Titanopsis luederitzii Disaster

[sadhbh-rua]

(warning, im still a complete newb to succulents!)

i got a titanopsis luederitzii online from easycactus sometime november-ish, it was the day before they closed down for the winter and was not a wise time of year to buy.
the weather between ordering and it arriving was horribly cold and didnt do well for the poor plant in transit. when it arrived it was shrivelled and sorry looking with a little note saying not to water it... which i tried to stick to... but i ended up giving it a few squirts of water after about a week of continuous shrivelling

it did nothing to help in either case and in a month it looked like the entire plant was dead.
that is until in early january i noticed one little lump still looked vaguely green so i drowned it in water in a last ditch effort to resurrect it and it worked! the survivor grew a little and threw out a baby too... BUT then things got weird again

there was an extremely sunny day a week or two black and it turned it magenta.
is this really bad? i really want this poor thing to survive so if anyone can give me any help or advice id really appreciate it!
thank you

(it originally took up the whole pot, i had to take out half of the deadness but didnt want to kill it by messing with the rest)

IMG_0344.JPG (69.06 KiB) Viewed 1308 times

[iann]

Winter grower. Hates warm nights, or at least hates water when nights are warm. Won't do well inside most homes. Good growing conditions are nights around 5C. Water rarely or never when nights stay above 10C. Somewhat frost hardy, but will be damaged below about -5C. Needs direct sun, but maybe some afternoon shade in summer in hot climates. This is not the hardest Titanopsis to grow, but also not the easiest. Here in England they do best in spring with strong sun and cool conditions, then they can be watered deeply (in the right soil and pot size!) and regularly.

Obviously most of it is dead, but the remaining leaf doesn't look so bad. Maybe a little stressed. I would expect a true T. luederitzii to have quite pale leaves but some forms, which should probably have a different name, have reddish or brown leaves.

The soil looks too rich, drainage not good enough. You don't want this to stay soggy for ages. It will respond to spraying, which can be helpful when the weather is too warm for deep watering. Overwatering, or watering when it is too warm which is the same thing really, results in the oldest leaves going soft and dying off. Take the hint! No more water if this happens. If the plant is excessively stressed in hot weather, put it in the shade. Succumbing to your nurturing feelings and watering in a heatwave is the quickest way to kill it.

[sadhbh-rua]

Ah thank you! I know what happened now. See my house is the exception, it has zero insulation and 2 foot thick granite walls so it's like a morgue. I actually moved myself and all my succulents to a warmer part for the winter and had a heater on during the night to keep it above 6 to 10 c (the temperature in the room I sleep and where the plants were kept regularly drops to -2 during the winter so the move was to avoid hypothermia)
The room must have been a bit too warm for it in my effort to keep the other plants alive I'll know better from now on, and will hopefully have a legitimate greenhouse soon too!