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Posted 1M ago by @MaximalBanana

Help i think i killed it!

I have a succulent in my university dorm and just got back from winter break and it is not looking too good. I made sure to water it before I left and figured it would be fine since I usually watered it every 2 weeks and I was gone for 3. I was expecting it to need a little help when I got back but I wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. Is there any way I can save it? #PearlEcheveria #help
6” pot with drainage
Last watered 2 months ago
That looks pretty bad. Look for anything that's still green once you've pulled the crispy stuff off. Was the heat left on over your break?
@Charli3Plant I’m not entirely sure. It’s common that there’s power outages causing the heat to go off here. There’s a few bits with a little green left, but it’s mostly just crispy and dead
😬😬 If there's green there's life. I accidentally froze some of my succulents a month ago, but given time and warmth they can bounce back. I'd hold off on watering while it recovers, and it may have entered dormancy if the heat was turned off.
The roots most likely stayed warm. Remove the dead leave any green and only give small amounts of water. But water more often. Shoukd start growing again soon. Youll have to be very cautious about water for awhile though because now the pots essentiaky to big for the plant .
A littke succulent fertlizer prob would help speed things along. But do that after s couple waterings
@MaximalBanana Welcome to the Greg community. You have already gotten some advice as how to potentially save your succulent. I just would like to add that according to your plant card it’s in a plastic pot and in regular soil, none of which are ideal for succulents! As they prefer terracotta pots (which can breathe) and a well draining succulent/cacti soil (which prevents root rot) You mentioned that you watered the plant before you left. Did you check the soil prior to watering? The 6” plastic pot sitting in regular soil might just have held on to too much moisture leading to root rot. Have you checked the roots?
@Ms.Persnickety the soil was fully dry when I watered it and was feels even more dry now that I’m back. I haven’t checked the roots since I’m not too sure how.
@MaximalBanana In order to check the roots you would need to remove the plant gently from the container and you should be able to feel the soil for moisture and see if the roots are soft and mushy or have an odd smell.
I don't usually say this... but yeah. You killed it. You might be able to propagate the leaf on the far left but I wouldn't count on it. I'm sorry for your loss