that it isn’tĀ getting enough sunlight.
Quick Fix Well, obviously it’s time to shift your plant towards the source of light. But bear in mind that morning light is better than harsh afternoon light, and if you plan to make a drastic move it would be best to do it as baby steps so as not to cause a shock to the plant.
Shrivelled Leaves
Leaves dying are a normal part of succulent growth, and there will be times when you need to trim the dead leaves of a succulent which will often be the bottom, older leaves. However, if the leaves all of a sudden start shrivelling or looking wrinkled all over, chances are your plant isn’t getting enough water.
Quick Fix Check to see if the soil is very dry, which will help confirm underwatering as the issue. If this is the case, give your plant some water, making sure to fully drench the soil. Considering watering more often.
Rotting
If your leaves and base of your plant start to get squishy, you’ve got rot on your hands. This is from overwatering, where the soil isn’t able to dry out properly between watering and the plant becomes waterlogged.
Quick Fix If you think the rotting is from overwatering, hold back on your watering schedule for a while. If the rotting is quite bad, chances are you may need to trim your succulent.
Yellowing Leaves
Another sure sign of overwatering, yellowing leaves is something you may notice prior to any major rotting.
Quick Fix Definitely hold back from your watering for a while until the leaves have started to regain their colour, and also make sure to let your soil dry out between watering.
Black or Brown Spots
If you’re seeing your plant turn brown or black in spots or along the trunk of the plant, chances are you’ve gone a bit over the top in the watering department.
Quick Fix Unfortunately once the trunk has gone completely black it can be difficult to bring a succulent back to life. However, leave it for a while to dry out and you may find that the spots go away and the plant recovers.
Dull Colour
A loss of colour is often what happens when a succulent is exposed to too much sunlight, as there is a bleaching effect. A green succulent may turn to a pale green or white, and if it was bright pink, purple or yellow it may turn a lighter green colour.
Quick Fix Move your plant to a less bright corner, and if it was in the afternoon sun move it to a place that gets more reflected light or less harsh morning sun.
This, is as always, amazingly helpful! I have tried propagating a succulent last year, but my tiny succulents don’t seem to grow at all or very slowly. Do you have an idea what I’m doing wrong?
https://www.makeandmess.com/
From my experience, depending on the size/age of the pups/cuttings, it could take a pretty long time. Also, the time of year plays a part, as well as your climate. Did you do anything for root promotion to the pup/cutting before propagating? That definitely helps! I have two pups from my aloe right now. Honestly, I tried to propagate to early, but was anxious, and I did it in the winter (should’ve waited till spring!). The first pup was a lil small with only 3 leaves and one long root. As I was trying to separate it, there wound up being another REALLY small one (1 1/2 leaves about 3/4-1in) that came off by accident with no root. I dipped the bottoms of both in pure aloe gel for root promotion (other things to use as well) before potting. Now that the weather has gotten nicer, they’re both starting to grow, although the smaller one is doing so at a snails pace.
My succulents keep groing really long stems and losing their bottom leaves at the bottom. Is this normal? Can i trim the stem so that the succulent is cute and smol again?
This is known as etiolation, and happens when your succy isn’t getting enough bright light. Most succulents can be rejuvenated by taking a crown cutting. You cut off the most compact section at the tip of the stem, let the cut stem dry out for a few days (and take up to a week with a really lush succulent), and then push this crown cutting into some fresh succulent and cacti compost. It should start to root in days. You can take off some of the leaves from the remaining stem and once they’ve calloused over lay them on some compost and roots will start to sprout. Pot those one once you’ve got a nice rosette of leaves formed. Leave the rest of the plant in the original pot, and it should sprout pups all along the stem, which you can cut off and plant individually one they are well formed rosettes with roots.
If there is an issue with rotting from over watering, there’s one other thing to do other than hold off on watering. REMOVE the succulent from the pot and soil and let the roots air dry for a few days! The succulent will not be damaged from being out of soil and it gives the remaining healthy roots a chance to heal by “callousing”; almost like forming a scab. The rotted roots should fall off themselves at this point. Then repot it in lightly damp to almost dry soil and THEN hold off on your watering cycle (add a lil extra time between watering) until you see that the plant is good again and not being affected by the rot! Had this happen to my aloe. Did this and she was thriving healthy again in a couple of weeks!
I have the worst brown thumb! Mine are both shriveling AND yellowing, what’s going on?
Great post thank you! It definitely has been a question I have been pondering as I’ve lost a couple of my succulents for rot… although, I wasn’t really watering them. I live in Scotland and the winter was overly humid and that seemed to make the damage. But I’ve definitely had almost all of the problems you listed and now that I know what it means I can try and save them if it happens again! Thanks!
Lii
https://byliil.wordpress.com/