There are a few common problems with succulents, despite them being one of the most low-maintenance plants. Luckily, these problems typically aren’t severe, and mostly include succulent leaves turning yellow or pest infestations. Therefore, there are many remedies to fix them.
Some common problems with succulents are primarily related to the plant’s leaves. They can become yellow, black, withered, mushy, dry, burnt, or leggy due to inadequate lighting, watering, and temperature in the plant’s environment. Succulents can also suffer from pest infestations or root rot.
The remainder of this article will delve deeper into the different problems that succulents can face and the various remedies to fix them, which range from changing the plant’s environment to treating it with special insecticidal soap. Let’s get started.
Your Succulent’s Leaves Are Becoming Discolored
The first major sign of illness in a succulent is discoloration on the plant’s leaves. Succulents can turn yellow, brown, or black when ill. If you notice discolored leaves on your succulent, it’s best to assess the root cause of the discoloration.
Knowing the root cause of the discoloration is the only way you’ll be able to properly remedy it. Otherwise, you could be causing more harm to your succulent by treating it improperly.
However, before you decide your succulent is discolored because something is wrong, it’s important to know which colors reflect a healthy, thriving plant. A healthy succulent will embody its natural colors, which may include:
- Green
- Grey
- Purple
- Red
- Orange
- Blue
But, if your succulent is turning yellow, brown, or black, this is a sign that it’s sick and in need of some assistance. In this case, it’s essential to diagnose the problem as quickly as possible.
Let’s take a look at why your succulent leaves turn yellow, brown, and black, and how to fix them when they do.
Why Your Succulent Leaves Are Turning Yellow
There are various reasons why a succulent might turn yellow, but the most common problems are that the plant isn’t receiving the appropriate amount of water. This can look like too much or too little water.
Succulents are drought-tolerant plants. They originate from dry, desert-like locations in Africa and Central and South America. As a result, they don’t need as much water as other plant species might, and when you give them too much, the leaves will begin to turn yellow.
At the same time, if you’re not giving your succulent enough water, the leaves will become discolored as well. So, the first thing to consider when you notice yellow succulent leaves is what your watering schedule looks like.
Why Your Succulent Leaves Are Turning Brown
If your succulent leaves are turning brown, you may be dealing with a good ol’ case of sunburn.
Most succulents are tolerant of direct sunlight, mainly because they grow in the desert and other locations that don’t have very much shade or protection from the sun’s hot rays. However, certain species of succulent can become stressed amidst too much heat and sunlight, resulting in their leaves turning white and, eventually, brown from sunburn.
Additionally, the brown parts of the leaf will get dry and crispy; they may disintegrate if they’re entirely brown and dried out.
If the plant isn’t getting enough sunlight, it will experience “leggy” growth. This means that there will be larger and larger spaces between each leaf, and the plant will look somewhat elongated.
Why Your Succulent Leaves Are Turning Black
If your succulent’s leaves are turning black, it’s likely suffering from root rot. Root rot will very quickly kill your entire succulent, so you must treat the plant as soon as you notice any black discoloration on its leaves.
Root rot happens after prolonged overwatering — the succulent’s roots can’t absorb any more water and thus end up sitting in soggy soil for too long. The roots begin to rot, and slowly the rotting climbs up into the succulent’s stem and leaves, turning them black little by little until the entire plant becomes a black, mushy pile sitting in the planter.
3 Easy Fixes for Discolored Leaves
Luckily, there are three easy ways to treat your succulent’s discoloration, and that’s by examining the succulent’s environment. Consider these questions:
- Is it too dry, warm, or cold in the house?
- How much sunlight does it get a day?
- Has it been exposed to pests?
These are all great questions when assessing your treatment plan.
1. Change Your Watering Schedule
To start, you should assess the watering schedule your succulent is on. Are you watering your plant every day? Every week? Every month? Depending on the succulent species, you may need to adjust your watering schedule to fit your succulent’s needs.
It’s common to assume, especially as first-time plant owners, that all plants or even all succulents can take the same amount of water. However, this isn’t necessarily the case. Different species may need different care, meaning some succulents might enjoy the water more (or less) often than others.
