How to Handle Sunburned Succulents in Summer? A Detailed Guide to Practical Methods

The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and you need a sun umbrella as soon as you step outside. For succulents, sun protection is equally important. Add to that the rainy summers, and one careless moment can easily cause succulents to turn black.

In summer, you should provide appropriate shade to avoid scorching sun exposure, but succulent growers often do not care for their plants according to their habits, or even carelessly leave succulents in direct sunlight, causing the leaves to become sunburned and scorched.

Succulent sunburn often occurs when the potting soil is relatively dry; the injured spots face the same direction; the upper leaves are injured more; and damage to old leaves is greater than to new leaves.

Preventive measures:

1. Avoid suddenly moving plants from a location with weaker sunlight to one in strong light.

2. After sunburn, it does not necessarily show on the plant's leaves the same day; various scars may appear over the following week.

3. For plants that are already sunburned, move them to a location with relatively weaker sunlight and wait for the plant to recover on its own. Maintain normal care and ventilation.

4. If you like growing them outdoors, even if sunburn occurs you can leave them where they are and keep the current environment; the plant will gradually toughen itself up to adapt to this sunlight intensity. In daily care, water a little less to avoid rot caused by water evaporation. This method is not suitable for seedlings, as there is a certain chance they will die from sun exposure.

Handling after sunburn:

If you find that a plant has been sunburned, you can move it to a ventilated, shaded place to let it rest, mist it with a little water to increase air humidity, and for those leaf tips that have already become scorched and black, you can simply cut them off. If sun exposure has caused the leaves to turn to mush, then pull off the mushy leaves; for plants that can be propagated by leaf cuttings, you can use the beheading and leaf-cutting method.

Simply put, growing succulents in summer comes down to this: no scorching sun exposure, maintain ventilation, and water less. What other good methods do you have? Feel free to leave a comment in the comments section!