Echeveria looking sad!

10 years ago

What is going on with these Echeveria Perle von Nunberg? While they are growing offsets, just about everything else looks bad. They were looking pretty good until late summer.

They are planted in full sun on the slope of an island. They do get some late afternoon shade. The island is primarily sand (the staple of Florida soil), gravel and about half a bag of perlite that I worked in when planting them. There is a little bit of compost mixed in, but not much. I was quite surprised at how hot the rocks get. I can't sit on them to plant or weed without a towel.

I suspect water is the problem, not the heat. From June through September we got 45 inches of rain. While the area drains well, that's a lot of water. September was the wettest. My sedums have all thrived in the summer weather, but these guys - not so much!

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Comments (5)

Crenda 10A SW FL
Original Author
10 years ago
Here is a close-up of one of the stems. The bottom of the stem feels hard and woody. Does that sound like a root problem?

Thanks for any advice!
Colleen E
10 years ago
Ooh, I'd guess that's not a healthy stem. The close-up of the stem looks almost black, like rot, to me. I'd guess a water problem.
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bikerdoc5968 Z6 SE MI
10 years ago
It is hard to tell if the lower portion (circled) is viable or not. If it is soft, then it is rotted. The "normal" stem should look like the upper portion and be very firm. If the bottom is rotted, cut the stem back until you have good green cross section of stem, allow it to callous for a week or more and replant. While water is the most common reason for rotted stems, I have had grubs eat up into the stem at this time of year and kill some of my Echeveria.

This post was edited by bikerdoc5968 on Sun, Oct 20, 13 at 13:36
Crenda 10A SW FL
Original Author
10 years ago
Well, the stems are definitely not mushy. They are very hard, like a stick from a tree. The roots look better than I had expected, but pretty meager. And I can see that I was lazy and did not remove all the peat from the roots - you know how they come from a BBS. It could be grubs. Or snails. I haven't seen evidence of either on my other plants, but I know they are here.

The black spot on the left plant looks like it will peal off, is loose at the edges. Maybe this is how the other one looked before shriveling up. I think these 2 are definite candidates for cutting, callousing and restarting.
Crenda 10A SW FL
Original Author
10 years ago
Uh oh - not as good as I had hoped! I can't cut this one back any further, so I will try to get the babies to grow. After seeing this, I will cut back the other one well above that dark spot. 2 of the others have nice stems and a nice root ball. So there is hope!

Thanks for the advice!