Julianne

Is there any reason for moving plants away from the window? And what kind of lightbulb are you using? I think there is not enough light for your plants.

I can see quite good amount of perlite in photo #1. But the soil in-between looks quite dark (as a wet soil would). It may be just a photo, but from what I can see, looks like it would be more water retaining. What is the 'dirt' you used? - purchased bagged soil? garden soil?...

Rina - thank you for your reply. I moved them because I'm in a garden apartment in Minnesota. Though my windows are big for a garden apartment, a lot of cold air gets through them so I was worried about temperature. The light bulb I'm using is an ecosmart daylight LED. not sure the wattage. The overhead light is also on.

The other soil is a bagged cactus soil. But once I brought it home, I saw that it said it retained water which is obviously not what I want. I intend to repot with the perlite mix once home.

Welcome! I suggest you use natural as well as artificial light. Anyways, natural is always of a better quality than can be manufactured. Try combining light from the window and the artificial light you are already using. As Rina said, I don't think your plants are getting enough light.

Would you be needing ID's by any chance?

~palmsandsnow

Woops, we were both writing at the same time... A few things to add: As long as the room is heated, cold air through the window shouldn't be a problem.

What are the Lumen and Kelvin output of your bulb (They may be on the bulb, but probably on the box. Abbreviation for Kelvin is K).

As palms said, the window is where the plants should be. As long as they are not touching the glass when it gets cold, they should be just fine. Succulents will be OK even in low temps - it could be as low as 48*F. Natural light will help; just 1 bulb is likely not enough. If the temps are lower, watering should be reduced as it takes longer for soil to dry up if cold. Many succulents will survive with almost no water during winter.

If the bag said soil is water retaining, I am surprised it is sold as succulent potting soil. Not sure what you can get, but perlite or pumice is very good to add, and grit would be great too. I would try to stay away from a water retaining soil.

Just in case you can't find any info on kelvin and lumens (it should be available), hopefully it at least say if the bulb is daylight or soft light or whatever.

Just a note: last time I was shopping bulbs for my plants i noticed that a number of bulbs labeled daylight are actually fairly low frequency, around 3000k-3500k. You need 5000k-6500k bulbs for your plants, usually sold as "bright white". A brighter or 4500k bulb would be even better, but wouldn't be as living room-friendly, and would be much more expensive.

Your ecosmart bulb's light frequency should be specified in a little 'light temperature' graphic on the side or back of the box, or in tiny print on the bulb or near its basee

I had to reduce the artificial light time to 9 or 10 hours because the bluish light near my reading/TV chair late at night messed up my sleep, but you won't have that problem if the light isn't close by in the evening. The growth on my plants has definitely slowed down with the reduced light exposure, but they still look a lot better than they did a few months ago after being abused and neglected in dim corners for years. I assume that's because the light they do get is pretty bright, though.

I don't have succulents--I lurk here because I think they're neat and want to get some next summer--but I've had great results the past two months with five 100W equivalent, 5000k, bright white CFL and LED bulbs in clamp-on fixtures for 14 hours a day on my little collection of houseplants (I use a cheap power strip plugged into a cheap timer). You won't need that many for your couple of plants, especially if the light is bright and close enough to them. A lot of people here use lights in the winter, so I'm sure someone with succulents will jump in with advice.

Hope that helps.

litterbuggy

..."A brighter or 4500k bulb would be even better, but wouldn't be as living room-friendly, and would be much more expensive"...

What do you mean by more expensive: is it the cost of bulb or cost of running it?

I have lots of CFL lightbulbs & will use them until they are 'used up' (that could be a while!) Cost of bulbs is very similar - I paid only $2 more for a 6pack of 6500k than price of 6pack of 3000k at the time. They are all min 23W (equiv to 100W incandescent) and more. For succulents, IMO, 4500k is just so-so. LED bulbs are little more expensive, but cost of running them is little less and they supposedly last longer too. I do not know what the difference in price is for LEDs.

