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Jun 19, 2023 8:50 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: UrbanWild
Kentucky (Zone 6b)
Kentucky - Plant Hardiness Zone 7a
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Too much water.... Dead.
To little water... Dead.
Not uncommon, right?

I've also had stuff get severely sunburned and die. I lose several to bring incarcerated in the dungeon each winter.

All the repotting for the last couple of weeks are soaked. It all started last night And there is no end of rain until at least tomorrow.

That said, I also have very little shade on my lot for to the West/East orientation and the lack of trees. But it's really puzzling to me... Aren't most succulents out in the open and unprotected from harsher afternoon sun? Can anything be done with severe sunburns on succulents? Grumbling

Oh, and are there any Echeveria species/varieties more suitable for unprotected sun? If like to have some that also have flowers which are used by hummingbirds. Most nursery labels say full sun when it looks like they mean different sunlight until about 11 am and then shaded from the sun the rest of the time.
Always looking for interesting plants for pollinators and food! Bonus points for highly, and pleasantly scented plants.

"Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit." [โ€œIf you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.โ€] -- Marcus Tullius Cicero in Ad Familiares IX, 4, to Varro. 46 BCE
Last edited by UrbanWild Jun 19, 2023 9:24 AM Icon for preview
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Jun 19, 2023 12:29 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Baja
Baja California (Zone 11b)
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It sounds like your succulents would benefit from overhead protection (like a spot right under the eaves of the house) during these storms. Some people put their plants under a patio table during the worst of the rain. Protection is particularly valuable right after repotting (if you handled/damaged the roots at all during the process), when first starting a rootless cutting, and for certain desert plants that do not tolerate excess moisture well.

To some extent the process of life and death in the container garden is instructive (so it can have value even if plants fail). And over time the true survivors will start to pile up (survival of the fittest). This selection may be painful but whoever makes it through is more likely to withstand the next challenge.

Severe sunburn is irreversible, generally, but any plant that survives will put out normal growth afterwards.

Stress colors and sun shock are reversible, up to a point. Experience will teach you where the limit is.

Walls or even large objects will tend to give you at least some shade (though not much right now). Try to engineer at least a small area where there is overhead protection. This will give you a spot to begin toughening up new plants, and it will give baby plants and rootless cuttings a bit of relief.

Most succulents are quite sun tolerant in our mild climate, once they are a good size. Young plants or rootless plants much less so. Remember that plants at the store are generally being kept in very low light, and spent their time before that in a greenhouse or under shade cloth. The economics of plant growing (bigger faster) more or less dictate that. After spending their whole lives being pampered it is a bit of a shock when they encounter direct sun for the first time. It takes weeks of gradual stepwise increases in light for most new succulents to be properly tolerant of midday sun, at least without too much of a hiccup on the way.

I killed lots of plants with too much sun before I started giving more protection up front, so I've been there. Smiling
Last edited by Baja_Costero Jun 19, 2023 4:59 PM Icon for preview
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Jun 19, 2023 1:10 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Baja
Baja California (Zone 11b)
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UrbanWild said: Oh, and are there any Echeveria species/varieties more suitable for unprotected sun?


In my experience all whitish (glaucous, powder-dusted) Echeverias are fully sun tolerant. The powder acts like a sort of sunscreen, I think.
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Jun 19, 2023 2:01 PM CST
Name: Tiffany purpleinopp
Opp, AL @--`--,----- ๐ŸŒน (Zone 8b)
Region: United States of America Houseplants Overwinters Tender Plants Indoors Garden Sages Plant Identifier Garden Ideas: Level 2
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Your journey sounds so similar to mine when I started with succulents. Yes, they burn. It can be difficult to find the perfect spot for each one if you don't have a range of exposure choices.

My experience with the store-bought roots in store soil has been 99% mortality. Propagations do well but those original roots are always a dud for me.

Yes, some are more tolerant of lots of rain. But the soil needs to be right or they will just rot. I have the best results with ground dirt and clay pots. Or just putting them in the ground as landscaping until it gets too cold.

