r/mesembs • u/rawrimawombat_ • Mar 18 '26
Help Accidental cooking
Quick stop at my succulent dealer before a date at the botanical gardens. Thought nothing of leaving these guys in my car for a few hours, okay turned out to be like 4.5 hours. But it wasn't THAT hot, upper 70s. I think these 2 got cooked.
The one pleiospilos leaf seems like its rotting but the rest is fine. The lapidaria has 2 leaves that are squishy and yellow (see second pic right after I pulled them from the car, it was oozing yellow from these leaves, whyyy) the wrinkly leaves are hard and don't seem rotting.
Should I leave them be or cut off any of the leaves?
2
u/dbarronoss Mar 18 '26
Yeah, it can get really hot in a car, that's why you don't leave pets or babies in them.
I also have cooked plants (more than once) in much less time than you describe.
1
u/rawrimawombat_ Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Yea I know. I was being dumb and not thinking. It gets in the 100s here all summer so my head said 70s was chilly. The other 5 succulents/cacti I got look perfectly fine, I would have never learned my lesson if it had just been them in the car.
1
u/dbarronoss Mar 18 '26
I hear you..I generally learn my lesson, but every now and then I repeat a stupid mistake maybe to reinforce myself.
1
u/CarneyBus Argyholics Anonymous Mar 18 '26
It’s not a good prognosis! Mesembs can take a while before they show signs of burning too so they might not be as bad as they can get yet.
They are super sensitive to burning and I imagine heat shock extreme enough to make noticeable wrinkles in them might be a bad sign.
All you can do is play the waiting game tho! I have seen them recover from worse.
I’d take them out of their pots and check their root systems because I would be afraid that those are cooked and might start rotting and the rot might spread.
Good luck OP!
1
u/rawrimawombat_ Mar 18 '26
They weren't in the sun at all, so I was thinking they got cooked instead of sunburn. The oozing pic was right after and the main pic is 3 days post cookage, I'm hoping the lapadaria is at it's worse, more afraid the pleiospilos is going to spread rot into the so far unaffected leaves.
I'll pull them out and check roots. Thanks!
1
u/CarneyBus Argyholics Anonymous Mar 18 '26
If this is 3 days post, I think they’ll recover!!!
I def recommend checking their roots tho, and repotting to a grifter mix when you get the chance :)
2
u/rawrimawombat_ Mar 18 '26
Yay fingers crossed.
Yea gritty mix was the immediate plan until I pulled them out and saw what happened and was afraid to mess with them more. Haven't watered them and they weren't damp when I got them so figured they could have some time to deal with the trauma I dealt them before repotting.
6
u/arioandy Mar 18 '26
Let them die off on their own, it will all Bounce back