I find certain Sedums like yours can take more water then others:). Usually the species with lots of smaller leaves:).I must add a side note to what I just wrote, as long as they are in a fast draining/gritty mix. You live in Sac so you are more inland than I am. It's hotter and drier. So you could definitely up the water to twice a week. What's the mix you have them planted in? Also, did you get all the old soil off when you repotted?

Thanks for your quick response, Kara! :-)

UNDERWATERING: I was so worried about overwatering, it's very likely I've underwatered. Especially since the last week or so was extra hot (and of course dry) here. I have some other sedums with the tiny little leaves like that, so I'm thinking I should probably treat them all similarly -- maybe put them all in the same pot for ease of watering (but the look of them mixed and matched is so cute!)...

SOIL MIX: When I got it, I was naive and planted it in Miracle Gro C&S mix (maybe had a little gravel or pumice mixed in, but not enough to "do anything"). When I repotted it last week, I put it in a mix of Black & Gold C&S mix and pumice (maybe 60/40, I wasn't exact and was aiming for slightly more soil since it has quite a bit of pumice in it anyway). I'm very seriously considering switching to a pure gritty mix, but I've been on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to find some of the products (chicken grit and pumice are no problem; turface isn't so easy) and I'm still not sure it's worth it -- or if I'll do it right. (In fact, I'll probably make a post with my questions about that eventually!)

ROOTS: I definitely didn't get all the old soil off when I repotted. :-( I didn't know I was supposed to, and I was worried about the delicate little stalks falling apart and not being able to get it repotted. After doing some more reading the last couple of days, I'm thinking I should probably uproot ALL my plants and wash off ALL their roots because I'm just envisioning the poor little things suffocating despite my best soil mix efforts! (But perhaps that's more detrimental? Honestly not sure... When I get succulents as plugs I sometimes barely bust up the soil "pod" and now I'm thinking that's probably a bad thing?)

Yeah, I need to learn to be ok with breaking a few roots and really give them a good (gentle) scrubbing it sounds like! I should really probably do this with all of my new plants then -- fun! (I really mean that -- if I run out of "things to do" with my plants, I buy more, and I'm almost at full capacity.) I will be as gentle as possible, but accept a few root casualties as par for the course. :-) It sounds like this weekend's project is to pick a few plants and rinse off their roots real good! I'll give it a go and see how it turns out for me. Good to know to let the roots dry before replanting -- you're right, it won't take long in this climate here. :-)

I was so worried about overwatering, I'm actually kind of relieved to know I can water a little more often without hurting them (at least these little sedums -- I've got a few more of different varieties, don't know the names of them all). But like you, I kept thinking -- there is NO WAY it's from too little water! But what you're saying about dropping old leaves to preserve water for new growth totally makes sense!! And especially since I'm sure they're getting even less water than I'm giving them since their roots are all jammed up in that old nasty peaty soil they came in and unable to absorb what I *am* offering them...

Speaking of soil -- it's actually more like 60% soil and 40% pumice, but the Black Gold C&S soil has a LOT of pumice in it already -- so I think it ends up being about 60%+ pumice anyway. :-)

I'm glad you brought up the sunlight because I've been wondering about that...right now, they get about 2-4 hours a day of direct sunlight outside, and another 6-7 hours of filtered light outside. We've had a few days over the last week where it got above 90 degrees F; on those days I limited their direct sunlight to an hour or less. When it's full-on summer and we're having regular days of 100*F weather, should I keep them out of direct sunlight the ENTIRE day (only filtered light)? FWIW, currently, I bring most of them inside every night -- not because I'm worried about temps, but because one night I left some outside and a stick fell out of our tree and tore several leaves off several echeverias (or maybe they were graptopetalum?) and moderately damaged another plant or two. I have dreams of building a little move-able PVC shelter for them -- nothing fancy/expensive -- so that I can at least cover them with shade netting or mesh or something to try to keep small sticks off of them and then leave them out all day/night and just adjust the shade netting as needed to filter sunlight and protect against small debris. Maybe after Project Root Scrub!

Name is misspelled; Sedum dasyphyllum...(not dasphyllum)

It does look thirsty...and possibly because of hydrophobic peat as Kara described.

If it is potted as you say ..."Speaking of soil -- it's actually more like 60% soil and 40% pumice, but the Black Gold C&S soil has a LOT of pumice in it already -- so I think it ends up being about 60%+ pumice anyway. :-)"... it should be OK in that mix. Here is mine that is in full sun for at least 5hrs (and getting more as sun is getting higher), and it got rained on for last 3 days...it looks much better now and starting to send inflorescence:

I'll only create some shade for around noon time later in summer (by putting taller plant in front of it) if it start showing some signs of too much heat later in full summer - I don't think it will happen in my location...IIRC, they are quite hardy and should be outside in your location year round...something could fall on any plants outdoors at any time, so if really concerned, get some screen over them. But that's nature :) and nothing is perfectly clean and showroom ready in nature...just musing here :)

Wow, that is just beautiful! I hope that my Sedum dasph. can be as lovely as yours one day! Now I want it to survive even more (hehe)!!

I was really worried about them getting too much direct sun since it gets so hot here. Sounds like they'll definitely be ok for now, and I'll start trying to get them more direct light. What do you think when the days are regularly 90-100+ ? Do I need to be more careful about direct sunlight then, or should they be acclimatized to it already from being outside?

I would find a spot in your yard where it gets sun till about 11am, and then afternoon shade or bright reflected light. So morning sun in the summer. I would definitely have it in shade by 11am. Living in Sac that poor Sedum would get fried in no time with afternoon sun. I just wrote on another post how the weather has been nice and cool. It's been nice:). Soon are the days where it's going to be 90F by 9am;).

Thank you, Kara! Yes, the last couple of days have been just beautiful. I've been outside as much as possible, because I know those 90 degree days will be the norm soon!

I appreciate the tip -- I will find them a nice spot with morning sun -- that harsh afternoon sun is exactly what I'm concerned about. They don't seem to mind a couple hours of it on these nice 65-70 degree days, but not so much on the 90-100 ones. ;-)

Sorry, Rina, I forgot to say earlier -- I agree that some imperfection in nature is part of its beauty ;-) We just have a tree with some dead limbs on it and several times pieces about 12-20 inches long have fallen near my plants -- twice on them! It took off all but one leaf of an echeveria, and all but two leafs of 3 others -- so not much was left of those poor things. I worry about decapitation for my little succulents! They're all quite small.

Do I know that:)! I've had a few plants burn recently because I wasn't paying attention on those 90+F days.