Your succulent is growing tall? Instead of looking succulent, it looks like some kind of normal plant. Well, the same thing happened to me a year ago.
When this happens its stem becomes leggy and stretches out. Leaves become unhealthy and lighter in color than usual. There are no new leaves in the space of the plant resulting unhealthy bald-looking plant.
Almost all of the indoor gardener faces the same problem, especially beginners. In winter we find no way to stop it. Every succulent becomes more or less leggy.
Here in this blog, I will talk about how I fixed this problem and how you can do it too.
Here you will know
- Why your succulent is growing tall
- How to fix this
So let’s begin with the topic
Why your succulent is growing tall
We sometimes forget to take it to sunlight or we don’t exactly give much care about light as a beginner. Sometimes we do want to take it outside but we can’t because succulents can’t tolerate frost. It will cause more harm than etiolation. That’s why we can’t take them outside even if we want to.
Typically a succulent grows tall and leggy when it gets insufficient light. It is called etiolation. Taking it to sunlight and giving proper attention might fix this problem but it can’t be reversed to the shape it was before. Here is how to fix this in just a few steps.
How to fix this
Increasing sunlight exposure
- Succulents genetically love to thrive in bright under direct sunlight for more or less 6 hours a day and the rest under bright shade depending on the species. So place them in that location.
- If you can’t manage direct sunlight then use grow lights. Keep a close eye and don’t overuse it.
- When they don’t get enough light they try to go to the light source stretching the light source. Their stems become weak.
Pruning and propagation
- To correct leggy growth you can prune them. Take a clean sharp scissor and cut the top where it did not start stretching.
- Let the cutting dry for 2 days then plant well drain soil. Then care for it as usual.
- Cut the remaining plant from the top You can use it to make several plants but I won’t recommend unhealthy cutting for propagation. You can read this for more about cutting and propagation.
Watering and soil
- Overwatering is another problem for succulents. Water helps them to grow tall and weak.
- Use well-draining soil. Don’t water until the soil dries out.
Remember how much water, light, and proper maintenance depends on your weather and which species you own.