Bernard
Maybe you could make a frame around and stretch some mosquito screen on it (I am not sure if the openings are small enough to stop these tiny mites)...I know, things we do for our plants...I made something similar with plastic sheet to make sure they don't drown since we have quite a bit of rain.
Rina

Rina, my roof can get extremely windy. The first time I brought my plants up, the wind actually broke the stems on some of my seedlings. So I'm not sure if I can erupt a sturdy frame of mosquito screens to stand the test of the wind's forces. These are really commando mites, I started noticing their presence the minute I lay down my plants on the table.

I experimented a fair bit of the spray on the ledge, and they curl up to a ball upon immediate contact.

Rina, I saw your temporal plastic protectors for your plants, I just wish I have a balcony or a patio to do that.

I used have a penthouse apartment with a covered south facing balcony - that was the perfect outdoor place my succulents. They grew like mad and it was so high there was zero fear of insects (also sheltered from rain and wind).

Now I have a nice rooftop, but I live fairly close to forest and am paranoid they will attract similarly strange insects, which I will then bring inside. Or face the wrath of rampaging squirrels.

Do you have any of these issues Rina, since I think we live in similar regions?

Lately I've been on the hunt for sturdy trays so I can easily move my plants, since full sun outside does make a significant difference.

mayo - Full Sun, especially all day outside really does make a big difference. My established plants now seemed to be addicted to full sun outside now, they become limp and wrinkly just only a couple of days indoors.

Does your roof get squirrel visits? I freak out when I see hovering bugs congregating at my plants.

More pics taken last weekend.

I guess I am lucky living in the house with yard. I put all my plants (not only succulents) outdoors as soon as weather permits. I try to protect succulents if it rains a lot. There are lots of squirrels and chipmunks around, and sometimes they mess with the plants - squirrels 'plant' any seeds they find and chipmunks just dig and dig...usually uprooting the plants. Last summer I caught field mouse nibbling on succulent leave...so it is never easy. But I try to think about it that if the plants were living in their natural habitat, they would have all of these dangers and probably more...
See some of the creatures I saw few days ago - luckily, not on succulents:

Rina

Bernard, looks like they are really enjoying that sun! I'm glad you have a place you can let them get that, being in Brooklyn! I have a nice covered porch that gets a decent amount of sun throughout the day.

-Erica

Erica, I always thought squirrels and chipmunks are so cute, until I have plants of my own; don't find them so anymore if my plants were under siege.

Yay where's wally!!

Pic 1 - giant green caterpillar!

Pic 2 - weird black beetle

Pic 3 - is that a praying mantis!?

Thanks Erica! I love poking my echeverias at the end of the day. Thea leaves are all upright and perky with nice colorations on its tips.

Yea, I must say I'm blessed in a way. My apartment is in the second level, so we are the only units in the building without balconies. But at least the roof is still a good option!

Praying mantis is much bigger:

I don't know what are those 2, took photos to see if I can ID them.

Hopefully you can get those critters under control. If you do consider an enclosure of sorts, I would probably think about making it out of 1" PVC and cover it with row covering. Ag material is cheap.

Rina, the first image reminds me of a tobacco hornworm (although it's clearly not). Just that fat cute caterpillar look! I bet it has an insatiable appetite. :F

The second image looks like it could be a paper wasp? I can't tell if it's a real wasp or another fly or something pretending to be one. I doubt it will affect your plants.

The third image with the green insect looks like a Katydid, but I'm not so familiar with the species we have here in Ontario. I'd have to see it closer to get a better idea. They do eat plant leaves.

Bernard, ever thought about growing c indica as a houseplant? Because you might want to relax a little . . . :P

Seriously, though, the plants I have outside do tend to get nibbled on from time to time, but I've never had a huge issue (I do keep smaller plants and rooting leaves inside, though, because I don't want some bird making off with an entire plantlet, lol). As for bugs coming inside, they seem to find a way to do that regardless of whether they're hitching a ride on a plant or not, so I've given up on worrying about it :v

Bernard- I see your auroras are starting to turn that signature pink! If you do the indica, stay away from the edge!

k8 - never ventured into contraband plants yet, perhaps if only I can acquire myself a piece of cutting. LOL

I know, I'm feel like an overprotective mom over my plants. It's just because they have been so well-sheltered in my apartment, and I can't handle all these "external forces" surrounding them now.

