Hello everybody,

My Kalanchoe Tomentosa's leaves are falling off. From what I have been reading, it could be overwatering, underwatering, and/or a lack of sunlight. To the best of my knowledge, none of those three conditions apply to this plant.



Does anybody have any ideas?

Is that the original "store soil?"

Where does this sit. What is the light?

purpleinopp said: Is that the original "store soil?"

sallyg said: Where does this sit. What is the light?

Thank you for the quick replies!

The plant sits close to a window and gets a decent amount of indirect sunlight.

It is my soil mix, which contains approximately: 30% pumice, 15% horticultural charcoal, 40% general purpose soil, 15% other (pine needles, crushed egg shells, used tea leaves, etc.).

I know my soil is not perfect, but I believe that it should be okay; plus, that was the best soil mix I could make at the time.

If I were to do everything from scratch, I would use at least 50% of insoluble crushed granite in the soil mix, which I now have in spades.

Soil mix sounds ok to me but my only experience with K tomentosa was short- I think it needed VERY high light.
Hopefully your thread title will get the attention from someone with more specific advice/experience. (or purpleinopp has more to add)

Agree, it does not sound like enough light. Try to provide a spot as close as possible to a sunny window, with as much warmth as possible. No idea if that's a good soil for the plant from the description. If it's staying wet for a long time, that's not good.

I wonder if it got too cold on the way to the store, or while being unloaded into the store? Is it frigid where you are? It looks like a plant that has recently been frozen but not yet lost its' color or shape. Or one that has been severely damaged at the point where it emerges from the soil for some other reason.

sallyg said: Soil mix sounds ok to me but my only experience with K tomentosa was short- I think it needed VERY high light.
Hopefully your thread title will get the attention from someone with more specific advice/experience. (or purpleinopp has more to add)

purpleinopp said: Agree, it does not sound like enough light. Try to provide a spot as close as possible to a sunny window, with as much warmth as possible. No idea if that's a good soil for the plant from the description. If it's staying wet for a long time, that's not good.

I wonder if it got too cold on the way to the store, or while being unloaded into the store? Is it frigid where you are? It looks like a plant that has recently been frozen but not yet lost its' color or shape. Or one that has been severely damaged at the point where it emerges from the soil for some other reason.

Thank you for the suggestions. I already moved the plant to another location which gets more sunlight.

The soil does not stay wet for a long period of time after watering (I took the picture immediately after watering the plant).

I purchased this plant online and it arrived to me about two months ago when it was still warmish outside. The plant lives inside and was never exposed to any temperature lower than 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit).

Of all the Kalachoes I've had, that was the least satisfying and most problematic. It also flopped and dropped leaves at the mildest nudge. I gave it away.

That said, I think your soil mix sounds water-retentive. I'd go with a cactus mix with your granite or pumice added, but wouldn't change it until warm weather arrives. Agree with aiming for as much light as possible.

Happy to reply. So many of my plant pics were also taken right after watering. Something about watering seems to make people want to take some pics.

About half of the plants I've gotten in the mail were damaged in transit at the point where the plant emerges from the soil. They were packed well, but it still couldn't prevent that kind of damage. I haven't ordered many times that way, but it happened to too many of the plants in each shipment, both times I did it.

There are other Kalanchoes that I love that are more appreciative of being watered and a little less light. Like K. blossfeldiana, for its' blooms
Florist Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana)
and K. hild. for its' cool silvery, almost-fuzzy foliage and slow growing nature
Silver Teaspoons (Kalanchoe hildebrandtii)

NMoasis said: Of all the Kalachoes I've had, that was the least satisfying and most problematic. It also flopped and dropped leaves at the mildest nudge. I gave it away.

That said, I think your soil mix sounds water-retentive. I'd go with a cactus mix with your granite or pumice added, but wouldn't change it until warm weather arrives. Agree with aiming for as much light as possible.

Thanks for the suggestion. If the plant is still alive in a few months, I will definitely re-pot it in a more gritty soil mix.

purpleinopp said: Happy to reply. So many of my plant pics were also taken right after watering. Something about watering seems to make people want to take some pics.

About half of the plants I've gotten in the mail were damaged in transit at the point where the plant emerges from the soil. They were packed well, but it still couldn't prevent that kind of damage. I haven't ordered many times that way, but it happened to too many of the plants in each shipment, both times I did it.

There are other Kalanchoes that I love that are more appreciative of being watered and a little less light. Like K. blossfeldiana, for its' blooms
Florist Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana)
and K. hild. for its' cool silvery, almost-fuzzy foliage and slow growing nature
Silver Teaspoons (Kalanchoe hildebrandtii)

I agree, shipping live plants is not ideal. It is possible that the plant was damaged during the shipping process. Unfortunately, I could not find the Kalanchoe Tomentosa varieties that I wanted ('Hairy Harry' and 'Nigra') locally, so I had to resort to buying them online.

Thank you for those links. Kalanchoe hildebrandtii looks very unique.

Happy to reply. I have the best luck with succulent plants when I leave the original alone long enough to propagate. Once I get a new one started, I'm not at a loss if the original doesn't survive repotting. Generally for me, succulents haven't been as enthusiastic about being repotted as leafy plants.

Whenever we take a plant to where it can't survive without our efforts, there can be so many variables involved. We're all in the same boat. There are 2 ways to sail along. By trying to alter our conditions to fit the needs of some plant. Or by bringing a few plants home and seeing which ones can appreciate the conditions we have available to offer.

There are so many ways to try either of those. That's a great thing because what works for the first person at their location might not work at all for the next person in a different location. And it gives us a long list of variables to tweak before giving up.

Talking about what we tried, thought about trying, saw or read about somebody trying, was told to do and either did or didn't do it, and what the result was is how we have fun with it here. Sometimes all we learn for the moment is what not to do. I have a lot more of that info in my past by now than what actually works.

I'm not saying you should give up on this particular kind of plant at all, just there are many plant vs. location matchups that are impossible. If you find yourself thinking that is happening, don't take it personally. None of us can have every plant we love. I've had to declare defeats after serial-killing some plants. And sometimes you just have to kill something a few times in different ways until you find the little formula that works for you at your location.

Another great thing for me has been clay pots. If a plant has ever been referred to as "succulent" by anyone, it will probably die @ my house in a plastic pot but it has a chance in a clay pot.

What I find ironic about ordering little succulents through the mail is that they would travel much more reliably as unrooted cuttings, or even unpotted and bare-root. But so few are available that way. Maybe the stem on your plant is just broken and the stem will grow new leaves. Is it still firm near the soil surface?