Leaves Dropping

by Peggy
(New Brunswick)

I've got a few succulent plants on the window sill in my office, which I thought would be bright enough, but lately some of the leaves are falling off, and it's particularly bad if anything touches the plant. So far, one of them has lost about five of the lower leaves. What can I do to stop this? Is the plant going to die?


Drought Smart Plants reply:
Hi Peggy, this dropping leaves business is a common occurrence, and in some types of succulents happens more than others, and more at some times of the season than others.

It looks as though your plant will soon need beheading, which sounds bad, but will give you a really nice new plant, and the bonus is that the old stem may sprout some new buds which can be cut off to make more.

Your plant is Echeveria 'Topsy Turvy', one of the easier types to begin your collection with as it's pretty forgiving of any kind of treatment, so with luck, it will recover as soon as the weather warms up and the days get longer.

See the pages on Pruning Succulent Plants and How to Grow Echeveria for more information.