Can I save my succulent?

I got this plant about 2+ months ago. It's a succulent. As soon as I brought it home I replanted it into a bigger pot. Then for the first few weeks, it was flourishing! Noticeably growing every day, getting a little tall, getting nice healthy leaves. Then after a while, it stopped growing. Now a couple weeks later, it's starting to shrivel up from the bottom of the stock, and going up, as you can see in the picture.

The tag it came with said to make sure the soil was damp, and to give it plenty of sunlight. Well, I was making sure to keep it damp, although I think I might have over watered it. Especially since the pot it's in only has a single hole at the bottom. Now that I think back, I probably gave it too much water. But other than that, I've been keeping it in the living room because we have a big window in there that brings in lots of natural sunlight.

Is it too late to save my succulent?
If not, how can I revive it?

..... one of the fungal damping off diseases - likely from over-watering. Undoubtedly the roots are affected as well. :-(

You can try cutting through the stem well above the affected area and just below a leaf with a sharp, sterile tool. A straight edged razor blade or a new utility knife blade works well. Dip the cut end in cinnamon and leave it set overnight. Carefully remove all but the top 2-3 leaves & stick it (pot it up) in screened perlite or a very well drained medium. BARELY moisten the soil by misting daily - mist the soil & not the plant. You don't even want the soil to be damp; you want it to contain just the slightest hint of moisture, no more. Site the plant in bright light - dappled or open shade is good. Your plant looks like it's light-starved, so you might want to consider a different spot for the cutting if it makes it.

Al

I think you can salvage what is left. One of the first mistakes was the larger pot. The bigger container retained far too much moisture.

I would cut it off above the damaged stalk and remove some of the lower leaves.
And, as Tapla suggested, cinnamon is a good antibacterial to dust it with.
Let it and the removed leaves air dry for a few days.
Then in a smaller pot and using fast draining soil, I would repot it.
I would also lay the loose leaves on the surface of the pot and water ever so minimally.
You will find the leaves may shrivel but will set tiny, tiny little plantlets where the leaf had been attached to the plant.
Just leave them alone and they will develop roots.
You will gain many more starts from a lesson learned.
Also, you will find it needs even less moisture also as the days grow shorter.
Good luck!

And don't hesitate to come back and ask more questions. pod

Okay, I don't understand how I'm supposed to apply the cinnamon. I read it but I don't understand fully. I don't wanna kill the plant on accident o.O

Not to worry. The cinnamon won't hurt it. Just lightly dust the cut (raw) portion of the stem and the spots where the leaves were removed with the cinnamon.

Also, if I can suggest using a prepackaged Cacti & Succulent soil or the Orchid mix when you repot. Either one will work as a fast draining mix.

Okay. Are you guys sure that what you're suggesting is wrong with it is really the problem? Or are you just guessing?

I will try this. I really hope it works. What if it doesn't?

If it doesn't work, you will learn lessons from it. Like what to do/what not to do next time.

If you are not comfortable with our suggestions, what do you think the problem really is?

I'm about 95% sure it's one of the several possible damping off fungal infections. If I was pressed to guess, I'd guess Rhizoctonia (solani) root rot. The plant is a gonner from the lesion down. Your only hope is that you can get the stem cutting to strike, but with a fungal infection that far advanced, it may well have already spread into distal tissues & compromised viability. From a practical perspective, the only hope I see is to put your faith in the cutting & abandon the rest of the plant. Dump the remains, including the soil in a plastic bag, seal it & toss it in the trash.

Al

Podster, it's not that I'm uncomfortable with your suggestions. It sounds quite accurate to me. I was just asking if you were positive. A lot of people in my experience have no idea what they're talking about. But I trust your judgment better since I'm on a forum where people are supposed to know these things. Lol.

Tapla, what exactly do you mean by "cutting"? I tried reading your statements over and over but I'm still confused. Are you saying to cut the top of the stock off, let it sit in cinnamon overnight, and then plant the stock? Is there seeds in the stock or something?

Also, here's a link to another picture I took of the plant. If you want me to cut, you should point out exactly where so I don't end up making a mistake. This photo is so you can see the top of the plant.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m210/Hayley143_2006/HPIM0379.jpg

When you sever the top of the plant from the lower stem & roots, the top of the plant becomes a 'cutting'. Sever the plant just below the first leaf (from the top) that moves to the left in your picture. Remove two leaves from the proximal end (closest to the cut) of the cutting and dust the scars with cinnamon. Podster's advice here was spot on. Dip the proximal end of the cutting in cinnamon & leave the cutting on a paper towel on the counter overnight. The top of your plant is already wilty because the vascular system is seriously compromised and the roots can't move water to the top of the plant, so I suggest you only wait a day or two before potting into a well aerated mix. Waiting allows the cutting a chance to seal off the end of your cut with natural bio-compounds that will form there. When you stick (pot) the cutting, pot it so the lowest leaf is barely above the soil surface & follow directions above insofar as supplying moisture to the medium.

