oh no! It may be rotting inside.... I have a pleiospilos nelii too and something similar happened to mine. I posted about it a couple days ago with pictures, but mine rotted from sunburn. I had to cut away the rotting parts and so far the new baby leaves are doing fine. But it looks like the whole succulent is mushy..... Not sure what can be done now, except give it lots of light. You don't want to stick it in blazing hot temperatures though. And no more water. You could try that.... But like Cristina said, it doesn't look good. ):

You can go for months without watering that little guy. It's a tough plant.

And depending on what kind of cactus mix & what ingredients are in the mix you're using, the soil may be holding in too much water for the P. nelii

Cristina & Christina M., thank you so much for your help. I'm really sad about this.. I've repotted it to a new glass container (I grow my succulents in terrariums) with new drainage rocks, activated charcoal, and potting soil, however I didn't wash the roots the way that article suggested, but now I'm kind of scared to touch it again cause it actually looks worse than it did before :( I also read that you're not supposed to fertilize the P. nelii and I stupidly did fertilize it after its second repotting without doing any prior research.

The soil I'm using is a mixture of peat, sand, perlite. One more thing - the sick plant was in a terrarium with a couple of other succulents, do you think I should change the soil for them too? The P. nelii seems to be the only one affected though, so perhaps its not the soil?

Again, thank you for your help!

I live in a very old, pre-war building that uses gas heating and every time I leave and come back after a couple of days the temperature drops to even 57F degrees!! Maybe my plant just couldn't take the cold?

Water and so hot= some succulents become cooked...

I've the Pleiospilos in sand, it looks good there. I'll take a photo tomorrow.

Magdalena,

I hate to be a Terrarium Nazi, but however much "drainage" typed components you have set up in a glass bowl with no drainage holes, the plant's roots is set up for rot and failure. Some really robust succulents can survive such torture, but for the more specially sensitive to water succulents such as your Pleiospilos/living stone plant, will just die due to extreme moisture trapped in the under layer of the bowl because there is no air flow. Worse, if under intense light or heat, becomes cooked - hence becoming jelly.

Repotting 2 times within a few months is as good as killing the plant. Living stones have very sensitive root systems, the moment they are disturbed, your plant can go into shock for months on end before it starts trying to establish itself. Throughout the time of shock, no amount of water will do the plant good, because it just shuts down itself until it thinks danger is out of the way before it lay its new roots. So you have to be extremely careful when watering newly repotted plants.

You have to understand these stone plants grow in the windy and arid conditions of south Africa, sometimes on cliffs and rocks collecting water only through morning/night moistures. They can survive the harsh/extreme cold and heat conditions for months, or years even without the rain, but the minute you put them in a moist/tropical condition such as a terranium, I'm afraid the poor plant can only go into shock and die by not being to adapt quick enough to the humidity.

I do not grow Pleiospilos, but I grow Lithops and fenestraria, and they are of the same "living stone" family genus. I never water them until I see signs of wrinkles or limping, then I dripple water into the soil surrounding the plant, never on top of or have water touch the plant. I always make sure I dripple enough water to see them drain, then I know the water had touched the lower roots, that is where I pour away the excess drained water in the dish and stop watering till the next time the plant is thirsty again.

They sit by on a south west facing windowsills with alot of natural light, and so far they just do their thing. These guys are very slow growers, so don't expect to see movements happen within weeks.

Lastly, they are all grown in very gritty soil in long deep pots. So girtty that, there is actually no "soil" in the mix. It's 1 part each perlite, growstones, turface, grits and very little vermiculite. These plants have very long tap roots that are engineered to burrow deeper for water. My advise is ditch the peat, buy some grits/turface and mix it with your perlite. you'll be with the results. I do not personally grow with sand, but you have to make sure there is no salt in your sand (aka beach sand) - salt instantly kills succulents too, because of excessive minerals that makes it inhabitable for the roots.

So my next best tip is, toss the poor fella, buy a new one and try again in some pots with drainage holes.

There are a wealth of info here, and I'm sure many other fellow forumers here have some secret tip or two that they are more than willing to share with you.

Happy Growing!

Bernard

Magdalena, if you want success with succulents, please do NOT grow them in glass or terraria. They need excellent drainage and low humidity, two things glass containers do not provide. Not only do you need to change the soil to a fast draining mix, you need to get them out of the glass for good. And give them as much light as you can provide. Succulents can be easy to grow, if you just follow a few simple rules, like fast draining soil, plenty of light, and judicious watering. Read up on your plants, give them what they need, and they will thrive.

Christopher

well, succulents can survive in open glass/ non drainage containers.. its just not easy.
And agreeing with kris, terrariums aren't the place for succulents (contrary to popular belief) since they are smaller, enclosed spaces. They look pretty in there, but it's not convenient or particularly healthy.

I wouldn't use just potting soil for the p.nelii. A lot of growers say use as little organic material as possible. Peat sand and perlite sounds good to me though.
And I highly doubt the soil is going to affect the other plants you have. Unless you see white mold or bugs, don't worry.

My guess would be that you just watered it way too much under low light conditions with little or no drainage. My p.nelii's health also declined very very quickly, like yours is doing.

P. nelii is a plant that can't control how much water is absorbs. It will absorb any water in the pot. Growers also recommend NOT putting it with other succulents, as it's water regime & the conditions that it likes is very different from other succulents like echeveria. I would put it in it's own pot (terracotta pot) - with lots of holes for drainage. You want the soil to dry quickly for p. nelii.

also, 57F isn't too bad for the plant. Ideally the temp is 70 or 80 i think, but as long as its not like 40-30F (or freezing temps) it'll be fine. You can look up the hardiness of p. nelii on google. Websites say hardiness zone 9-11, so 57 is fine.
although... this is just from observations & research, I'm no professional gardener!

No succulent will ever be happy in a glass terrarium. They need drainage and airy, mostly non-organic soil that drains and dries quickly. Humidity is a death sentence. On top of all that, this particular type of succulent is a beast to get right. I grow a many kinds that are more forgiving, but if you don't have that one potted up just right, with drainage and air flow and fast-drying media? Mush.

Magdalena - Lots of great advice above. =)

It is easiest to keep these picky Pleiospillos solo in a small pot (or as a raised portion of a combo pot so it can be watered separately). They don't wrinkle when dehydrated and only soften slightly, making figuring out when to water a bit tricky. Additionally, as the temperature drops, watering frequency gets even longer.

Mine is grown in very bright light and temperatures between 16-29C. The soil is a mixture of grit, bark, and Turface (clay). It just started growing a new pair of leaves so I am currently watering it very lightly ever 4 days:

If you plan on continuing peat/perlite/sand, I would recommend using at least 80% perlite and the rest peat and sand. You will still need to water very carefully because all three components can hold a surprising amount of water. Other combinations like Cristina's also work - best be customized to your environment and personal growing habits.

I fertilize mine lightly, but my growing conditions are probably quite different from yours. I doubt you will have any issues for quite a long time without fertilization.

Hope you are able to get a replacement and make it flourish!

Mine...

spends the summer outside and gets watered a couple of times a week-very hot and dry here. i won't water it again until it goes back out in april or may. grow it in ancient potting soil and perlite.

local hd had beautiful selection of pleio, lithops, anacampseros and haworthias but left them outside in 21 degrees-employee told me they would be fine-just keep them watered. SIGH.

haha that's terrible employee advice! ^

Do you expect any better from a place such as that? Really?

Christopher