With this in mind, a baseline watering for most succulents is once every 14 days. If you’ve noticed your succulent leaves are turning yellow, pause your watering schedule and wait 14 days. Then, check the plant’s soil. Start watering again at this consistency if the top 1-2 inches (2.54-5.08 cm) of soil is dry.
In contrast, if you’re watering your plant once a month or once every three weeks versus every two weeks, readjust the watering schedule to every 2 weeks and see whether your succulent’s discoloration changes. You should also do some research on the type of succulent you’re caring for to determine its other environmental needs.
2. Change the Plant’s Location
You should also assess where your plant is located in the house. If it’s facing the south, for example, it receives direct sunlight all day long, which might be too much for the particular species of succulent.
It’s important to understand the specific type of succulent you have to determine how much sunlight it needs every day.
The Cardinal Directions for Sunlight
Using and memorizing cardinal directions is great for determining the best spot for a succulent. Plants facing the south will get the most sun; those facing the north will get the least. East-facing succulents will enjoy morning sunlight; west-facing ones will bask in the afternoon sun.
Direct sunlight is when the sun can directly touch the plant, and indirect sunlight is when a plant gets light filtered through shades. Many succulents thrive best in direct sunlight for about six hours a day, and a common houseplant problem is needing to grow in shady, indoor settings.
If your succulent is somewhere that doesn’t get a lot of sunlight, consider moving it to an east or west-facing window. Similarly, if the succulent is getting direct sunlight, try moving it farther from the window, where it can soak up the sun’s indirect rays.
3. Treat the Plant’s Root Rot
Treating root rot immediately is necessary to keep your succulent alive. So, if you’ve noticed the leaves are turning black or getting soft and mushy, you need to act quickly. Before you begin, you should make sure you have the following tools:
- A pot filled 3/4th of the way with fresh, well-draining soil.
- A trowel or small shovel to remove the plant from the pot.
- Scissors, shears, or a knife.
To treat root rot, you’ll need to follow a few steps:
- Prune dead leaves: Use sanitized shears, scissors, or a clean knife to prune away any dead and rotten leaves that have shown up on the succulent. Pruning the dead leaves allows the plant to direct its energy to other areas in need.
- Dig out the root ball: Once you’ve pruned away the dead leaves, you can dig out the root ball by digging vertically down in a circle around the stem. The root ball should be located only a few inches down for smaller succulents. Slowly pry out the root ball and remove the entire plant from the soil.
- Trim rotten roots: Once you’ve removed the plant from the soil, trim away the black and rotting roots with a pair of scissors or a knife. Again, it’s important to ensure the tool you’re using to cut is clean to avoid transferring bacteria to the plant’s roots.
- Repot in fresh soil: Finally, repot the succulent in fresh soil and water thoroughly. Then, begin the process of watering the plant every 2 weeks and observe how it handles the transfer.
Pro tip: keep an eye on your succulent’s leaves whenever you water it, and take note of any odd colors. A succulent with white spots may be an early indication of sunburn, while mushy, brown leaves might give you a head’s up about potential root rot.
Your Succulent Is Suffering From a Pest Infestation
Plants can attract various pests, especially if the plants are kept outdoors in the warm months and then brought inside. Pests can burrow in the plant’s soil, stick to leaves and stems, and even move to your other houseplants, eventually destroying your succulent leaves.
Let’s explore the different kinds of pests that succulents can attract.
Mealybugs
Mealybugs are annoying, white pests that thrive on the liquids and juices contained in the plant’s leaves and stems. They’ll drain the plant leaf by leaf before moving on, which will kill the leaves over time. Mealybugs are most commonly found in houseplants and greenhouses. A bad infestation of mealybugs may need multiple treatments to fully cure.
Red Spider Mites
Red spider mites are tiny, red spiders that travel en masse. They’re very difficult to see without a magnifying glass, but you’ll notice that they resemble a coating of dust on the underside of the succulent leaves.
These spider mites will eat away at the surface of the succulent’s leaves as they suck out the plant’s sap, permanently damaging it over time, so it’s essential to treat the plant as soon as you find them.
