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jess43945

"Candy Cane" Crassula Help

10 years ago

I bought these from Lowe's about a week ago and when I did, I noticed black/brown spots on the leaves. Taking a chance on them, I bought them and now have repotted them, but the dots have not gone away. Is it rot? Or were they just destined to be like this? It's also hard to keep them standing up. They came in a small 2in pot with four of them, roots all tangled together. I repotted yesterday and I'm waiting a bit to water them, but will they stay like this? And is there anything I can do to help them? Thanks for the help.

Sorry for some dirt near the stem, this was taken right after I repotted. I can take better pictures too, this was just a quick phone one.

Comments (11)

  • 10 years ago

    Shall I guess that that glass jar has no hole in the bottom? This will make problems for the plant. I'm more concerned about what kind of mix are you using. I'd recommend a terra cotta pot.

    I'm not worried about the spots, more about the pot & your mix which I can't see.

    Lena

  • 10 years ago

    Yeah, I drilled two holes in the bottom, so it's not that. I mixed my cactus soil with extra perlite, too, so I think they'll be okay with that. I just hope the spots go away!

  • 10 years ago

    Spots probably will not go away; are the round ones, by a chance, slightly raised? Otherwise, all brownish marks could be just mechanical injury - from touching other plants or similar.

    Are the stems very limp and soft? If not, it could be that they need to recuperate from repotting. Were there roots?

  • 10 years ago

    Yes, they're slightly raised a bit, which worried me. And the stems aren't very limp, but they do lean a bit. They may just be top-heavy, and like you said, trying to readjust from repotting. And the stems aren't that soft, either. There were roots, a small root ball for each one.

  • 10 years ago

    Jess, the round/slightly oval bumps could be scale (I don't think your plant has it). Just to make sure, you can take a q-tip, dip it in rubbing alcohol and see if the spot cams off when gently swabbed. If yes, it is scale and can be removed that way. Otherwise, just a damage as I mentioned before.

    Sometimes there are small bumps on the leaves that are sign of oedema (or edema) I don't think that is case with your plant either.

    As for soil, make sure there is lots of perlite in the mix (50/50, even more) to get adequate drainage, and do not overwater. I think it will like good sunlight - but make sure plant gets acclimatized to it slowly so it doesn't burn.

  • 10 years ago

    Probably stressed by the low light and stagnant indoor air. These are not indoor plants. The really need to be outdoors unless you have some kind of windowsill greenhouse window.

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    I would also add that the glass has the potential to magnify any sun and cook the roots of a plant. It's surprising how the temp will rise even in a relatively short time.

    Rina, hope you don't mind me saying this.....Grit added to any mix as well as perlite can help stabilise a plant that wants to lean to one side as perlite is as light as gossamer and makes a lightweight mix even fluffier....especially as they have small unestablished roots at the moment.

    Jess...However, I can't work out Why they won't stand upright, there must be a point when they are balanced? Is the mix bone dry, that could be why as you say you haven't watered them yet.

    Personally, I would ditch the glass container, they really don't have any benefits, for any plant....even a plastic one would be better and a TC one best of all as mentioned above.

    Gill UK

  • 10 years ago

    Unless filled with a mix of very low water retention, I find clear containers grow algae.

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Gill, not at all, and I totally agree with what you are saying. I also use small rocks to support newly potted plants. The reason I didn't mention the grit is that only soil&perlite mixture was suggested.

  • 7 years ago

    I've seen those brown spots on all candy cane crassula at all the stores i go