Like most succulents, the Zebra succulent has the unfortunate ability to turn brown or develop brown leaf tips for a variety of reasons.
Some of these reasons are not natural and should be watched over and some reasons are natural and are no concern to the plant.
So if your Haworthia Fasciata is turning brown or has brown tips, here are the things you will need to know before you freak out.
Sun stress causing brown tips
The most common way you can find yourself with a Zebra plant with brown tips is when the succulent has be undergoing some sun stress.
This occurs when you have been giving your Haworthia Fasciata too much direct or full sunlight or when the temperature has been way too intense.
This plant really prefers bright but indirect light over any type of sunlight so by neglecting this succulent in full sunlight for large amounts of the day will cause this plant to get brown tips.
Unfortunately once this happens, there is nothing you can do to get the leaf tips to return to a normal color instead of crispy brown.
At best you can cut off the leaf tips to make your Zebra succulent more aesthetic looking but other than that you can’t do anything with those leaves.
It’s up to you whether or not you want to remove the leaf tips but there is nothing harmful in keeping them.
But then again, opening up the leaves can make them more vulnerable to other problems down the line.
So if this hasn’t happened yet then you want to be sure you are only giving this plant indirect light and protecting the plant from full sunlight or unexpected heat waves by bringing your plant indoors or using quality shade cloth.
Mushy brown leaves on Zebra plant
If you have noticed that your Zebra succulent has mushy brown leaves all together then you have most certainly been over-watering and likely have developed root rot in the process.
To know for sure that rot has set in, you will need to remove the soil and get a look at the roots themselves and if you see soft roots that easily fall apart, you have rot.
To fix this you will need to remove all the brown leaves as well as the rotted roots, while trying to preserve any healthy roots you can, or at worst, just remove all of the roots and start fresh.
From here you should re-pot your Haworthia Fasciata into some well draining cactus and succulent soil with a pourus container at the same time.
If you still have some roots then you can water immediately but if you have none, wait at least a few days before watering so you don’t accidentally rot the plant.
Having good quality soil and only watering when dry will prevent you from over-watering the Zebra plant ever again.
This is also a common reason why this plant can turn yellow or begin drooping as more often than not, they are warning signs before the brown mushy leaves will occur.
Sometimes it’s normal
With those common bad causes out of the way, sometimes it’s just completely normal for a Zebra succulent to have brown leaves that just start dropping off.
If you notice you have brown crispy leaves towards the base of the succulent, you can gently try to peel them off and if they fall off with ease then you have nothing to worry about as this is natural to occur with age.
Usually these Zebra plant leaves will fall off on their own, so if you are sure you have been providing optimal care then the reason may simply just be due to the aging process and there is nothing to do from here.