Hello!! I purchased a large desert rose plant early this spring, I live in Florida 9b. I repotted it immediately because it was splitting out of it's 3 gallon nursery pot. My soil was about 40%perlite/ 40%course sand/ 20% compost soil. I used terracotta pots, left it in the shade for a few days before watering it, then I moved it to a fairly sunny location it was doing great. Unfortunately, we had 3 straight days of downpours about a week after I moved it.
Heres where the problem started. The leaves never turned yellow, but it started aborting buds. The lower part of the caudex became soft(not squishy). The upper part of the caudex and stems were still very hard. I unpotted it and there was a small portion I decided to cut off because it was grey and mushy. The cut was about an inch long. I let it dry (unpotted) for a week and it looked amazing. The cut was dry, all the buds were flowering and the leaves were strong and deep green. I decided to repot it at that point with the same mix of soil, but I added gravel. After 2 days my 3 yr old poured a bowl of water in it, I thought it would be fine... after 2 more days the roots were getting softer and the cut, that I thought was healed, was obviously rotting. I unpotted again and cut off all the rot, but it seems like everytime I cut it almost instantly browns like an apple would? I put ground cinnimon on the new cut and it's been drying now for 3 days. The leaves are dropping now, I'm guessing from dehydration. The roots are still so very soft, I'm hoping that a normal part of the drying/healing process and it will heal properly with time. Also, if the surface seems discolored anywhere I am able to scratch it revealing whiteish or green flesh, not brown or yellow. I hope this all makes sense, I just don't know if I am doing enough. I dont want to lose this plant 😕
When I noticed the roots becoming softer
repot with added gravel after cutting off dead roots
2nd cut 3 days old after 3 year old watered it
