Succulent plants can make excellent indoor houseplants. Most are super tough and can cope with underwatering, high temperatures and even some full sun.
However, they do have one main weakness: overwatering.
An underwatered succulent will cope with no water for a long time. But just a little too much water once or twice and the damage it causes will rip through the entire succulent like a Mexican wave. When it gets going it happens fast too. A whole plant can turn to mush within a week or so if you don't intervene.
A healthy succulent plant should not have mushy leaves. This is actually the first sign of overwatering, and this Hawthoria needs help fast.
There are lots of variables, but if you spot the watering mistake early enough, you can step in and try to stop the damage from progressing through the plant. It doesn't always work, but it's better than not doing anything.
It's very easy to make mistakes when watering succulents and is a common problem. This article will let you know what symptoms to look for, either from a potential purchase of a new plant or one from your existing collection.
I'll provide more context about why it happens (so you can prevent it from happening again) and I'll give you the steps to save an overwatered succulent.
If you're like me and enjoy the challenge of growing houseplants and getting them to thrive, then Ourhouseplants can help. This website shares my knowledge and years of growing plants and provides (hopefully) helpful advice on properly caring for your indoor plant friends.
What does an overwatered succulent look like?
If your plant looks a little strange, or you're worried you may have overwatered it recently, some signs and symptoms will show up, which we'll look at now.
The surface water and the brown mold spot are the early signs of a fungal disease starting to take hold.
Although there are exceptions to the rule (aren't there always), what you're looking for is reasonably consistent between succulent plants. The five most common signs are detailed below.
Click the photo below for an interactive summary.
The 5 Common Signs of an Overwatered Succulent
Plant wilting or collapsingLeaves are translucent or darkerLeaf/stems are squishy or mushyUnpleasant rotting smellMoisture on the leaf surface
Leaves are translucent or darker.
This is one of the most common early signs of an overwatered plant. The plant's roots have taken up too much water and the leaves can't transpire it away fast enough. Instead the cell walls are bursting, causing moisture to leak into the spaces between the cells.
Leaf / stems are squishy or mushy.
Succulents have more water-storing tissue in their leaves than other types of houseplants. This is why their leaves are often fleshy and thick. So as more and more cells rupture from their high water content, the structural integrity of the leaf itself starts to fail. The leaf will feel soft or squishy to the touch as the parts of the leaf that usually keep things ridged and firm are lost.
Moisture on the leaf surface.
As the plant starts to completely collapse the
water begins to escape from within the confines of the leaf and will sometimes appear on the surface of the leaves.
Unpleasant rotting smell.
The damaged internal cells release minerals and
fluids that bacteria and fungi can feed on. This process can create a really nasty rotten smell. I was dealing with an overwatered succulent while writing this article, and I'm not going to lie. I was gaging at times, while handling the plant because of the smell. Absolutely gross.
Plant wilting or collapsing.
If you see this happening, it's a late stage of damage and your plant might not be savable, at least in its current state. Often, if you see wilting and parts falling off or sagging badly, root rot has set in.
Surprisingly perhaps, but root rot doesn't always occur with an overwatered succulent in the early stages. This is why catching it early enough and dealing with the damage will hopefully get the plant to bounce back quickly. When root rot happens on houseplants, the damage is serious and you need to tackle it differently. I have a separate root rot guide that you should look at if your plant is in this state.
This Eve's Pin Cactus (Austrocylindropuntia subulata) has a bad case of overwatering. The wet soil and mushy wet stems are unmistakable indicators.
What causes it?
This may seem a stupid question as the cause of overwatering is obviously "too much water". But this is a simplistic answer and does nothing to help anyone who wants to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Several other factors will be at play that will push your plant into that "overwatered" state.
Excess Water.
When the growing medium has been overloaded with too much water, your plant is at a higher risk of being overwatered. To try and cut the risk of "excess water" being held around your plant's roots, you can change the potting medium to one with good drainage.
Some people follow a watering schedule, use soil moisture meters or ice cubes to try and measure the volume of water to give. In the long term, I think this is a convoluted way of watering houseplants, but it might be helpful when you're first starting out or if you keep experiencing watering mistakes.
Excess water by itself isn't always an issue. It's when you add in one (or more) of the following factors you're likely to have an overwatered succulent with problems on your hands.
A Growing Medium that Holds Too Much Water.
Even if you pour a gallon of water around the plants roots you could still avoid overwatering issues. Providing it's growing in well-draining soil and the container has drainage holes, all that water should in theory just trickle out of the bottom and away.
Problems occur when all that water doesn't drain away. There may be no drainage holes, or the potting medium is very dense and holds onto large volumes of water. This doesn't mean you have to go out and buy a special cacti and succulent mix though
You can use almost any regular potting soil mix, but just add in a handful of something that will decrease the water holding capacity, for example, grit or perlite. Good sustainable alternatives are rice hulls, coco chips or buckwheat hulls. With succulents, you really do want something free draining. Look at my growing mediums guide for further information.
Cold Temperatures.
Cold temperatures cause two predicaments. The first is that when it's cold, potting mixes take a long time to dry out, and the plant is much less active when it's chilly.
The second predicament occurs when temperatures are approaching freezing or below, as this will damage the plant's cells. If this damage penetrates the leaf's protective outer layer, it will start to freeze the cells within.
After being watered heavily, the cells will already be practically bursting with water. You might remember from science class that water expands when it's frozen. If that happens then the cells will rupture.
Low Light Levels.
Succulents can cope with higher light levels; some will even deal with direct sunlight. In low light, succulents will slow their metabolic activity to a crawl. In this state, they simply won't use water at any significant rate. In this situation, a little too much water for plants will trigger the "overwatered" definition and problems will start.
