Don't mollycoddle your succulents - only tough love makes them bloom gorgeously

When growing succulents, you must not "mollycoddle" them - only succulents that have been "put through the wringer" can bloom gorgeously!

I think many succulent growers among you right now must be raising your succulents like "treasures", right? Afraid they'll be blown over by the wind, afraid they'll be drenched by the rain, and even when it comes to sunbathing you constantly worry the little succulents will get sunburned... But how can a succulent that has never weathered "wind and rain" ever bloom tenaciously?

The expert's advice: Succulents are adorable for sure, but they are still plants, and they too must endure wind and rain before they can see the rainbow. After growing succulents for a long time, you'll find that all your meticulous care not only fails to make them shine, but actually causes all sorts of problems. It's the succulents that aren't "mollycoddled" and have been "put through the wringer" that always manage to bloom beautifully when the time comes.

Succulents look delicate and fragile, so people are extra careful when caring for them - afraid they'll get sunburned in summer, afraid they'll freeze in winter, afraid birds will get them when grown outdoors, and even when away from home for a few days they worry the plants will dry out and die from lack of water. Actually, we don't need to worry at all - once you truly understand succulents, you'll find these little plants are far tougher than we imagine.

So in the process of caring for them, what we need to do is apply tough love when the time is right. To give a simple example, if we want succulents to grow plump and chubby, then we have to be ruthless and control their water.

Let succulents feel a sense of water scarcity, so that they will consciously use their leaves to store water. The more water they store, the fuller and rounder the leaves become.

Another example: if we want succulents to develop color, we need to let them experience a large temperature difference. Only after truly feeling cold and warmth will the succulents' colors become extraordinarily vivid.

Fellow succulent growers all know that summer and winter are the two hardest seasons for succulents, so whenever these seasons come, growers always move them back indoors early. Actually, succulents that have always been grown outdoors only need to be sheltered during the hottest and coldest few days, and they are tougher and easier to bring into good condition than those kept in a greenhouse.

You don't need to worry about succulents - they can take the "tough love". The best proof is succulents grown in thumb pots: after controlled cultivation, although they are a bit smaller in size than ordinary succulents, their condition is surprisingly good.

So the expert isn't wrong - when growing succulents, sometimes you just have to harden your heart, not mollycoddle them, and apply a bit of tough love at the right time, and you may well get a different kind of "harvest".