I moved house about 3 weeks ago, my new room gets significantly more sunlight than my last one.

Put my money plant on my window which gets hot direct sunlight for hours each day. Noticed that it started going soft on the bottom and middle leaves so i've moved it to the window that doesn't get any direct sun. Noticed that my optunia went floppy a few days before i noticed the money plant going soft so I moved it and it is getting back to normal.

Just wondering if too much sun can do this to plants or if there could be something else wrong with it - there are no marks on it to indicate fungal infection and a leaf came off it in the first week or so (mechanical damage in the move, I just let it die off) and that looked normal.

Cheers!

Usually, plants takes awhile to adjust to the changes in its growing environment.

Then the window location/orientation varies..north side is weaker, east is morning sun, which many plants love, west and south facing orientation has stronger light intensities, and especially as we head into Spring all the way to mid Fall, light duration becomes stronger and longer. These locations mostly enjoyed by many succulents. That being said, adjustments to watering and air flow around the plant is also needed.

As to why your opuntia has flopped, it can be a combination of things..it may be slow to adjust, or it may actually need some water now, or did you water it too much than it needs..

I do not know what plant it is that you call money plant since I do not see any picture. So if you can, take a photo so we can understand better what type of plant that is.

Too much sun would result in sunburn, which manifests as you'd expect, brown, necrotic patches where the sun was too intense.

If you don't see burned spots and you've been watering on a schedule, the flopping is likely thirst. The increased exposure has probably increased moisture usage.

Agree, adding a pic would help.

Added photos - thank you!

I water once a month - water goes straight through because of how dry the soil is so I give it 20 mins then water again and let it drain.

It's floppy and slightly squishy on lower, thicker leaves. Optunia was the same, now firming up again in window with no direct light.

Money plant / jade plant

Ahhh okay money plant = Crassula ovata

If the leaves were squishy to the tough as I'm not very firm with turgor pressure it sounds like it didn't have enough moisture when it was in much more light. it probably dried out much faster than the previous location. The sunlight didn't cause it to do that as much the lack of moisture in combination with faster uptake due to stronger light affecting growth. It would be safe to move back to stronger light you might just need to water it more often.

Lift the pot up when it's watered and be mindful of the weight. Light it up again when it's drying to see how light it is to see if it needs to be watered.

Ah okay thank you, like it was just taking more moisture from the soil than it was used to because of the change in environment?

I'm just wary of watering it incase the squishiness is being caused by rot??

LeftLion10 said: Ah okay thank you, like it was just taking more moisture from the soil than it was used to because of the change in environment?

I'm just wary of watering it incase the squishiness is being caused by rot??

Yes the increase in sunlight increased water uptake from the soil as photosynthesis and respiration rates increased as well as potentially direct sunlight physically drying the soil out.


The leaves look healthy, I see no evidence of a fungal issue/overwatering, no edema either. But on that subject of watering, what is your soil mix comprised of in percentages of different parts?

An easy way to solve as issue if you are worried about overwatering indoors is to change to a very fast draining soil mix with high percentages of aggregate to lower percentage of organic material that holds moisture. We have a sticky thread dedicated to this. But to give you an example I never include more than 25% organic material. And frequently only go to about 10-% peat at all.

Perfect, thank you!

I'll water them tonight.

I use this soil:https://hortology.co.uk/products/cactus-succulent-focus-repotting-mix?variant=507237302288¤cy=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google+shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8_qRBhCXARIsAE2AtRaEWmIcNpX0qzwwHSVlWNGJCE8PL5wkPv1qMuIJVzFMptDbCvKBgN4aAoZGEALw_wcB

Specially designed for cacti and succulents so it drains!

For what it's worth, to add to the comments above, it is basically impossible to sunburn your plant indoors unless it spends a lot of time in deep shade first. Indoor sun lacks most of the UV component in outdoor sun. As a general rule, and especially for the plant in question, the more natural light, the better indoors.

Baja_Costero said: For what it's worth, to add to the comments above, it is basically impossible to sunburn your plant indoors unless it spends a lot of time in deep shade first. Indoor sun lacks most of the UV component in outdoor sun. As a general rule, and especially for the plant in question, the more natural light, the better indoors.

Oh right! I noticed that a couple of my other plants on that window cill were turning red which I thought was sunstress - was I right to move them or can they stay in the direct light? A sedum and a echeveria.

So the squishy / droppy plants (money and optunia) just need to be watered more regularly but can stay on that cill?

None of those indoor succulents will be hurt by moving them close to the window, unless that space is somehow cold or hot or something. The more light, the better for all of them.