Frankly put, the mistake has already been made & now you're trying to salvage something from it. At some point, you'll need to have faith in someone's advice, because the longer you wait the greater the already considerable odds will be against success.

It may be helpful if you understood what makes a good soil:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1073399/
which I suspect is probably the source of your problem, combined with a little 'heavy hand on the watering can type over-nurturing'.

Al

I trust in your advice that it would've worked. I dunno. I pretty much gave up this morning, the plant is already in the garbage. When I woke up I did as you said, but the fungus had already gotten all the way up to the very tip top of the plant. There was a huge split that opened up in the top of the stock, and the only parts of the plant looked healthy yesterday were all faded green today. I cut it off anyways, but there was already brown stuff going all the way to the top, and when I ripped the leaves off, the spots were all brown too, indicating it got into the leaves. I dunno if the plant is still savable, but to me I don't think it is. Maybe I'm wrong?

And you know, last night, I remembered something that's a huge indicator that my plant has been sick all along. I don't think I was the cause of this root rot fiasco.

Yesterday as the bottom of the stock, as you can see in the picture, there's a big split there where the stock seems to be getting torn both ways. Since that first picture was taken, over the course of the day, that split got so much bigger. And I remembered something.

When I bought the plant, it was still all flat and looked like a rose. But as the days went by where I said he was "flourishing", it was growing up and I could see the center stalk. And after a few days, I noticed a tiny little split at the bottom of the stalk that looked just like the split I found at the top of the stalk this morning. I always thought that split was just the plant's stalk ripping from growing so fast. It was always there though, it never went away. That must've been the first indicator that it was sick. I don't think it was me. Must've been the place I bought it from :(

I do have one more question though...

My succulent happened to be right next to another plant I have. I'm not sure what kind it is, I've never really known. But that plant is a lot more special to me because I've had it since I was like, 12. I read a bit about the damping off diseases on Google, although I didn't understand most of what it was saying. I did read however that these fungus's can become air born, and the place where I was keeping both the plants was close to our swamp cooler (which blows air around).

Would it be okay to dust that plant with cinnamon just to make sure there's no fungus on it?
Or is that only something I should do if I know it's really sick?

And is there any indicators to look for to make sure it hasn't been infected?

Maybe we should back up for a second. Some succulents die after sending up a bloom stalk. Do you have any idea what your plant was - genus/species? Was your plant originally a tight rosette, but then sent up a stalk that was quite different looking from the rest of the plant?

Al

I'm not sure the of the genius/species. I tried looking it up, but there's so many that look exactly like how it looked. All I can remember on it's tag that it came with was that it was a hybrid succulent. Yes it was originally a tight rosette, and then sent up the stalk. I was pretty confused when that happened. I thought it was supposed to stay rose like.

It may not be your fault at all then ........

I've been getting ready to send out some plants tomo. If you send me a d-mail with your address, I'll send you a couple of succulents. One is an Aeonium aborescens purpureum. It has a very tight rosette - do a search and see if you'd like one.

Al

Thanks for the offer, Al. But right now I think I'm just going to focus on my other plant. I think it needs help anyways, lol :)

You nor anybody else ever answered my other questions though... I said before:

My succulent happened to be right next to another plant I have. I'm not sure what kind it is, I've never really known. But that plant is a lot more special to me because I've had it since I was like, 12. I read a bit about the damping off diseases on Google, although I didn't understand most of what it was saying. I did read however that these fungus's can become air born, and the place where I was keeping both the plants was close to our swamp cooler (which blows air around).

Would it be okay to dust that plant with cinnamon just to make sure there's no fungus on it?
Or is that only something I should do if I know it's really sick?

And is there any indicators to look for to make sure it hasn't been infected?

These fungi are present in almost all soils, unless they've been sterilized, and certainly in all mineral (garden, beds, ag fields) soils. They aren't usually a problem unless you provide the cultural conditions that allow their numbers to multiply and/or your plant is weakened by stress or strain. The best way to avoid problems is to use an appropriate soil and water correctly, and to keep your plant's level of vitality as high as possible. You can't hurt anything by dusting with cinnamon, but it's not likely to be very effective in the capacity in which you would be employing it.

Al

Lol okay. Thank you for all your help, Al. I appreciate it :)