Sorry, I wasn't thinking; I should have remembered that the 100W CFLs I found at the grocery store were just a hair more expensive than lower watt CFLs.

OTOH, while 100W soft white LEDs aren't that pricey, all the 5000k LED bulbs I've found are more expensive than soft white bulbs of the same brand and brightness, and there's a big difference between the prices of 75W and 100W bright white bulbs, and the difference grows with each increase from there. My guess is that for some reason the little computer chip has to be more sophisticated to handle bulbs with both high frequency and high intensity light. But what do I know?

Anyhow, I'm slowly switching all my bulbs over to LEDs, not because I'm rich or anything (hah!!!), but because they last far longer and are more efficient than CFLs.

By the way, Rina, where do you buy 6500k CFLs?

LED bulbs of any wattage are still quite a bit more $, I bought CFL 6-packs in Lowe's & Rona; they were just under $20 and on special another $5/pack off at that time. I still have few boxes never used, so they will last for a while :), and do not know what they sell today. I bought few equi 150W at the time, I can't remember exact price but they were about $10/2-pack:

CFL bulbs will be eventually eliminated because of small amount of Mercury they contain (like many thermometers do), and LED lasts even longer.

I have couple of LED bulbs too, but if I need more lights for pants (may not be for a while!), I think I will buy the T5HO - that may change as it will be few years before I need them, unless I go crazy buying too many new succulents, lol.

Yes, that is mainly true. Waterlogged leaves are quite often plump, yellowish color - almost translucent - and could easily mush up if you pick them, kind of slimy. They will fall off easily too. They will not 'repair' themselves. The stems of plant with waterlogged leaves may start rotting if not already.

Continuous dryness will stress plant too, but typically it can recover. Rotting plant is much more difficult to save - rotted parts needs to be discarded.

Hello, everybody!! Thank you all for your comments. I have moved the plants to a window and put the light over there as well. Unfortunately this window has mostly indirect light, but hopefully it will help. The lightbulb is 5000k and 682 lumens (I don't have the box, the bulb was given to me by somebody so I'm reading off the bulb). Should I maybe add an additional light if the natural light is indirect? I'm going to switch out the dirt on the plants that don't have the perlite mixture today.

I THINK if anything the one that is shriveled is due to underwatering. The leaves don't seem particularly squishy or anything.

Palms, I would love IDs if you know them!

I'll see if I can get a few of them.. Keep in mind these will be rough ID's.. Lol

#1 Is a Crassula (perforata?) maybe a mite underwatered.

#2 Is a Kalanchoe, not sure of the species. The one behind it is a moon cactus, a Hylocereus with a Gymnocalycium grafted on top. Don't blame yourself if it dies 'suddenly'.

#3 Looks like a Crassula ovata, or 'Jade Plant'.

A 50-50 mix of perlite and 'dirt' (cactus and succulent soil) should work well for all your plants.

Julianne, it's hard to find direct conversions, but after reading a few sites it looks like 680 lumens comes out to a 60W light. Basically it's better than nothing if it's a bright white bulb, but 60 watts isn't nearly enough to provide meaningful supplemental light. And if the light is even vaguely yellowish, you might as well use it somewhere else because it will do nothing to supplement the indirect light from the window.

In order to make a difference in a plant's growth, you need an inexpensive 100W (or brighter) CFL "bright white" bulb, or a 100W (or brighter) "daylight" bulb whose color temperature on the back of the box is at least 5000k. LEDs use less energy and last longer than CFL bulbs, but at $10.00 or so for a six pack of bright white CFL bulbs, it's easy to give meaningful help to your plants.

Best of luck!

Julianne

Just wanted to clarify my post with photo of CFL bulbs: price I posted is in Canada, so it may be less in US - so pls. do not get confused with prices (did not see them in Canada for $10/6 pack).

All other info I posted is correct...and photo of bulbs too :) - as you can see, they are 1500lumens each. So if shopping, look for that info.