Aphids
Aphids are winged insects that also feed on the sap and juices inside your succulent leaves and stems. They’ll feed en masse, like the spider mites, and range in color from green to yellow, pink, or red. Large aphid infestations will cause your succulent’s leaves to turn yellow and eventually drop from the mother plant.
Pro tip: You can purchase certain predatory pests in small quantities to prey on spider mites as a treatment option. These are called predatory beneficial insects because they’re specifically used for ridding of other plant pests.
For example, you can use Ladybird beetles, lacewings, or pirate bugs in small quantities to eat your succulent’s frustrating pests. For more information, you should inquire at your local gardening store.
3 Fixes for a Pest Infestation
If you’ve noticed that your plant is struggling with a pest problem, it’s vital to treat it immediately to salvage as much of your succulent as you can. If you don’t, the pests will drain your plant of sap and kill it before moving on to other houseplants nearby.
Let’s explore the different pest infestation treatments you can use to stop this from happening.
1. Use Insecticidal Soaps and Oils
The first and most common treatment option is insecticidal soap. You can purchase insecticidal soap at most gardening stores, and they work by combining various chemicals to kill off large colonies of pests.
Insecticidal soap is usually bottled in a spray bottle that you can use to spray directly at the pests. The chemicals in the soap can be harmful if sprayed on other, non-infected plants, so whenever you’re treating a plant with it, isolating the infected plant is a good way to keep your other ones safe.
Many plant owners will treat their infected plants in a separate room, like the garage or bathroom. Others may use products like the ANPHSIN Winter Plant Film Cover (available on Amazon.com) to effectively cover their non-infected plants during treatment.
You should spray the underside of your succulent leaves at least once a day until the pests have all died.
2. Make Homemade Sprays To Use on Your Plant
If you don’t want to purchase an insecticidal soap, you can always use ingredients found in your kitchen cupboards to make a homemade spray. Most recipes call for two main ingredients: soap and distilled water.
By combining 2.5 tablespoons (36.97 ml) of liquid soap with 1 gallon (3.79 liters) of distilled water, you can make a natural and relatively safe solution to use as insecticidal soap. Add 2.5 tablespoons (36.97 ml) of vegetable or cooking oil to give the solution an extra layer of stickiness.
Some recipes suggest using ground-up garlic or red pepper and adding this to the mix, which repels the annoying pests that chew on plant leaves. The strong pepper and acidic qualities of garlic and red pepper are too intense for insects that live off of plant sap.
Avoid using soaps that have bleaches or other types of strong detergents in them. Additionally, you should test your spray out on a small part of the plant first to ensure that it won’t kill your entire succulent.
3. Prune Your Plant
Naturally, you can and should prune any leaves that pests have damaged or are in the process of damaging. This step should be done before spraying the plant with insecticides because pruning likely won’t eliminate every pest. So, pruning should be done in conjunction with using a treatment.
Consider these tips to prune your plant effectively:
- Use a clean tool. I cannot stress this enough — a sanitized pair of scissors or a cleaned knife is vital for pruning. Dirty tools will transfer bacteria into the plant’s leaves and stem, which can cause your plant a significant amount of damage or even death.
- Prune the plant at its base. Wherever the plant leaf connects to the stem is where you should be cutting it off. If you have to do this for multiple leaves, do so.
- Cut smoothly and at an angle. Making a smooth, angled cut to your succulent’s leaf will minimize the amount of trauma your plant may experience from the surgery. Hacking at the plant’s leaf may cause damage to it.
When a plant is traumatized, it’ll experience stunted growth in which the leaves won’t die off or grow bigger. Make sure you give your succulent all the needs we have discussed while it recovers from plant shock.
Final Thoughts
Succulents can deal with a range of environmental problems like inadequate lighting or watering that causes leaf discoloration or even a pest infestation. They may also get root rot, which is a result of overwatering and can kill the succulent very quickly. These problems will change the plant’s color, look, and texture.
Finding the root cause of a plant’s symptoms is necessary to treat the problem and salvage the succulent. After reading this article, you should understand what to look for if your succulent is sick and the various remedies available to cure it.