What to do when succulents get leggy? Use this 1 trick and their looks will skyrocket

If you want a leggy succulent to become beautiful, you can do this!

Leggy succulents are something we often run into during care, especially when there are no outdoor growing conditions and they can only be kept indoors. Without enough light, the once plump and chubby succulent becomes very thin and weak, the stem stretches out, and the spacing between the leaves also increases, making it look very ugly.

If you want a leggy succulent to look better, the usual approach is to behead it, and then many side shoots will sprout from the stem, turning it into a multi-headed clustered succulent. But beheading requires some skill; otherwise, if the wound is not handled properly after beheading, the succulent may also be injured or killed.

Besides beheading, there is another method that can also make a leggy succulent beautiful, and that is to let it bask in the sun to speed up the lignification of the stem. In a few months, the leggy succulent will become an old stump. Compared with an old stump formed by normal growth, its resistance will be a bit weaker, but after being cared for over a long time, the resistance will slowly increase.

It is summer now, and the sunlight is very strong. If you want to move indoor succulents outside to bask in the sun, it is best to wait until autumn. Moving them out now can easily sunburn or kill them. If they have already been in the sun for a while, you should now give them shade. The sunlight from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. must all be blocked, and only after 4 p.m. should the shade net be removed.

When letting succulents bask in the sun, we also need to increase the proportion of granular soil in the potting mix, so that after watering, the water can drain out quickly and the soil will not remain wet for a long time. This also helps the succulent grow into an old stump. During the growing season, the lower leaves will quickly dry up and fall off, and the speed of forming a succulent old stump will be very fast.

Generally speaking, to naturally grow a succulent into an old stump takes at least one or two years, but if it is a leggy succulent being grown into an old stump, five or six months is enough. During this period, do not water too frequently. Water thoroughly only after the soil has dried out, and increase ventilation after watering. Before watering, check the weather forecast; when it is going to rain, do not water the succulent.

Many people really like old stumps, but growing one yourself takes a lot of time, so many succulent lovers just buy old stumps directly. When buying old stumps, we should pay attention: generally, old stumps formed from leggy succulents are not priced too high. If we come across a relatively expensive one that is also a leggy succulent, we should consider it carefully.

Once we have enough experience, growing a succulent into an old stump is actually very simple. Do you like old stumps? Have you grown one yourself? Have you ever grown a leggy succulent into an old stump, and how long did it take?