The pot is probably too large and I suspect has no drainage hole, not an appropriate pot for a succulent with all the holes on the sides and the plastic liner. Best pots are clay or plastic with holes in the bottom, not oversized for the plant.

The soil is not good for a succulent. Succulents and cactuses need a fast draining mix, not a water retaining mix as your appears to be. Next time get commercial cactus & succulent mix and a bag of pumice or perlite and mix them 50/50. If you have other plants in the mix like the one above, consider transitioning them into a faster draining mix, if not now, then in the spring. Sorry, but I don't think there's much hope for your plant. It might have been doomed from the beginning if you bought it in poor condition.

P. afra sounds about right.

That looks like it has been planted in straight coir which is far to moisture retentive.

The soil it is in as all my succulents ect are is a cactai mix with pebbles in the bottom for drainage. I wasn't aware a pot could be too big but ill try planting it in a smaller pot to see if this helps at all. The plastic does have holes in the bottom and pebbles but I needed to stop it from falling out the sides. Thank you for your help with this

The texture of that mix is far too fine to be a good mix for cacti and succulents - it looks far too moisture retentive and without the larger sized mineral ingredients the better C&S soils will have.

Also, adding pebbles or rocks at the bottom of a container do not improve drainage. They actually slow it down and merely serve to raise the PWT.

This is the soil I have

I am not greenfingered but I do try my best. I'll look to act on your advice asap. I didn't realise I was doing everything wrong.

laynabee

NP, that's why we try to offer some helpful tips.

I am not familiar with that mix, but most are not draining as well as advertised. That is why you are getting advice to mix in very generous amount of sifted or rinsed perlite (sifting or rinsing will get rid of smallest particles and dust). Generous amount should be at least half of total and could be more of perlite. This mix is very easy to make and inexpensive.

Pebbles at the bottom do not help - as has been already pointed out by few.

To stop mix from falling out or being washed out, use a piece of mosquito screening, or mesh-type drywall tape. Plastic 'canvass' sold in hobby stores for needlepointing will work too. In a pinch, you could use coffee filter, but that will eventually decompose. You could line whole pot with mosquito mesh since I see that it has holes on sides too - that is a pot usually used for orchids, but you can grow succulents in it too.

I am not greenfingered but I do try my best. I'll look to act on your advice asap. I didn't realise I was doing everything wrong.

I hope you don't feel like everyone is pouncing on you!!! It's just that cactuses and succulents are adapted to dry conditions and are not typical houseplants. Most (but not all) come from parts of the world which are arid.

Please know that I hold Rina (above) in highest regard, and her knowledge and experience are vast compared to my poor beginner status. That said, for me I find that anything over the drain hole as described above slows drainage, so I don't do that. But you do what you think works for you. We all have differing conditions, opinions, growing mixes, etc.

Good luck on your new adventure with succulents.

I looked up the mix online and this was the Amazon description, "Perfect for potting re-potting and propagation of cacti and succulents Levington Desert Cactus & Bonsai Compost is also ideal for alpine plants and African violets." The planting mix for African violets and succulents is basically on opposites ends of the planting mix spectrum. The mix looks like it would be ok for African violets though.

I'm assuming you are in the UK because of the brand. It's reasonably damp there so I would recommend you take that potting mix and add a lot of coarse perlite to it. I would mix at least 1 part perlite to 1 part Livingston probably more like 3 perlite:2 Livingston though.

And no pebbles at the bottom.

Thank you, I am in the UK. I have ordered new pots and some perlite, hopefully I can improve my plants

socks

Good you pointed that out, Thank you - I didn't say that I use very gritty mix (grit+coarse perlite+ small amount of sifted turface), without any soil in it! So I should have not suggested screen since I do not have experience of using soil & perlite mix..., openings could be too tiny for mix with approx. 50% of soil.

I have no problem with anyone correcting me or not agreeing with anything I say - we are all constantly learning here...:)!

Levington want shooting for selling that as a cacti mix, it looks more like a fine seed sowing mix to me ! Agree that it was a Port afra......in a previous life.

Gill

Kinda hard to tell at this point. If there are no holes for water to drain in that plastic bag, it is a death sentence for house plants. Succulents just go quicker.

I use mostly plastic pots for most of my plants, but they are all house plants. I have some small succulents, Thanksgiving cactus and a Xanadu in clay pots.

I don't think its straightforward to characterize coir as water retaining. The better half has her plants, I have mine and there are some that are sort of "ours." She buys annuals for the porch and steps every Spring and I got a big bag of a coir based mix and it was great. A basil plant was "temporarily" saved and lives in the kitchen window now. Its in a plastic pot inside of a ceramic container in coir based mix. When I top dressed it, I put some diatomaceous earth in with fresh mix because I don't want to water it more than twice a week.

If you do the research, I don't think there is any dispute that coir is water retentive......just as much as peat, if not more so. Getting to the Coir of the Matter

That it will hold up well for a single season planting of annuals, etc. can be expected - just about any potting mix will do that......even plain old garden dirt will work for a few months!! But for any long term growing situation and more particularly, if you want to maximize the health and performance of any container grown plants, a better quality, more textural and durable, fast draining mix will work so much more effectively.

I have many potted plants, succulents and non succulents. Big majority are in plastic pots. That would make it about 300 pots. There is np with plants in plastic pots as long as they have drainage holes and well draining mix is used. Lining glazed pot with plastic is not the same as using plastic pots with proper drainage holes - poking holes in plastic would help, but if they are small it really doesn't work.