Graptoveria leaves bruising and empty of water!

by Kylie
(Indiana )

Hello! I'm very new to succulent care. I started growing my graptoveria last June. It was just a tiny thing , and now I think it might need its own pot! But this week the leaves on the bottom started bruising and they're no longer fleshy and full. It looks bruised to me or burnt? I live in Indiana, and took my plant in before the first frost.
It stays in my living room not far from the big picture window. There's also baseboard heat in my house. Am I burning the leaves? Help! I just love this plant, and I want to keep it growing! The top leaves are GORGEOUS! So I'm not sure what's happening

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Nov 25, 2014
 No pictures...
by: Jacki

Not having a picture to see I can't really say for sure, but what is most likely happening is just a normal sequence of events.

In full bright sun and warm temperatures, the plant stays very compact and all the leaves get lots of light. In a window, the light levels and the length of the light that they get per day are drastically reduced. This causes the older, lower leaves to be shed, and this is what's happening. In time, lots of x Graptoveria and similar species tend to get very leggy and with a bare stem, topped with a rosette of leaves reaching for the light.

Couple of options; leave it to do its own thing over the winter, and just remove the leaves as they drop off to prevent rotting and disease. Then in the spring, repot it burying the stems down into new soil, or cut the top off in the method known as beheading, to start the short and compact rosette into a new plant.

Or; get a grow light for it, and give it twelve hours of day length per day, so it thinks it's still near the equator. Unfortunately, because it's already gone into this mode, it will never re-grow the leaves on the stem, although it could start some pups, or new baby plants from around the base or even up the now bare stem.

Hope that helps!
Jacki
Nov 25, 2014
 Thanks!
by: Kylie

I tried to add three pictures. Not sure why it didn't work :/ thank you so much! That does help!

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