Got two new NOIDs today at Lowes, and they both have issues. One the rosette is incredibly droopy, and when I got it home and was trying to pry the layer of dead leaves out, rotten leaves started coming out. Nearly half the leaves were rotting at the base and a nice patch of the trunk was brown goo. Going to let it dry out for a few days before I pot it up but I don't have much experience with rotting plants. Is there anything else I can do? The core of the plant and the other half of the leaves look rather healthy.

For the other NOID, it doesn't seem to be rotting but it has some crinkly leaves with dark leaf tips on one half of the plant. Any idea what happened? I'm thinking possibly sunburn but usually for me they turn hay yellow and wrinkly when that happens. Half the leaves are like that and the other half are firm and solid green. I didn't see any noticeable rot so I just popped it into a pot.

Just saw the poor little fellows sitting there and had to bring them home and attempt to save them pics below!

Hey Paul, on the one that has rot, you're doing to correct thing, just make sure you get all the old dead stuff before you plant it, you may end up with only a few leaves left on the plant, but it'll be less likely to continue rotting.
The second one does look to me like pre-rot stage, like it has been in shade, and getting a little too much water. It should bounce back now that you have repotted it and are giving it the type of care it wants! Good luck!

Just one question Paul. What did the root and crown area on the second plant look like? Any signs of pests or disease?

I'm with Greg on the first photo. It would be good to cut off any unhealthy tissue lest it continues to rot. Leave it out of the soil for several days until it is completely calloused over before re-potting it. Will it is drying out keep it in a protected area away from sun and hot/drying wind.

Thanks for the tips, Greg I sure hope they both pull through!

Lynn, I didn't notice any pests when I checked the leaves. It's still a pretty teeny plant and doesn't have much of a trunk and it was hard for me to check without my glasses. I'll see if I can manage to look under the leaves better and report back. The roots looked good to me, quite a few little white roots and no gooey or sickly looking ones. Lowes here has these big fans they turn on when it is hot and they blast out water vapor at the same time, it makes the entire garden center feel like a jungle. I couldn't tell if it was sun damage or overwatering or what.

For the first one should I physically cut the rot out? I just wiped the gooey part off and stuck it in the shade between some pots to dry out.

Yes, you would want to cut off all the rot, then let it dry out. Keep us updated on how it does.

They are both well and truly dead. The rot in the first one went all the way through the trunk and the rest of the leaves were beginning to die. The second one when I tried to lift the leaves, the crown popped clean off and the entire inside of the trunk was brown mush. Humidity and overwatering at Lowes. Interestingly the Cebenese right next to them were sending runners in circles around their pots. Go figure! I am up to my ears in Cebenese but it was still tempting to take them home I must say. even so I hate losing plants, especially new ones.

Oh Paul, I am so sorry. But you sure tried.

I'm not too surprised. I tried to save one that was much less rotten than those and I felt like I was fighting a lost cause. Even though the rot may show itself first in the lower leaves, it is in fact the heart and stem of the plant that are fatally infected. At least that's the way I see it.
Here's my strategy, right or wrong.
At the first sign of rot I take extreme measures, the affected rosette is immediately pulled and disposed. Any viable offsets are kept and replanted if not already well rooted. Presuming of course that they appear solid and healthy. If there are no viable offsets... oh well. So far I've not lost a single cultivar to rot as I've always been able to save the offsets. The saved offsets appear to carry on nicely. I'm not sure how this would work on Jovis where all the rosettes share a common stem. Or Calcareums that are tightly bunched. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
I also don't worry about the soil being infected. I feel like the culprit is endemic in the soil and always present. It is only when plants are weakened or has open wounds that it gets infected. It seems to me that chicks that establish themselves naturally on top of the gravel are practically immune to rot, as opposed to transplants that will have root damage, micro abrasions, and my not be set into the soil and gravel at an optimal level.

Is there any chance that a semp can look like that if it goes summer dormant? Just wondering if I leave a plant alone if it could come back in the cooler weather?

I haven't had any that I have grown myself rot either, Tim. Whew! Rot really isn't an issue here, the winds are bone dry (5 to 10% daytime humidity is our norm) and and dry up any excess moisture before it can set in and fester. Different situation with these two though, very humid garden center and droopy rosettes that blocked air circulation. And not a single offset on either one sadly!

For jovibarba I am not sure how heuffelii cultivars would fare either but I have had several roller jovibarbas sunburn before where the parent plant was reduced literally to hay but the offsets survived and carried on. Not the same as rot but a similar situation with a dying parent plant whose offspring survive the damage that did the parent in.

Marilyn, I'm not sure if mine would behave differently in my climate than in yours but for me, when mine go dormant in summer (not all of them do) the colors either become much less vibrant or they fade to just plain green (not a bad thing, right now one of my Rose Queens is a beautiful solid sea-green. My favorite color! ). Some of them will also droop and just look tired. I've never seen one of mine have wrinkly black tips when dormant. Some of them do get leaves with a slightly wrinkled/puckered look but they don't turn black or get soft.