Sempervivum help please

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

Hello, I'm new to succulents and I'd love your help!

I bought this sempervivum from Lowe's a couple weeks ago:

The next day I removed it from the pot, rinsed the soil off the roots, and left the roots to heal/dry for a few days in the shade. During that time the lower leaves started drooping downwards. I wasn't sure what to do about that, so I just planted it as best I could in gritty mix. I waited a few days before watering, and since then I've watered it a few times (making sure the gritty mix was dry before watering). It gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight per day.

It looks great from the top (as far as my untrained eyes can tell):

But today after watering I noticed a few wrinkled, dried leaves at the bottom at the plant, with black tips. I pulled them out:

Now the side of my plant looks like this:

I see a few more dead leaves I can pull out, but I need to use tweezers to reach them so I haven't done that yet because I'm concerned that the roots are too exposed. I'm wondering if I should remove all of the bottom leaves (even the healthy-looking ones) so that I can repot the sempervivum with the roots fully under the soil. What do you think? Any other suggestions?

I've already learned a lot from this forum, so I thank you all in advance for any advice you can offer!

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Comments (5)

rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Watering few times in 2 weeks, after rinsing roots could be too much - depends on temps.

Those leaves you took off look rotted to me. Hopefully the stem and/or roots are not. They will grow with roots slightly exposed, but don't like to sit in damp soil/mix. They kind of open up rosette with droopy leaves if not enough sun besides being too wet. If you can, put it outside.
Bean thanked rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
Sinha
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Mine are just sitting on the potting medium in the pot. Not one root has grown into the soil. They get sun from 1PM till 6PM and seem to be happy and turgid. I don't think they like to grow roots into the soil. There was one pup, which separated from the bunch, and I planted its roots, into the soil. See in the first pic below.That one too, is so far, okay. Wonder if it will proliferate. I must say that it's a first time for me, growing these green lotuses. Pics below for reference.
Bean thanked Sinha
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Sinha
10 years ago
Bean thanked Sinha
Bean
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you, Rina, for your comments!

I suspected rot too. I removed the plant from the pot and removed a few more leaves. It looks like the rot is only on a small part of the plant at the base of the leaves (pic below). I sterlized a knife and cut away the rotted area. As I was doing so I noticed a tiny grey worm with a black head squirming near the rot. I removed the worm and didn't notice any others. I wonder if the worm caused the problem, or if it's rot, or both?

For now I'm leaving the plant to callous over, but I don't know if it will survive. It's all a learning process!
(Photo before cutting away the suspected rot)

Temps have been in the high 80s. I stick a bamboo skewer in the soil to test moisture before watering and only water when it comes out dry. But the other day we had a torrential all-day rain. My succulents are outside in a screened lanai but they are under the roof so while they didn't get rained on, there was a lot of moisture in the air for at least a day. If it's rot, maybe that contributed. My other succulents seem fine (though one pachyphytum got wrinkled leaves so I'm keeping an eye on it).

Thanks again for your input!
Bean
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you, Sinha, for your input & your pics! It's interesting that they like to sit on top of the soil. I didn't know if I was doing something wrong with mine because of the way it was sitting so high above the soil, but maybe that's normal after all. Yours look good!