These are plants that I don't protect from rain, the past few years, some longer.
Fianarantsoa Aloe (Aloe bellatula)
Tiger Tooth Aloe (Aloe juvenna)
Soap Aloe (Aloe maculata)
Starfish Cactus (Ceropegia grandiflora)
Starfish Plant (Ceropegia gigantea)
Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii)
Devil's Backbone (Euphorbia tithymaloides)
Devil's Backbone (Euphorbia tithymaloides 'Jurassic Park')
Gasteria 'Little Warty'
Dancing Bones Cactus (Hatiora salicornioides)
Haworthiopsis attenuata var. radula
Sedum (Hylotelephium SunSparklerยฎ Firecracker)
Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe 'Houghtonii')
Kalanchoe 'Katapifa'
Kalanchoe 'Maroon Krinkle'
Beauverd's Widow's Thrill (Kalanchoe beauverdii)
Felt Plant (Kalanchoe beharensis 'Fang')
Florist Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana)
Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe delagoensis)
Lavender Scallops (Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi)
Silver Teaspoons (Kalanchoe hildebrandtii)
Flapjacks (Kalanchoe luciae)
Marnier's Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe marnieriana)
Cathedral Bells (Kalanchoe pinnata)
Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe rosei)
Scarlet Kleinia (Kleinia fulgens)
Trailing Jade (Kleinia petraea)
Silver Squill (Ledebouria socialis)
Cacto-Correia (Lepismium cruciforme)
Some kind of Opuntia.
Red Log (Peperomia verticillata)
Petrosedum rupestre
Jenny's Stonecrop (Petrosedum rupestre subsp. rupestre 'Blue Spruce')
Wingpod Purslane (Portulaca umbraticola)
Mistletoe Cactus (Rhipsalis) I have about 5 kinds.
Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera truncata)
Golden Sedum (Sedum adolphi)
Shrubby Stonecrop (Sedum dendroideum subsp. praealtum)
Sedum (Sedum kimnachii)
Jelly Bean (Sedum x rubrotinctum)
Graptosedum (XGraptosedum 'Bronze')
Graptosedum (XGraptosedum 'California Sunset')
Graptosedum (XGraptosedum 'Francesco Baldi')
Sedeveria (XSedeveria 'Blue Burrito')
Sedeveria (XSedeveria 'Jet Beads')
XSedeveria 'Pink Granite'
Sedeveria (XSedeveria Sorrentoโ„ข)
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Jun 20, 2023 7:59 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: UrbanWild
Kentucky (Zone 6b)
Kentucky - Plant Hardiness Zone 7a
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Birds Vegetable Grower Spiders! Organic Gardener Native Plants and Wildflowers
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I've been trying to repot all new to me succulents regardless of how I acquired them. I take cactus/succulent mix and add 30-50% perlite after reading here and elsewhere about people doing the same. The only ones that don't get repotted soon after I get home are those which have been watered and anything in flower. Those which have been watered are usually removed from the plastic pot and left to dry. Dry soil seems easier to remove than wet.
Always looking for interesting plants for pollinators and food! Bonus points for highly, and pleasantly scented plants.

"Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit." [โ€œIf you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.โ€] -- Marcus Tullius Cicero in Ad Familiares IX, 4, to Varro. 46 BCE
Last edited by UrbanWild Jun 20, 2023 9:44 AM Icon for preview
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Jun 20, 2023 12:55 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Baja
Baja California (Zone 11b)
Cactus and Succulents Seed Starter Xeriscape Container Gardener Hummingbirder Native Plants and Wildflowers
Garden Photography Region: Mexico Plant Identifier Forum moderator Plant Database Moderator Garden Ideas: Level 2
I try to repot when the soil is mostly dry. Moistness and broken roots are a risky combination.

Timing can matter. In theory, I use the exercise as an opportunity to check whether my assumptions about watering are accurate. So I wait until shortly before I would water, take a close look (and feel), and adjust the watering interval as necessary (which for simplicity in my weekly watering scheme would be a 2-fold adjustment in the interval for special cases).

I would recommend a mix of equal parts rock (eg. perlite, pumice) and potting soil (mostly organic), as a starting place for further adjustment. It's a good idea to try to be consistent about the soil you use (with exceptions for special cases) because that will simplify the watering.
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Jun 23, 2023 9:37 AM CST
Name: Stefan
SE europe(balkans) (Zone 6b)
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Just get good soil. Usually the cheapest way is getting gritty pea gravel(about the diameter of a human finger or less). Maybe add perlite and a bit of regular soil. Use porous mineral material(brick, pumice, leca, baked clay etc). Then place them in adequate light. Watering problems, as well as pests, stem from bad soil. Its not foolproof, but it was enough for me.
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