Succulent-specific rescue

Mushy at the bottom is not the end

Rot in a succulent travels upward from the roots. If any part of the stem above the rot is still firm and green, that part is a viable plant. Cut into the stem until the cross-section is clean and unblemished all the way through — any brown speck means cut higher.

Beheading and callusing

Cut the healthy top off with a clean blade. Set the cutting somewhere dry, shaded, and airy for three to seven days until the cut face forms a dry callus. Planting before it callouses is how a rescue turns back into rot.

Then set it on top of dry, gritty mix. Mist lightly every few days. Roots appear in two to four weeks; only then start real watering.

One healthy leaf is enough

Gently twist a plump leaf off so the entire base comes away clean — a torn base will not root. Let it callus, lay it on dry soil, and wait. Echeveria, graptopetalum, and sedum are extremely forgiving of this.

Etiolated rosettes

A stretched succulent will never compact again, but beheading the rosette and rooting it gives you a tight plant, and the stump usually pushes out several new offsets. One sad plant becomes three.