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Dead Succulent
4 years ago
General
Well, it turns out that I definitely did overwater my Royal Flush succulent. When I first got it, there was a single leaf at the bottom of the stem (not that I could see the stem, given how fat all the other leaves were), which eventually had what little water it contained sucked out of it, before it fell off.
When I first got it, I had no concept of what "dry soil" was. As a result, I watered it at least once a week. I gather this is what caused it to split the newest leaves so quickly, as the base of both leaves would have swelled with more water, forcing the two sides to split apart.
But, just as you're not supposed to use any nitrogen-based fertilizer, or it'll bloat and rot, overwatering it does the same thing. Just, without the obvious bloat.
Eventually, I figured out that weighing the whole thing is the most reliable method of seeing how much water is left in the soil. It got down to 73 grams as the lightest it ever got before I watered it again, and I know this because I logged the weight in a notebook.
Initially, I'd soldered together a battery, an LED, a transistor, and a couple of resistors and a potentiometer, to make a soil monitor I could leave in the soil at all times. I later found out that electrolysis (the splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen) started happening at just 1.2 volts, and since I had a 3V battery on there, I was actually splitting the water, as well as watering the plant. Definitely won't be using that again.
Anyway, when I realized the lower leaves were rotting instead of having their moisture absorbed (which took a while, given my inexperience), I removed them from the plant, but unfortunately not soon enough.
It looked like a Piranha Plant from the Super Mario Brothers games, before the stem rotted enough to lean over. Then the leaves rotted enough to collapse back to standing up, but sitting flat on the soil. It looked very sad, and it was very obvious that it wasn't going to survive. So I threw it in the organics bin.
At some point, I'll be able to buy another one. I believe that I've learned enough to keep it alive longer, which may or may not be a good thing.
I'm also not convinced the soil they came with is what they're supposed to have. It's supposed to be a mix of one part cactus mix and three parts pumice, but they're coming potted in regular soil...
When I first got it, I had no concept of what "dry soil" was. As a result, I watered it at least once a week. I gather this is what caused it to split the newest leaves so quickly, as the base of both leaves would have swelled with more water, forcing the two sides to split apart.
But, just as you're not supposed to use any nitrogen-based fertilizer, or it'll bloat and rot, overwatering it does the same thing. Just, without the obvious bloat.
Eventually, I figured out that weighing the whole thing is the most reliable method of seeing how much water is left in the soil. It got down to 73 grams as the lightest it ever got before I watered it again, and I know this because I logged the weight in a notebook.
Initially, I'd soldered together a battery, an LED, a transistor, and a couple of resistors and a potentiometer, to make a soil monitor I could leave in the soil at all times. I later found out that electrolysis (the splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen) started happening at just 1.2 volts, and since I had a 3V battery on there, I was actually splitting the water, as well as watering the plant. Definitely won't be using that again.
Anyway, when I realized the lower leaves were rotting instead of having their moisture absorbed (which took a while, given my inexperience), I removed them from the plant, but unfortunately not soon enough.
It looked like a Piranha Plant from the Super Mario Brothers games, before the stem rotted enough to lean over. Then the leaves rotted enough to collapse back to standing up, but sitting flat on the soil. It looked very sad, and it was very obvious that it wasn't going to survive. So I threw it in the organics bin.
At some point, I'll be able to buy another one. I believe that I've learned enough to keep it alive longer, which may or may not be a good thing.
I'm also not convinced the soil they came with is what they're supposed to have. It's supposed to be a mix of one part cactus mix and three parts pumice, but they're coming potted in regular soil...
