What to Do About Leggy Succulents on the Balcony? Here's How to Fix and Prevent It

For succulents, leggy growth (etiolation) is simply understood as an abnormal growth phenomenon in which the plant departs from its original shape, with one part starting to grow wildly and the overall appearance changing considerably compared with before (fruit trees need regular pruning for this very reason, otherwise they consume a lot of nutrients yet fail to bear fruit in autumn). In succulents, leggy growth mainly shows as stems growing taller, or flower stalks emerging, or a sudden change in color - all of these are collectively called leggy growth.

Should you keep watering a succulent that has gone leggy? No, you cannot water it; you must restrict water. The main cause of succulents growing taller is insufficient light; a secondary cause is too much water. Please note that when light is sufficient, even if you give too much water, the plant will not grow taller (become leggy).

The core solution to this problem is to give the succulent more light. If you cannot increase light for the succulent in the short term (for example, during a stretch of overcast and rainy days), control your hands and stop watering the succulent. But when increasing light, please proceed gradually and increase it slowly, because the succulent is weak at this point, and too much light all at once may directly sunburn and rot the plant.

Although doing this will not make the part of the succulent that has already grown taller shrink back down, with sufficient light and the passage of time, its shape will gradually become more beautiful. If you are too impatient to wait, you can also consider cutting off the leggy part; usually the mother stem will grow many new shoots. Watering less and giving more sun is important. You can remove the leggy leaves at the lower end, and then it is just a matter of time - over time the stem will become woody and turn into an old stem.

Wild growth of stems and leaves: when this happens, please do not be too sad, because at least it proves your succulent is growing healthily. If you plan to grow it entirely indoors, try not to buy succulents grown outdoors; succulents grown from leaf cuttings in a greenhouse will suit you better, because although a greenhouse has excellent light, it also lacks ultraviolet rays, so greenhouse succulents suffer less from ultraviolet imbalance.

In addition, opening the windows often can also effectively alleviate this problem, because scattered ultraviolet rays will come in through the window (one window is enough to double the ultraviolet levels indoors), making the succulent think there is enough sunlight. The best place to put a succulent is in a ventilated spot with scattered light, next to a window.

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