How to save an overwatered succulent
In this guide, we're assuming that you've spotted the overwatered damage quite early on and want to try and stop it from progressing.
If it's in the late stage and your plant has clear signs of root rot or falling apart and wilting, these steps won't help. Skip to the next section where I'll go through how you can create a legacy plant from any salvageable material.
Cutting off entire leaves might seem daunting, but once things stabilize, the plant will produce either new growth with fresh healthy leaves or offsets.
OK, here is what you must do to rescue your succulent.
Remove all leaves showing signs of problems.
All affected leaves and stems must be removed if they show signs of overwatering. This will be any that feel squishy or are changing color. You'll never be able to return these leaves to health once the process starts. You must be ruthless to try and salvage the rest of your plant.
Sometimes you can pull the leaves off the plant. For example an overwatered Snake Plant is easy to deal with as you can simply pull out the individual leaves.
Other times the succulent leaves are very close together and form part of the central stem so you might not be able to just pull them off. For example, the Hawthoria, Gasteria, Aloe Vera or Echeveria are sometimes harder to deal with for this reason. In these cases, if the leaves don't pull off with gentle tugging, you will need to cut out the "rot" as close to the stem as possible with a pair of scissors or secateurs.
Even if only part of the leaf is showing problems, remove that leaf. No exceptions. Trust me on this.
If you'd like to see a video with the actual leaf removal and how to do it, you're in luck! I put together a YouTube video on our channel, which you can watch by clicking the picture below.
Check out my video on YouTube for a visual guide (and if you want to see me!)
Put cinnamon or sulfur on the cuts (if you have any).
There will be raw exposed edges if you've been cutting off leaves. Most succulents tend to have a rapid ability to heal and seal exposed wounds as part of their natural adaptation to dealing with harsh growing conditions.
But if you have any cinnamon or sulfur power, you can give your plant a boost by sprinkling a little of this on the raw edges. Both cinnamon and sulfur have potent anti-fungal properties and act as a natural fungicide without (in most cases) harming your plant. This means it can help the plant resist infection and speed up its natural healing.
Throw away any removed leaves or stems.
I've touched on this already. But any stems or leaves you removed must be thrown away. Do not try and salvage them or leave them around your plant. They can not be brought back to full health and are potentially full of bacteria at this point, and using them as propagation material is unlikely to work.
Either repot, or let the potting mix dry out thoroughly.
Some people will suggest or recommend repotting their plant at this point. Unless you have root rot, it's only sometimes necessary at this stage. But the fact you're in this position might be a sign that the growing medium is unsuitable for your needs, so it could be worth changing it up.
If you do repot,
use fresh soil rather than reuse what your plant's just come out of. Think about perhaps moving it down to a smaller pot and ensuring you provide better drainage. This will help to provide better airflow and encourage healthy roots as the plant recovers. The main advantage is that a well drained potting mix will mean excess moisture is less likely to build up to cause overwatering issues again in the future.
If you decide not to repot, you must let the current potting mix dry out entirely in the short term. Move it somewhere with bright indirect light, good airflow and warmth; all of this will help things to dry out faster. Do not water your plant again until you are sure no more leaves show overwatering signs.
Don't overwater again in the future.
Let's not go through all of this again! You do need to water succulents carefully and there are several early warning signs that you might be giving your houseplants too much water in general. I have a full article that goes through all of this. Read up on the subject and you'll learn how to avoid this happening in the future.
Click the photo below for an interactive summary.
The 5 Steps on How To Save an Overwatered Succulent:
Remove all squishy leavesPut cinnamon or sulfur on cutsRepot or let potting mix dry outDon't overwater againThrow away any removed leaves or stems
Sometimes, despite your best efforts it won't work and the plant will continue to decline.
You're welcome to try the steps again, and hope you get it properly, but if you think you're losing too much of your plant, you can try and salvage healthy parts to create a replacement. I'll go over this next.
What to do when your plant is too far gone?
The damage from overwatering can sometimes be too widespread, or it could have progressed too far before you could do anything about it.
If your plant can't realistically be saved in its current form, you could try something else to create a legacy replica instead.
The entire root system was destroyed, but with a little time, a brand new one was grown.
Many succulents can be propagated through stem or leaf cuttings. Using my Eve's Pin Cactus experience to illustrate. When all the lower stems started to rot, and the upper parts literally fell to the ground, I knew this was a plant that I could not save by "cutting out the rot".
Instead, I let the ends of the otherwise healthy "arms" dry out for a day before pushing them into a barely moist, free draining potting mix. I moved it to a warm, bright windowsill, left it alone for a month or two, and waited. I must have only watered it once, perhaps twice, during the entire period.
Don't forget Water Propagation
It's usually much slower, but if you're worried about using soil again, you can propagate many plants, including some succulents in water.
Several months later the stems had all produced new root systems and were establishing as new plants. Success!
There is, unfortunately, one caveat to all of this. You need some healthy, viable plant material. If your plant looks like the one below, then sorry, you're all out of luck on this one.
This is not a healthy plant. When the central stem and base of an overwatered succulent plant goes rotten like this, that's it. Nothing can be done to save it.
Overwatered succulents can be saved if you catch things early enough and if the symptoms are more localized rather than widespread.
If your attempts don't succeed and you lose your plant, don't feel too bad about it. The best way forward is to learn from what's happened, and you'll have a better chance at stopping it from happening with the next one.
Over the last 20 years, Tom has successfully owned hundreds of houseplants and is always happy to share knowledge and lend his horticulture skills to those in need. He is the main content writer for the Ourhouseplants Team.