I think I did pretty good today, brought them up again, left them there, spray a couple rounds of permethrin on the table legs and off I go. Might leave them out overnight for the next few days since the weather is getting better.

Neil - I think I'm crossing into the dark side... All my Rubrotinctums, including the Auroras are definitely kicking up the coloration. I think I burnt a few leaves on my Aurora, ah, well it's already burnt anyway, gonna toughen them up a little and leave them out.

Rina - Argh! Mantis, bugs, beetles, grubs! Can't deal with them!

Rina- I didn't know you raised praying mantis, I've only seen one twice in my entire life and your's is a beauty. Your backyard seems so massive too, you're so lucky!

I had two praying mantis eggs hatch in my yard last summer. There were hundreds of babies all over my porch for a few hours while they dispersed into the world. Several of them hung around and by the end of the summer I noticed there were 2 adults that survived and stayed. I can't say much for their intelligence; I kept noticing them hopping along in front of my mower. I would stop the mower, pick them up and relocate them just to find it in front of the mower again. Sadly I haven't seen any this year and none of the eggs I found looked viable. They are certainly great friends to have if you can keep them!

-Erica

Erica- can you spare one for me?> They'd make excellent bodyguards for my plants, that's for sure.

Neil
I don't raise them :-), I think I should (ppl buy the egg sacks I believe) but am very happy to find them around. I found many surprises on this property, my most favored are these:

Rina

Mayo, you should! It's the time of the year for sunny sunshine!

Guys, I don't do well with Mantises. I think it was way back when I was a kid, I saw one that FLEW, and it was almost the size of a football! The creature probably left a scar on my memory...

Orchids??? growing outside in the ground? or are those some type of a lily? I don't know much about non-succulents.

Bernard- I don't see your lauii?

You can buy the eggs on Amazon. I first saw them for sale at the Philadelphia Flower Show two years ago. I have actually considered buying them because of how beneficial they are but you can't force them to stay in your yard! I did find 3 or 4 egg sacks this summer already but they didn't look very healthy. I am not sure what conditions they need to survive, but at least I know they are out there.

Bernard, back on topic, do you keep your most prized inside? I had to fight with myself to get my favorites outside as I felt they were better protected indoors. Fortunately I live somewhere where it is easy to keep a close eye on them and the stray cats keep the other animals away. They really enjoy the warmth. I don't think I see your jade either?

-Erica

Beautiful native lady slipper orchids Rina! I've only had ugly native orchids popup by accident for me, heh.

ew
what do you mean 'ugly'? want to see! (I found another one, helleborine, last year. So far no sign of it).

Bernard
There is only small mantises around here. But I can see it could be scary experience. My daughter is terrified of spiders...

Sorry for derailing this thread...I guess if I had some prized succulents, I may keep them more protected, but still outdoors. Obviously, if there isn't backyard available, some improvising is necessary.
Everything I have is finally outdoors. Hope it doesn't rain again...Rina

still am fascinated with the orchid in the ground!

Orchids are a pretty diverse bunch. They can be found growing in pretty much every environment except arctic tundra and saharan desert.

Succulents on display. Xoxo NYC

Actually sorry to derail this thread further, but there are desert orchids like South African Eulophias and Oeceoclades or Australian Caladenias. I don't know if there are actual Saharam orchids, but there are definitely deserts that do have them :-)

Bernardyjh, I like your sign!! Lol ive got some of my bigger succulents outside, my smaller ones are all going out in the greenhouse........I'm thinking Im going to have to make a sign something along the lines of "NOT FOR SALE and DEFINATLEY NOT FOR FREE!! HANDS OFF!!! And maybe surround them with hot wire.....think itll work?! Lol We used to live on 10 acres, our new house is on a lake, and people in Michigan LOVE and LIVE for yard sales and the like!!! I cant tell you how many people in the neighborhood have stopped and started asking "How much for this", "how much for that", nothing has price tags on it!" Well DUH, because theyre NOT FOR SALE!!! I REALLY miss the seclusion of our old home now. Unfortunatley I have to put EVERY ONE of my plants on the front deck because of my 150 pound dog owns are back yard!!

