Leaf Spot On Succulent

There is good news and bad news here. The good news is that you have babies from this plant, and with succulents such as this you can always cut off the tippy top growth and stick the stem in a new pot of soil to start a new plant. The bad news is that you do have some sort of leaf spot disease - probably fungal - and those leaves are likely to fall off soon.

The other good news is that if this plant is 6 feet tall you're probably ready to start fresh and not have to duck every time you water it, right?

Even houseplants have a life-span or shelf-life. Once they get really tall and leggy, they are often not as attractive and since they are taller they aren't as healthy since they aren't getting the benefits of full sun through most windows. At this point, start with a new or recently cleaned pot, all fresh soil (a cactus mix is good for succulents) and cut the top off of the tall mother plant. Remove all the spotted leaves and poke about 4 inches of the stem down into the fresh soil. Water the plant well but after that don't keep the soil wet or the stem will rot. A good watering once a week should be fine even while the plant develops new roots. You can pot up the "babies" on either side of this newly short plant in order to make an attractive, fuller new succulent.

Leaf spots are common on most plants - you can spray the plant with a sulfur fungicide and always avoid getting succulent foliage wet. (Ignore all the advice you see on line to "mist" your plants.) Sometimes plants are more prone to problems if they aren't as healthy or strong to begin with due to being in the same pot and soil for a few years. That's another reason it's good to start fresh!