Disease ID, Looks like cracked/dry skin

[Ladystoic]

Hi,

This has been bothering me for a while. A coworker gave me a jade plant (not pictured) that had this weird cracked skin on some of the leaves. The entire plant wasn't doing well. I removed the leaves that had the cracked skin but it seems to always come back to some extent. It's on a few of my other plants now, mostly the jade and the ogre ears. The plants seem ok, although sometimes the leaves with a lot of the cracked skin fall off. I'm not sure what it is.

I included a photo of what I think is a type of aloe plant. Are the red edges normal? Every time it grows a new leaf, it loses one at the bottom. I recently repotted all three plants because the soil was drying out way too quickly.

Does the cracked skin have a name? What causes it and how can I avoid it in the future?

Thank you for any help!

-Lizzy

 

[Marck]

Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

The red edges on the Crassula arborescens in the first photo is a normal feature and is usually considered desirable. Some of the cracking on the leaves may be from movement and growth of the leaves. Edema (cell rupture) is another a likely cause. Edema can happen occasionally to plant leaves or stems for a variety of reasons. Often it is due to a sudden change in light or temperature. Any event that might cause plant cells to drawn in more water than it is able to release may cause edema.

The spots and waviness on the edge of the Aloe striata seedling in the second photo are somewhat atypical and may be a sign of poor conditions. Do what you can to reduce irrigation, improve drainage, and increase light. This goes for all the plants shown in the OP and is just general best practices for succulent culture.

The leaf cracking on the Crassula ovata 'Gollum' in the third photo is due to similar reasons to those listed above: movement, abrasion, growth, edema, etc. Some of this damage is unavoidable as the leaves age, but the severity may be reduced. For some types of succulents it is so common that it is usually considered normal and expected. Some growers may even the effect more interesting than disfiguring, like crackled glaze on ceramics.