Hey, I need help with my snowball succulent. I do bottom watering for the plant, and I noticed that it wasn’t taking in any of the water. When I looked back at it a few hours later, the water had turned this gross brown color, could this mean the succulent has root rot? Any help is appreciated - thanks!
Not sure about the color change, but not taking up water most likely means the soil is hydrophobic. When this happens to my plants, I fill a container with water and submerge the plant until the soil is at or slightly below the water level (but not so deep that water spills over the lip of the pot. By doing this, you force the soil to overcome the hydrophobicity. One thing to note, with severely hydrophobic soil, submerging the pot may cause the soil/rootball to “loosen” from the pot it’s in (trying to float on the water to avoid water). I just put a couple fingers on the top of the soil to force it to submerge along with the pot. I leave it in the bath for 5-10 minutes until the top soil is saturated, then remove it from the bath and let the excess water drain from the pot (I usually place it on a slight angle to help it drain). FYI, this is the method I use for my plants (mostly tropicals), so I would do some research to make sure this is an ok method to use for succulents before trying it.
1 like
this is definately a safe way to water succulants! maybe the brown color was from the soil, as you said you left it for a few hours. what kind of soil do you have it in?
0 likes I still have the same soil in it from when I first got it, because it has barely grown since last year when I had it, but the last 2 weeks it has been growing the fastest.
1 like