tarev said:When I first bought my Desert Rose from Walmart there was a part of the caudex that seemd brownish and a tad soft, but the rest of the plant is okay. So I continued to purchase it. I have it in a low container and in full sun in my garden and if I do water I avoid wetting that brownish side, and just go watering on the root area below. So far it has managed to bloom and is growing well. But the brownish mark stayed, seems more like a bad skin problem now for my Desert Rose.
I don't know if you can see it in this photo, on the right side there is that patch of brown on the plant, but the rest is gray green.
I am thinking it may have gotten the brown patch due to incorrect watering during shipment and sale, causing that patch to show but later on dried out, so it did not proceed to eventual rotting. So maybe you need to see how the water splashes on your plant during watering. And make sure it does dry out well later.
jojoe said:Here are some pictures of my plant that will help a lot i think.
As far as water,it has leaves & is growing new leaves.This was a rescue plant it looked like a very tall dead stick in a pot.It was not soft at that time.This all started while i was gone for 3 days with my daughter having her baby and the hubby left it out in a 3 day thunder storm.
I replaced the potting medium with a faster draining mix of bark, horticultural charcoal and i think the little pebbles are called arcilite with a little loam added.I didn't water it for a couple days and the leaves started dropping so i watered and the leaves grew back.I water very little enough to keep the leaves healthy.
I did pull it out of the pot yesterday and the roots aren't soft yet but it seems that the softness has started in the cauldex & is making it's way down not up!
A picture is suppose to be worth a thousand words,hopefully mine will be
To get a close up i had to take 2 pictures of the plant.
The thickest parts are soft the smaller roots aren't (yet)
Have a wonderful day & thanks for your time and advice!!!!!