What is up with these leaf edges?

[WayneByerly]

I have a Kelanchoe luciae that is, for the most part, doing pretty good. By that I mean that what you will see in the photos below is nearly TWICE the size as it was this last spring.

(I read just recently at "http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=1702" that this plant is actually K. luciae, and NOT K. thyrsiflora)

It's doing Pretty Good, but some of the leaf edges are drying up and turning brown.

Anybody got ideas? Am I under-watering it? Over-watering it? Is this natural leaf aging? Or perhaps some problem completely unknown to me?

Perhaps someone's reply will help someone other than just myself with this plants care.



The part that is mostly doing "Pretty Good".
(This forum is rotating my pictures without asking permission or advice. Sorry.
BTW ... If I am doing something wrong, would someone please inform me as to how to do it right?)

2016-11-10 DSCF7159.jpg (53.01 KiB) Viewed 7906 times

Dying/drying leaf edge. You can see at the bottom edge of the photo that some of its leaves have dried out SO bad that they have completely died (and therefore have been removed by me).

2016-11-10 DSCF7155 - Copy.jpg (42.74 KiB) Viewed 7906 times

[richs2k6]

Is it indoors/outdoors? How often do you water it? This is one of the first succulents I tried. I bought two in full bloom, nearly three feet tall, not knowing they die after blooming! Luckily they produce offsets so by the time it flowers there are others ready to take it's place. Without knowing much else it's hard to say what's happening. This is typically their growing season so more water is OK. I have some at our hotel and I just found out the irrigation timer was set to 7 days a week so it was getting water EVERY day via a micro-bubbler and they're doing just fine. Yours does appear dry but overwatering can look similar as well. Give us some more info and we may be able to help you a bit better.

[WayneByerly]

It's been outdoors in direct sunlight, this whole summer (which is why so much of it is red), but it's been moved inside because of cold Tennessee temperatures (already falling below 40 degrees F here). I'm inclined to think that it just wasn't getting enough water, but wanted to come HERE to ask the opinion of EXPERTS ... I've only been doing this since 2009, and only more intensely than when I started, for the last four years. The last time I checked, i used a moisture meter and got nothing ... dry, dry, dry. I dug into it some to verify and got pretty much the same result. So rather than spraying the top of the soil until it ran out the bottom, I plugged the drain hole, ran water in it until the bubbles stopped coming to the surface and then let it drain. It's been several days. SOME of the leaves have stiffened up some ... some of them are still wilting to some degree ... and some are still drying out on the ends. It has not bloomed this year, but I'm beginning to wonder (since your flower and then die comment) if some of this is just not natural aging since SOME of the leaves are in terrific shape!

just in case you didn't know, if a plant flowers and then dies, it is called "Monocarpic". I bought a good sized Aeonium tabulaefoeme a couple of years back. A. tabulaefoeme are monocarpic. It flowered in less than 3 months after my having bought it and promptly went to monocarpic heaven. Almost $30 for a plant that lasted less than three months ... sigh.

[BlackWolf77]

Hello, I am finding I am having the same problem I got this Kalanchoe plant about 2-3 weeks ago and its bottom leaves are shriveling up and its leaves are turning soft it also came with a baby plant that I took off and put in its own pot which is also shriveling. What am I doing wrong? there both in clay pots and both have succulent soil, I had them under a lamp and I have moved them to under my window when I found out about its condition. the weather here Is cold its about -6 out and snowing, I have watered them maybe 3-4 times in the last 3 weeks that I have had them.

[WayneByerly]

TO BlackWolf77

OK ... here is what I learned (all by my little lonesome) since I first posted this. Kelanchoe luciae are succulents. They can survive through very dry conditions. But not for long. Their roots do NOT like being wet all of the time. But they do not appear to much care for xeric conditions either. Mine has done much improvement since I started this regimen ... let it go MOSTLY (but not COMPLETELY) dry ... and then water it very well ... saturate it! And then don't give it any more water until it gets (again) almost completely dry.

Once my dying leaves finished dying, and new leaves took over (using the watering schedule described above) the entire plant began to really flourish. I no longer have leaves that are drying out and turning brown on the edges. But I've got to stress this ... too much water will cause the roots to rot and then the entire plant dies. Which is what happened to my first specimen. The Kelanchoe luciae that I now have is in a self made concrete planter ... roughly, this means it dries out faster than even a non-glazed pots like terra cotta.

But MY leaves were not turning "soft" as you report yours to be doing. I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. I can ONLY go by what I have learned from MY experience with this particular plant. I will however say that following the schedule/regimen above, that mine has done outstandingly well. You can see by the photo below that there are still a couple of leaves that have a dry edge, but those are the ones that suffered the least.You can also see that there are a good number of new leaves. The original pic did not show the entire plant as I was trying to show the drying leaves. You should be able to see from the pic below that the plant is substantially larger than when it was when the original pic was taken.

All I can do is suggest you try the regimen that has worked so well for me ... and hope that it works as well for you as it did for me. I have noticed, that among plants of the exact same species that they may appear very different. I cannot help but feel that the same "differentness" will exist in their desire for certain conditions. I sure hope this helps. I know how frustrating it is to feel like I'm the dumbest thing in the world when one of mine dies from just plain ignorance. But ignorance is curable, is it not?

@A.jpg (93.68 KiB) Viewed 7707 times

[WayneByerly]

I have watered them maybe 3-4 times in the last 3 weeks that I have had them.

I would like to add that this watering schedule seems to be a bit excessive. Between letting mine go almost completely dry and then saturating it, maybe 3 or 4 weeks elapse. But the time it takes for yours to reach that stage of dryness will depend on what kind of container you have it planted in. The key is not how long between waterings, but the actual state of dryness ... letting it get almost completely dry.