How Succulents Can Recover Their Beauty After Sunburn

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Images and text: Tai Tu Rou Tai Duo

Ruby

Auntie has a new development again. She told me that the succulents she had just moved outside for open-air growing a few days ago had developed sunburn spots, and asked me what to do. Friends in the north who grow succulents outdoors, take note: after a winter of indoor care, succulent leaves are relatively tender and especially prone to sunburn. It is the same principle as flowers in a greenhouse suddenly being moved outdoors and easily dying from the sun. (Flowers in a greenhouse are all very delicate.)

A sunburned Graptopetalum amethystinum

A sunburned peach egg (Graptopetalum amethystinum)

If succulents develop sunburn after being moved outdoors, do not be afraid. Here are two options for reference~

Option one: Do not put up a shade cloth. The secret is one word - endure... (For succulents to be beautiful from spring to late autumn, go all out...)

Mild sunburn can be left untreated. Healthy, strong succulents can slowly adjust and adapt to the new environment on their own, and newly grown leaves will not show signs of sunburn.

A mildly sunburned Echeveria 'Dayexiuyan'

A mildly sunburned Echeveria 'Opalina'

A mildly sunburned Echeveria 'Fun Queen'

However, severe sunburn cannot be ignored. Severely sunburned plants should be moved back indoors for conditioning and care! (Especially small seedlings. If small seedlings suffer severe sunburn, they can easily die, so it is still recommended to grow small seedlings indoors, and only consider open-air growing once they have grown larger and become tough.)

If the central growing point in the middle of the leaf rosette is sunburned, it needs to be cut out manually to stimulate new shoots again, otherwise it will never grow well - for example, the severely sunburned Sedum adolphi below~

Sedum adolphi with the central growing point sunburned

Severely sunburned Graptoveria 'Red Grape'

Friendly reminder: Sunburn is an irreversible process. Leaves that have already been sunburned can only be replaced through metabolism and cannot recover~

In cases of severe sunburn like the one below, do not manually pull off the leaves that have been dried out by the sun at the bottom, because the leaves still contain a little moisture that can be used for the plant to recover and adjust. Once the leaves are completely dried out, they will fall off on their own.

A severely sunburned Pachyphytum 'Star Beauty'

Option two: Put up a shade cloth (50% shade is enough), but the environment must allow it (a sufficiently large and safe space to install the shade cloth). Under the protection of the shade cloth, newly grown succulent leaves will not show signs of sunburn either. But the downside is: it does not look as neat and beautiful~

Auntie says she is a person with obsessive-compulsive tendencies and does not want to see a black shade cloth when looking out the window, so she chose option one.

The view from Auntie's window

Unsunburned Echeveria 'Ice Berry'

Peach egg (Graptopetalum amethystinum)

Ps: When first moved outdoors for open-air growing, the open-air environment generally has good ventilation, and the succulents may show signs of water shortage such as wrinkled leaves within a few days. Just replenish water in time. Spring is the growing season for succulents, so boldly water them!

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