Help with a Senecio crassissimus!

Plant Parent

I have no idea what is happening with her! So it looked alright two days ago, have to admit I didn’t check nor pay attention for two days and found it looking like this today.

I’ve had her for 2 months. It is in a place where the rising sun (around 10ish) hits her directly for half an hour. Water once a week or every three days. I moved her from a small plastic pot to a larger terracota pot. If you could help that would be awesome!

Darryl

The best approach to water a plant is to make the decision to water by observing soil dryness – NEVER by blindly following a schedule.

All succulents should be watered by the “water when the soil is completely dry” strategy. This means your plant COULD be watered each week if the soil became totally dry by that time – but this is unlikely unless your plant was exposed to 8+ hours of direct sun.

Given what you’ve told me about your light situation and that you’ve been watering at such a frequent interval, I can conclude that your plant has suffered from root rot (the plant on the right). The plant on the left seems to still be healthy so here’s what you need to do:

From what I can see of the soil, it does not appear to be “cactus soil” – soil for cacti and succulents needs to have a high degree of drainage, which means there should be lots of perlite (white foamy bits) and or coarse sand. You can just buy “cactus soil”. Repot your plant into the appropriate soil.

Put the plant where it will have (1) the widest possible view of the sky and (2) at least 3-4 hours of direct sun.

Check the soil dryness and do not water until you observe the soil to be completely dry. When you water, pour in enough water to thoroughly and evenly soak all parts of the soil – hopefully you have a drainage hole so that excess water can drain away.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

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