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liz_n76

Sunburned succulents

6 years ago

I accidentally left some of my succulents out in the sun. What do I do? Feel free to leave any other suggestions.

Comments (10)

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Not much you can do if there is sunburn damage. If sunburned, those leaves will fall off, sun damage is not reversible. You need to wait for new ones to grow to replace them. Immediately, take them out of strong sun and introduce to it gradually. They all need good sunlight, but not suddenly. I can't tell what the small plant in the box is. Is the green with white edges sansevieria? If so, it will be happy in less sunlight, even dappled shade. Or is it aloe or agave? I can't tell from your photos (but I think so...). Do you know all the plants names? If not, post clearer close-up photos to hopefully get ID.

    The containers should have drainage holes, and plants should be in fast draining mix.

  • 6 years ago

    Theres a small jade, an agave and I think a type of echeveria but I'm not very sure which specifically it is. The one on its own is an echeveria but I also forgot the name. I'll post close ups for ID

  • 6 years ago

    All succulents are in pots with drainage hole and fast draining soil

  • 6 years ago

    Liz, those are all plants that should be able to tolerate a lot of sun -- but Rina is correct: They need to be acclimated gradually. I am in Florida where the sun is never-ending. Even in winter, I am fortunate to have a back lanai that gives very strong and bright light. SOME of my plants like heavy sun -- and those I do acclimate gradually, generally over the course of 2-4 weeks from shaded but bright light into sun, maybe 3-6 hours a day of direct sun. About half my collection are NOT sun lovers (Gasteria, Sansevieria, Haworthia). They get bright light but shaded light -- no direct sun. Even then, I acclimate them. In my experience, succulents can withstand a wide variety of conditions, but they take their sweet time getting accustomed to those conditions.

  • 6 years ago

    robinswlg: Oh I didn't do that😬.I had watered them and put them out in direct sun for much longer than I had intended. I wasn't aware that I had to acclimate them.

  • 6 years ago

    Liz, not to worry. There's not a person here who hasn't lost plants, done the wrong thing, didn't know what to do etc. We ALL made and still make mistakes. We learn from each other. Believe me.....the one thing I never do is come to GardenWeb/Houzz and talk about the plants I've owned that didn't make it! But there have been plenty. There's a LOT of trial-and-error involved in the potted-plants hobby we have!

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Liz

    Just a comment about soi: you said it is..."fast draining soil"...I am looking only at the photos, but the soil doesn't look like it. I looked at the photos in your other thread to see better, but didn't. As I said, I could be wrong. What kind of soil is it? Can you guesstimate how fast it dries up?

  • 6 years ago

    I've been using this soil. It's really light. I'm not very sure if it's the best I could use but it's what I saw at the store. I'm in a really hot and dry climate (Texas) so the soil doesn't feel soaking in a few hours and the top is dry in about 3 days. But I don't water them for few week the soil underneath would still be a bit set from the last time I would water it.

  • 6 years ago

    I really don't have a set schedule for watering them

  • 6 years ago

    Liz

    Thank you for responding. I do not advocate watering schedule...:) I water plants when they need it. You are in much hotter and dry climate than me. I let my plants to be rained on and if not raining, I water them with a collected water. I usually use big watering can.

    The soil could be 'light' because it contains lots of peat - but check the bag for ingredients. They are supposed to be listed by %, but often they are not. First ingredient listed is one that there is most of.

    I am using mostly inorganic mix - about equal amounts of sifted perlite and grit. To this I add small amount of turface, or sometimes soil. It is only about 10-15%, def. not more than 20%. You probably could use more of soil since your location. Many ppl use what you are, and report it ok. But - there is always BUT - it is not as fast draining as advertised. They mix it with sifted or rinsed perlite or pumice if available, in about 1:1 ratio. Here is photo of such mix from one of our members in Florida, Crenda:

    It should dry up almost completely throughout, not only on the surface, before watering again. It helps to use a bamboo skewer to test the mix deep inside of pot - at least 3/4 deep.