My zz plant was doing okay. Wasn't growing as quickly as other describe despite living outside in a shady but bright part of my deck in NC USA. Should be getting plenty light and is protected from rain. Then this morning I find it like this. Each stem has a soft brown spot at the base and has fallen over. I cut them off and put them in a glass jar of water until I know what to do with the cuttings. I quickly checked the roots and everything looks and smells normal so I put it back in the soil.
The soil is a cactus mix with extra perlite added for drainage. So what could have caused this sudden change? And what is the best way to propagete zz plant cuttings? I have 4 or 5 so I think I may experiment with water propagtion and perlite propagation.
When you say the roots looked normal, what did they look like? What about the rhizomes? How often does your ZZ get watered? Does that pot it is in have drainage?
To me it looks like they rotted at the base which indicates too much water, but more info would help.
Yeah, sounds like too much water.
The were solid (not mushy), light colored, and didn't have a rot smell at all. Same with the rhizomes. The pot does have drainage, but maybe not enough. I also think the soil may have been a bit compacted and it's possible that water stayed at the surface and never moved downwards