I bought this plant online and it seemed to be doing fine at first. But after a few weeks its leaves suddenly started shrivelling up and dying from the lowest leaves until the whole plant had shrivelled up. This was my only plant of this species but I keep different succulents. I'm not sure if the problem was not enough light - I was keeping it away from the rest of my plants during quarantine and this area was slightly darker. I don't keep a schedule for watering but for most of my succulents its probably about every 2 weeks when the top part of the soil is dry. I bought 2 small Echeveria Agavoides offshoots at the same time. 1 of the plants was kept next to the Compton Carousel and also suddenly shrivelled up and died. The 2nd plant is in a different place and is doing really well (now 4 months since I bought it). Does this seem to be a lighting issue or something else?

Did you get the plants bare root? How were the roots when you got them? Did you water right after potting them up? Did you look closely at the stem to see if it was soft or brown?

The more light, the better for indoor Echeverias.

Baja_Costero said:Did you get the plants bare root? How were the roots when you got them? Did you water right after potting them up? Did you look closely at the stem to see if it was soft or brown?

The more light, the better for indoor Echeverias.

Yes it was shipped bare root so I potted it up when it arrived. Sorry - I'm struggling to remember how the roots were when it arrived as it was quite a few months ago but I don't remember noticing any rot or anything unusual. I waited a while after potting it up before I watered it for the first time. I think the lower leaves turned brown first and then shrivelled and fell. I thought it was just losing the lower leaves but if I gently touched heathy-looking leaves they would just fall off. In the end the plant and stem just looked dried up like it hadn't been watered but I didn't notice the stem turning soft or brown.

Waiting a while after potting them up (a few days to a week) is best to be on the safe side. Your watering interval sounds about right (see if you can poke your finger into the soil to see how the moisture is below the surface, and wait until it's almost dry or dry down there).

Sudden death with these plants typically relates to rot getting into the stem, either sideways from water trapped in between the leaves, or upward from the roots (often too much water, or watering too soon after root damage). The changes are not often evident until it's way too late. Leaves may fall off for no reason, or start going soft. It's usually pretty obvious from a close inspection whether the stem has rot in it, so you can rule this possibility in or out if you can look carefully, especially at the base where the stem hits the soil.

Water deprivation on the other hand tends to be a grindingly slow, bit by bit process where the plant starts looking deflated everywhere and then begins to extract water from the lower leaves, dropping them one by one and shrinking the size of the rosette as a result. This process might take months or even years to reach a final conclusion. It does not typically result in the plant dropping plump, healthy leaves but only dry, dark, dehydrated ones.

Echeverias will sometimes go through shock when they have been bare-rooted and put through the mail, or otherwise manhandled invasively. They will sit there doing nothing for a while before they decide whether they still have zest for life. They may drop a few totally healthy leaves. I would expect this sort of thing as a matter of course, but it's nothing like the sudden decline you are reporting. The key is to provide strong light at this point and water only when the soil is going dry at depth.

Are you using fast-draining soil, like regular potting soil (I think you call it compost over there) mixed with an equal volume of perlite, pumice, or gritty equivalent? These plants like a nice airy mix and they resent it when the soil retains too much moisture. Do your pots all have holes at the bottom?

Baja_Costero said:Waiting a while after potting them up (a few days to a week) is best to be on the safe side. Your watering interval sounds about right (see if you can poke your finger into the soil to see how the moisture is below the surface, and wait until it's almost dry or dry down there).

Sudden death with these plants typically relates to rot getting into the stem, either sideways from water trapped in between the leaves, or upward from the roots (often too much water, or watering too soon after root damage). The changes are not often evident until it's way too late. Leaves may fall off for no reason, or start going soft. It's usually pretty obvious from a close inspection whether the stem has rot in it, so you can rule this possibility in or out if you can look carefully, especially at the base where the stem hits the soil.

Water deprivation on the other hand tends to be a grindingly slow, bit by bit process where the plant starts looking deflated everywhere and then begins to extract water from the lower leaves, dropping them one by one and shrinking the size of the rosette as a result. This process might take months or even years to reach a final conclusion. It does not typically result in the plant dropping plump, healthy leaves but only dry, dark, dehydrated ones.

Echeverias will sometimes go through shock when they have been bare-rooted and put through the mail, or otherwise manhandled invasively. They will sit there doing nothing for a while before they decide whether they still have zest for life. They may drop a few totally healthy leaves. I would expect this sort of thing as a matter of course, but it's nothing like the sudden decline you are reporting. The key is to provide strong light at this point and water only when the soil is going dry at depth.

Are you using fast-draining soil, like regular potting soil (I think you call it compost over there) mixed with an equal volume of perlite, pumice, or gritty equivalent? These plants like a nice airy mix and they resent it when the soil retains too much moisture. Do your pots all have holes at the bottom?

Thank you for your help. I think it was at least a week before I first watered the plant - it was back in December when I got it so I don't remember exactly but this is what I usually do with any new succulent plant or when repotting. I will start testing the soil before watering in future. Unfortunately its too late for this plant - it lost all its leaves from the lowest up until it was only left with a stem - I left it and continued to water hoping it might still have some life and put out a new shoot as it didn't look like it had rot in it but it is now completely shrivelled - this is all that's left now. I would like to get another as they are lovely plants but don't want to just have the same thing happen especially as they are quite expensive. I mix up the soil for my succulents rather than buying a ready-made mix - my usual mix is roughly equal parts: topsoil or compost, sand, coco coir, perlite. The pot I used was clay as I read this is better for drainage and it has a large drainage hole at the bottom.

The mix and the pots sound great. You might pass on variegated plants like Compton Carousel until you're more confident you can give them a good start (the higher price relates to rarity but also to some extent degree of difficulty). When in doubt, acquire new Echeverias during the brighter months (now would be a great time). December is about the worst time unless you can provide lots and lots of light (like we can here) ... the lower light and shorter days are not great for succulents.

Baja_Costero said:The mix and the pots sound great. You might pass on variegated plants like Compton Carousel until you're more confident you can give them a good start (the higher price relates to rarity but also to some extent degree of difficulty). When in doubt, acquire new Echeverias during the brighter months (now would be a great time). December is about the worst time unless you can provide lots and lots of light (like we can here) ... the lower light and shorter days are not great for succulents.

Thank you. I will definitely avoid purchasing during winter in future. I started with my first variegated succulent - a crassula ovata - a couple of years ago and last year I got a variegated haworthia cymbiformis so I was hoping the Compton carousel would be a nice next step. The usual spot for most of my indoor/overwintering succulents is a bright windowsill that gets morning sun. The plants seem to thrive there but unfortunately I didn't put the Compton carousel there as I keep new plants separate for a while to quarantine them. The plan was to move it to my mini greenhouse once the weather improved but I lost it before I had chance.