Succulents and cacti are not really my thing, but I've never been able to pass by a plant in need. I found this little guy shoved back on a shelf while browsing for new pots at Walmart tonight and couldn't leave it there. I believe its a Echeveria sp but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, I got it for $0.50 and hoping someone here can help me with care instructions, if theres any hope of bringing it back. The whole bottom half seems dead, do I remove that? I picked up some cacti/succulent soil while there, should I repot it, trim it, or what? It also seems to need a smaller pot. A little lost and out of my element here lol. Any help would be much appericiated!
It looks to me like the bottom leaves have just died and left a stalk, I'd remove the dead leaves before I did anything else. I'm no expert, but this is what I would do...but this could be the wrong information, so wait for more people to reply, lol. If all of the areas a leaf was lost is dry (calloused over) then you can repot it and make the dirt line right below the green part.
Yes, I would remove ALL the dead dried leaves. Without disturbing the roots too much, move it to a smaller pot. You want just an inch or so of room between the root-ball and inside of the pot. You can always take tip cuttings if the plant starts to look leggy at any time. Make sure it gets plenty of light and don't over-water:)
When the Ech. begin to enter this phase of growth, they are usually at the end of their life cycle. I do not know if a cutting will actually grow, but containment in any soggy medium will cause it to rot, and perish. If there were side shoots, the odds are favourable for new sets of plants. The shoots are the usual reproduction of this succulent as a house plant...also in the wild, seeds... good luck they have the most amazing little flowers when in bloom!
Thank you very much for the info. I tried to start repotting it, but as soon as I got it out of the pot the top (which looked semi-healthy) literally fell off of the stump, so I was left with just the stump and roots. It seems like it was too far gone to save :( The roots also looked rotted, brown and very soft. Thank you for trying to help though!!
