Color change in Crassula

[Shane]

My neighbor has some succulent landscaping (this is in southern California) that I pass from time to time, and I noticed an interesting change the last time I went by. They have several crassula ovata, I'm not sure about the cultivar, but it's montrose and until recently the leaves were canary yellow. The last time I went by, the leaves had started to turn green (see picture). There are several plants, and they were all doing this. They also have looked pretty unhealthy, with fallen leaves surrounding them

Is this an example of a cultivar reverting due to stress or environmental conditions, or another cause entirely? I'm really curious what could be going on

[nachtkrabb]

Hi Shane,
the cultivar looks like Gollum to me, and it seems to me to be pretty young and small . I have two about four time that big at least (more than 10years old, they really had time to grow), and they never had that leave-colour -- I would panic if they did. Hope they get back to healthy dark green soon.

Have there been extreme rainfalls or have you had an extreme dry period...?
N

[DaveW]

Not into Other Succulents, but it looks like a chlorophyll deficient form and unless it produced some green chlorophyll producing tissue it would not be able to survive on it's own roots.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/32411 ... pean-forms

[Shane]

Interesting. I'd thought the yellow was a blush, but it actually sounds like it's from the chlorophyll draining out of the leaves due to stress. There were environmental stressors to the plant. There was a week of cold rain followed by a week of hot sun. I just walked by and a bit more green has returned. I also picked up a fallen leaf about a week ago. It's been getting its green back even more quickly

Thanks for the link Dave. Definitely learned some things

[Shane]

I have been watching these and indeed the color seems to fluctuate with how (bad) the weather's been