I've kept various types of succulents over the years, but I didn't start having issues until I moved into my new house. The first ailment (that I regretfully don't have a photo of) Is where the leaves shrivel up quickly and look almost crystallized and sparkly. This happened to a few types of sedum, as well as one of those sunrise plants. I always thought if it needed water it would slowly shrivel. This seems much more progressive and sudden, and only attacks a portion of the leaves, not all at once. Here is my other problem- Recently I brought home an ox tongue. I repotted this with soil I baked and dried in the oven (thinking that this soil may have a fungus that killed my beloved spiral agave) mixed with a little perlite and lava rock. I had the ox tongue in a pot next to a sedum cutting that I rooted a long time ago and had just repotted with the same soil. I came home last night from a few days in the mountains to find they were both turning white and looking very ill. :( The fungus that killed my agave was white and clearly rotting, but this appears that all the color was just sucked out. There is also some shriveling. I took them away from my other succulents in case it's something contagious (they were sitting next to each other on the windowsill). I only water the sedum once in a while when soil is completely dry. The ox tongue I hadn't even gotten the chance to water more than once. :( I have had terrible luck with my current bag of soil so I think I will just toss it. :\ Any information on what this is/whether or not it can be treated would be appreciated so I can stop losing my plants!!! Thank you!!!
Wish I knew. I will say, I think you are right to toss the soil. To have this occur on two very different plants would make me worry about a pathogen of some sort. It seems to affect parts of the plant first making me think it would not be something like a toxin in the soil or water. I would toss the soil and any affected plants since it seems to spread so fast and keep a close watch on the rest of the collection. Good luck.
Thank you for your reply!! I think you're right about tossing the plants. My mom suggested that whatever it is might be airborne. The first problem I mentioned, my first thought when it started happening was mites, simply because it resembled how a plant shrivels when spider mites kill it, but I didn't see any movement or sign of life, and again it only affects pieces of the plant at a time. Clueless. With the white, bunnicula-type ailment, what's weird is that I repotted my small to medium sized Jade plant in this same batch of soil a week and a half ago, as well as a couple jade leaves, and they don't show signs of any health problems. Everything it's killed so far has been young, and always a succulent. I'm stumped. :(
