How to tell if a succulent is dying? we often don’t read the signals that our succulents give us that it needs some care. People usually think that succulents are very easy to grow don’t need much care and attention, they are very small and they take up a very little place in your home but succulents can also be very tricky and very temperamental to grow. In this article, I want to share with you a few symptoms that you might see with your succulent and what those symptoms mean.
5 Symptoms to tell if a succulent is dying
These symptoms aren’t for any specific type of succulents these are general symptoms to tell if a succulent is dying. Here are five symptoms to help you keep your dear succulents alive.
1. Leaning Towards Light
If your succulent is leaning towards light these mean a red signal for your plant it needs your attention. This happens because your plant is getting sunlight only from one direction that’s why it’s leaning towards that direction. Succulents need light mostly direct sunlight. If your succulent is leaning towards the light it means you need to give your plant sunlight from every direction. To fix this you can rotate your plant frequently so that your plant will get enough light from all directions or place your succulent in such a way that it gets direct sunlight from all directions.
2. Rotting Leaves tell a succulent is dying
This one is the most common symptom a succulent face and that is because of over-watering them. Remember succulents do not need a lot of water they do great with less water. The way they work is you water them thoroughly and leave them alone until they are dried completely. You should always remember that they are desert plants they have a tendency to survive in less water. If you struggle with over watering your succulents I suggest to keep them inside a pot with drainage hole because if you don’t do that and you consistently water them then all the water will sit at the bottom of the pot and that will rot the roots and thus you will see the rotting of leaves and eventually your plant will die. If you are not a fan of pots having drainage holes then there is another option for you is putting rocks at the bottom of the pot keep the rocks in a large variety of sizes so the roots will stay above the rocks and the extra water will be collected in that bottom of the pot so that it won’t come in contact with roots.
3. Shriveled Leaves
Shriveled leaves happen because of under-watering a succulent. When this happens leaves of a plant dry and they might dis-color a little bit. It can be fixed easily if noticed earlier. You can notice this symptom when you see leaves at the bottom starts to dry out. To fix this it’s quite obvious that you need to start watering your plant but always remember do not overdo it. Keep the balance so that it can grow healthy.
4. White Fungus
White fungus happens mainly because of too much humidity inside a room. Often we mistake it that they are desert plants so they can survive in humidity but that’s bot true. Always remember desert plants do not like humidity whereas tropical plants do like humidity. Tropical plants can survive in it but I had a succulent in my bathroom which tends to be too humid so now it has got white fungus. If your succulent already has this symptom it is definitely because of humidity so try to place your succulent in a less humid place. You can see the results within few days.
5. Yellowing leaves
The last one is the yellowing leaves. This one is another symptom of under-watering, so in this, the leaves will look a little bit dry (remember we are talking about only dry yellow leaves) this means that your plant needs some attention and care. You can notice this symptom on your succulent when leaves start to turn yellowish and somewhat dry in some cases they can just fall off the plants. In that case, you must start watering your succulent then moving it in sunlight and taking care of it so that it can survive.
These were the symptoms to tell if a succulent is dying.
How a healthy succulent is like?
A healthy succulent will also show you symptoms that it’s doing great and your plant is having the time of their life. So a healthy succulent will have:
- Minimal dry dying leaves in the base it happens because it often does not get enough sunlight since it’s covered.
- It will be standing straight up, nice and tall it won’t be leaning to any side.
- The biggest indicator is it will be having new growth in the center and that I mean not just a sitting growth but and actual tall growth happening inside a plant.
Those were the few basic indicators on how a healthy succulent looks like. Now that we know how to tell if a succulent is dying. Let’s get to know about how to save a dying succulent.
How to save a dying succulent?
We want our succulent to grow healthy and beautiful and while doing so sometimes we make some mistakes or our succulent give us a few indications that it needs your attention! By now you know the few symptoms of dying succulents. Now let’s get to know a few of the ways to save a dying succulent.
1. Early detection is the key
The first thing you want to do is spot the succulent which is showing some signs that it needs some attention. By signs I mean to say is symptoms. If your succulent is showing any of the above symptoms spot that immediately and start to take care of it.
2. Locate the healthy part of dying succulent
This one is a smart tip for you, if you find the rotting part of the plant then there is always a healthy part somewhere on the stem. So cut the stem from the rotting part and take away the heathy part and take a look if there isn’t any sign of rot on the stem. Once you have done that now plant the stem in different pot and take care of it until it grows into a beautiful succulent.
3. Propagate dying succulent
When you spot a rotting part on the succulent there is another option to save your plant is to propagate it. For doing this you need to cut the healthy succulent stem from rotted part. Then pluck the leaves out and then propagate your beautiful plant.
Do not over or under-water your succulents
This is a very common problem people face while growing their plant. They often tend to pour a lot of water or they do it very less, you should understand that succulents are desert plants this doesn’t mean tat they do not need water or they require very little amount of water but they will do great with the balance of both. Here you need to maintain the balance while watering them I recommend to water them once a week, they will do great if you do it in balance.
Conclusion
It is always helpful to find the symptoms as early as possible so that we can save our beautiful tiny succulents. It’s not just about detecting the dying succulent and saving them we also need to take care of them if you want to know about how to take care of a succulent visit here.