Rina, How aewsome to have cypripediums on your property. That bunch is beautiful. Lucky.

aztcqn
Thank you. They are beautiful and plentiful (I stopped counting after 150). I hope to find some other flowers.
LilBit
Choices we have to make - but dog needs some space to himself too.
Bernard
I like that sign too and hope it does the job. The plants look really happy out there.
It has been raining overnight and will for most of today - time to 'cover up' succulents. I think in pots, they had enough of fresh water.
Rina

Thanks guys. The sign has been doing its job real well so far. I guess it helps to be in a good apartment complex too. Every is really respectful to things and space in my building which is good.

I'm sad to see my plants getting sunburnt, especially my PvN, so are my jelly bean plants. It never happened before when I left them out all day previously.

I'm just gonna tough them out and not alter any changes. I hope it's not something else.

Bernard
I was thinking about sunburn - too bad I didn't asked you sooner! Just wanted to know if you had chance to acclimatize them, since it is much more difficult to do in your situation. They should be out just for a while and not in strongest sun to begin with. I think jelly bean will be ok, they are actually really nice in that dark colors (unless you just want them green).
Not so sure about PvN? I keep mine in full sun, but they are started slowly.
This is from August (outside usually from end of May on):

Rina

I cooked a bunch of Echeveria cuttings one day last week. I had left them in a spot where they got a half-day of sun and the forecast high was 83, but it got up to 91. Had I known it would be that hot I would have put them in a shady spot for the day. It's a combination of both sun exposure and heat, so on those really hot days it might be best to keep them in.

My plants made it out today! Got 4 hours of full sun, temps were between 30 and 40°C on the roof. Even though I watered when I put them out, surprisingly their leaves have almost all shrunken significantly. Nothing burned and many have altered their colour for the better. =)

Think I need to do this more often!

You can't tell when plants will burn by sight unless you haven't acclimated them. However, if you have done so, or if they were fine before, this might have been a result of UV fluctuations. Phytotoxicity (plant sunburn) is very common when plants are exposed to unexpected highly UV levels. You might want to check your weather report to see what the UV Index for NYC was today. Florida has incredibly high UV levels and on days with UV Alerts in effect I keep all my plants in full shade or else their leaves singe easily. I think the heat helps this process along, but without intensely high UV levels my plants won't burn (it's consistently 90-100 here almost every day until September and my full sun plants are fine with the regular weather after acclimating)

ew
You say the leaves have almost all shrunken significantly - that doesn't sound good to me. Do you have photo? And it was 30-40C on the roof in Toronto? - what kind of roof is it?
Rina

They're doing alright!

Overnight, almost everything perked up again. A few are a bit droopy/thin, but I already knew their roots weren't well established yet (saved from some poor C&S soil).

Top photo is an Aloe Spinosissima with the top leaves still a little thin. Bottom is one of my sadder looking Crassula Ovatas, which some leaves have turned a little yellow.

I really like this thread. Was your zebrina on the roof for sun or what exposure in your house did it get? Any supplemental light?

How're the sunburnt ladies doing?

Like your thinking - it's nice to see updates of the same plants over time! Maybe the others above can chime in how their city succulents are doing.

My H. zebrina was badly damaged from mealies and cut to pieces. The rooted cuttings are growing well indoors under lights, which are providing the equivalent of partial sun.

You could consider a similar 'H. schneideriana is growing under nearly full sun on my roof and has been flowering profusely since June. It was repotted bare root during that time and didn't even skip a beat!

The C. ovatas are doing better now that the weather has started to cool down (... aside from this week). The new leaves are getting much bigger and all but one plant are in nearly full sun.

It was a month-long struggle trying to acclimatize my A. spinosissima's on the roof, but I failed and gave up. They'd burn wherever I put them, even in partial shade. All are now growing extremely well inside under lights with the equivalent of full sun.

If you're curious about my lighting conditions, here is what I have:

• South-facing backyard porch - full shade.

• South and east-facing indoor windows - full shade.

• North-facing window - partial shade.

• Loft with skylight and side window - partial to bright shade.

• Rooftop - full sun except a small portion of shade mid-morning.

Will try to add a photo or two tonight!

Mayo- did you ever pinpoint what it was that caused the shrinkage?

Yup, I didn't sift the fine particles of Turface out of that batch of mix very well at all. When I repotted the plant, it was very evident that the roots weren't doing that great.

Gritty mix isn't so useful unless you are really thorough with particle size, that was my lesson.

Overall, this set me back several weeks to a month for some of my succulents and several months for my indoor container trees.

I ended repotting all succulents of that batch and the trees will be left with a more water retentive mix (which is probably better for me anyway in the long run).