The offshoots look fine but the mother plant look unhappy.

Hi Rez,

I looked at your question because I wanted to know what a Flapjack plant was. I had a turtle named Flapjack once - a spiny softshell snapping turtle. So I was curious. I'm assuming your plant has never bitten you.

I think the problem with your plant if lack of light.

Funny, Daisy, did Flapjack bite you? I agree with Daisy that it needs plenty of light. But, what is it growing in? It looks like a bucket of some kind and there's no saucer underneath. Is there drainage? You'll need to be careful not to over-water it either way.

I can put it on a window ledge but I don't know how it tolerates cold. Yeah I've drilled 3 holes on the bottom of the container and don't water it much. I wait till its soll gets almost completely dry.
It's more common name is kalanchoe luciae.

Hello Rez, your plant does need more light as shown how etiolated it goes growing, and it is also normal for the lower leaves to dry up. I see new growth at the tip, so your plant seems to be coping well. Just remove the dried out leaves, when your weather condition improves in Spring, bring it outdoors, it loves direct sun and warmth and quickly makes new leaves also up and down the bare stem or at times at the base of the plant.

My plant when it got wet, cold stressed and leaves rotted during winter 2014, and how it slowly recovered as our warm and dry times returned in mid Spring:
08Mar2014

31Mar2014

14Apr2014

21May2014

Fast forward:
This 2016, it made really nice stressed colors around January to February:
30Jan2016

After winter and into our long dry and hot summer which it loves, following is its photo this Fall as of Nov 2016:


My flapjack can tolerate the cold safely at 40F, but I push it, as long as it stays dry while being cold. I keep this plant outdoors here in full sun as much as possible especially in cold season. However, if it gets cold and wet from our winter rains, it will surely manifest all sorts of rotting, but as long as there is still one part of the stem fresh and alive, it quickly bounces back when Spring time warm up returns. That is why its media needs to be really gritty, so the base stem gets to dry out fast.

Right now we have freeze warnings here, it is still outdoors. I like it when it gets cold, it makes such reddish stressed colors. But just have to make sure media is dry and well draining. Our rainy season is winter, so the importance of very good well draining soil is paramount.

Your location is VA, so just keep it indoors and in your warm and well lighted area for now. A south sun orientation will be really ideal. During the cold season longer dryout period is best. It is one of the more forgiving succulents that I have handled and to make it stay around longer, make sure the media gets to dry out very well.

Just sharing photo of succulents we saw at the Cacti and Succulent garden in Getty Museum Los Angeles last, 30Dec2012:

Of special note are those wonderful reddish batch of succulents, those are flapjacks. It made me understand how much it can tolerate cold, how it was being grown in full sun outdoors during winter. Looking at the gritty media they have and Los Angeles winter weather being mild and drier and just comfortably cool to helps them flourish well. Of course planted in ground, it is much different, but similar adjustments can be done to our container grown flapjacks, keep media gritty dry during cold season and try to give as much sun and light as you can.

Thank you. I put it on a window ledge and will see what happens.
It's not a perennial so it's going to die at some point. When do you detach and transplant the offshoots?

BTW what are those tall and thin cacti on the right side of the picture called?

Rez said:...what are those tall and thin cacti on the right side of the picture called?

Those may be the Pachanoi trichocereus.

When you put your plant on the window ledge be mindful of the cold night temperatures. Sometimes the plant may need to be moved away from the window glass during the very cold weather.