Need help with my Haworthia plant

Question

Hi, I bought this succulent it had no tag but I am guessing it’s a Haworthia. When bought it was very healthy but recently it’s getting soft and watery and dying. I haven’t been watering it too much and it’s outside in good daylight ( not direct sunlight) it’s planted in Coco peat. Please advise as to how can keep it alive. Attached are before and after photos.

Answer 1

There are a few things that need to be addressed here. Are you familiar with using coco peat as a planting medium? There are many things that need to be done before it can be suitable for a plant to survive in.

This will likely be a salty medium that will need to be washed several times. Even if it has been washed, you will need to wash it several more times. It helps to soak this in citric acid and water for awhile to leech salts faster from the mix.

Next will come to feeding and buffering pH. The coco fibers will not have enough nutrients to sustain this plant. It will need a plant food, or a soil with composted material instead of only coco fiber. Dolomitic lime will help buffer the soil pH. These are similar to succulents, but will need moist soil almost always, and will feed heavily. This is very unlike a succulent. They also will need much more light than typical. These will require the brightest sunlight, and even more if it were possible.

Although Haworthia look like a succulent, they have a very different set of needs. Just make sure to give it plenty of light and treat it more like a houseplant than a neglect plant.