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Plants / Crassulaceae / Burro’s tail / Root rot

Burro’s tail: root rot

Does it have root rot, and can it be saved?

On burro’s tail, the likeliest cause is watered faster than it dries. Soil damp days after watering, yellowing lower leaves, and a sour smell at the drainage hole.

Causes, likeliest first for this species 4 checked
  1. 1
    Watered faster than it dries

    Ranked here because at 14–28 days between waterings, a weekly routine is roughly twice what it can use.

    How to tell. Soil damp days after watering, yellowing lower leaves, and a sour smell at the drainage hole. Roots brown and slimy rather than pale and firm.

    What to do. Unpot, cut every soft root back to firm tissue, repot into fresh dry gritty mix, and do not water for a week. Do not fertilise a damaged root system.

  2. 2
    No drainage hole, or soil too heavy

    Ranked here because its mix should be two parts cactus mix, one part pumice — standard potting compost holds far too much water for it.

    How to tell. Water sits on the surface, or the decorative pot has no hole and the inner pot is standing in what drained out.

    What to do. Drill the pot or use a liner you can lift out. This species wants two parts cactus mix, one part pumice.

  3. 3
    Pot much larger than the root ball

    How to tell. A small plant in a large pot, where the soil away from the roots stays wet for a week or more.

    What to do. Pot down. A pot an inch or two wider than the root ball dries at a rate the plant can keep up with.

  4. 4
    Cold and wet together

    How to tell. Rot appearing in winter, on a plant near a cold window or in an unheated room, watered on a summer schedule.

    What to do. Keep it above 55°F and cut watering back hard in winter. Cold roots cannot drink.

Why that order, for this plant

The ranking above is not a generic list. It is computed from this species' own record — a watering interval of 14–28 days, a semi-arid origin, a humidity floor of 20%, and a light range from bright-indirect to direct. Change those figures and the order changes with them.

That is the whole point of a per-species page. Root rot on a plant watered every three days and root rot on one watered every three weeks almost never have the same cause, and a list that ranks them identically is worth nothing to either owner. You can check the reasoning against the care fields on the species entry, which is where these numbers come from.

No percentages appear on this page. We have not run a grower survey, and a confident-sounding figure with no dataset behind it is worse than none. Order and distinguishing tests are what we can honestly give.

Other problems recorded for this species

Also for this species

Full care entry with light, watering and soil. How to propagate it. Toxicity to cats and to dogs.

Sources

  1. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Plants of the World Online — Sedum morganianum Accepted name and family. Checked 2026-09-11.
  2. ASPCA Animal Poison Control — Sedum morganianum Relevant if a damaged plant is being chewed rather than merely ailing.
  3. This database's own care record for Sedum morganianum — the watering, humidity and light figures the ranking is derived from.

Compiled and edited by Tony Valcarcel · 2026-09-12
Cause ordering is derived from this species' recorded care requirements, and the derivation is stated above so you can disagree with it. It is not a diagnosis, and a plant can have two problems at once. How this is sourced.