What to Do About Leggy Succulents? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Solutions

Leggy growth in succulents is one of the most common problems that occur when growing succulents, and it is extremely harmful to their growth and development. To prevent succulents from becoming leggy, you first need to understand the causes of legginess. So what causes succulents to become leggy? And how should you fix it? Let's take a look.

1. Insufficient light

The environment where succulents are grown must have sufficient light. Insufficient light is a main cause of leggy growth in succulents. The ultraviolet rays in sunlight can inhibit auxin, and this effect is directly proportional to light intensity and duration. That is, the greater the light intensity and the longer the duration, the greater the inhibition of auxin. So when light is insufficient, succulents become leggy very easily.

Solution: Make sure succulents get enough hours of light. In summer, when the light is too strong, succulents may get sunburned or even die from sun exposure, so we have no choice but to shade them, which can also cause leggy growth. When this happens, reduce watering, and the succulents will not become too leggy. Once the light is suitable, take them out to get some sun and they will recover.

2. Overwatering

Many people like to keep succulents on the balcony, so when it rains they inevitably get rained on. This is very helpful for replenishing moisture in succulents, but if succulents are left outside in the rain for a long time and there is too much water, when the succulents cannot absorb it all, they increase their growth to release it, resulting in leggy growth. The same principle applies when watering too much.

Solution: Letting succulents get a moderate amount of rain on rainy days can promote their growth. When growing them indoors, reduce watering as much as possible, because on rainy days the air humidity is also relatively high, and succulents need relatively less water.

3. Overfertilizing

Many people generally use compound fertilizer when growing succulents, but most compound fertilizers today are necessarily nitrogen-based. However, applying too much nitrogen fertilizer makes succulent cells divide too quickly. If photosynthesis cannot keep up, the succulents will become leggy, so nitrogen fertilizer should not be applied excessively when fertilizing.

Solution: For fertilizing, it is generally recommended to use an organic liquid fertilizer specially made for succulents, diluted 500 times and poured at the roots, once every half month. This can prevent leggy growth and also increase root division in succulents.

  The above is an introduction to what to do about leggy succulents. We hope it helps you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.