Hi! I am a succulent newbie, but LOVE them! I am an outdoor flower gardener with a lot of experience in that area, however I get impatient in the Central Indiana winter and started to fill my "hands in the dirt" need with these awesome plants. I ordered a number of plugs a month or two ago and they were wonderful! Now, I think I might have overwatered them, as the ones I planted and were put in a spot of plant neglecting are doing fine. These, I found were too wet and the bottom leaves were curled under very tightly in a little ball. They also lost their color (all light green now). I have transplanted them in dryer soil, but am afraid I will lose these babies Is there anything I can do to save them at this point? I'm sorry I don't have a pic rt. now, but it would look just like the first one Jookieblue provided. I DO have grow lights for seed prop. The succulents are currently by a sliding glass door that gets a lot of morning sun (when it isn't snowing or cloudy-majority of the time right now). Any help appreciated!

Hi rinkmom, glad you found your way to ATP.
Would love to see photos when you get a chance.
You did the right thing by replanting the wet ones. Neglect and cold temps are great for them this time of year, especially with the type of weather you are experiencing.
The curled leaves are from to much water and not enough light. You shouldn't lose them, they should grow out of this condition as soon as you can get them planted outdoors. You should see some improvement with just putting them in dryer soil.
Give them as much light as you can, and a cold window if you have one. The combination of more light and a colder environment should help them.

Oh no!! Listen to Lynn she knows what she's talking about for sure. My Hen was just to far gone by the time I discovered this lovely forum. We tried to save her but didn't work out so well. Mine went from very dry conditions to getting root rot after I transplanted her into a new pot with new dirt. Apparently that dirt just held to much moisture. Make sure you have a well draining pot with lots of holes so the water will run out when you do end up watering it again. If and when I do water mine I just lightly mist the top of the soil and they are all looking great! Give Lynn some pic's when you can and that will help out a lot and

with what Jackie said about misting the plants.

Rinkmom! You're in good hands! You are saying succulents, but are these cold hardy, or tender? Do you know? Some examples of tender would be Jade tree, or echeveria, graptopelatum. Sempervivum, and many sedums are cold hardy, and need to be near a cold window like Lynn suggested, but if your plants are not cold hardy, they need warmth, and dry!! Cheers and do update us, we're curious how things work out!

Hi RinkMom

Semps need to be outdoors. If indoors for the winter, stick them in a cold garage and don't water them, unless you have a cold window with very bright light. These are very tough plants that thrive on neglect and perish when you fuss with them too much.

This is off topic but still related to care. Does it set the plants back to move them during certain periods? I put mine in a temp location in the ground because I didn't want to keep them in pots, so is there a "safe" or "unsafe" period for moving them to other beds? For example, should I NOT move them in spring after they start forming chicks, or is that not an issue?

OHHHHH good question Patty! I would like to know the answer to that one as well.

Patty said:This is off topic but still related to care. Does it set the plants back to move them during certain periods? I put mine in a temp location in the ground because I didn't want to keep them in pots, so is there a "safe" or "unsafe" period for moving them to other beds? For example, should I NOT move them in spring after they start forming chicks, or is that not an issue?

Wonderful question and one I have too.

Do I transplant now or wait????? If I do will it set back the chick growing season??

I have transplanted mine at all times of the year. I think drought season is the most difficult time, next is fall.
I have had wonderful results with late winter, spring and early summer transplanting. With or without chicks attached. They are actively growing in the spring so recover very quickly.

I just found this forum and of course have a question.
Rinkmom, when you say leaves curling under do you mean some of the bottom leaves are pointing down & the ones in the middle up? I have a semp or two that look like this,i thought it was just the way that particular plant grew.If it ever stops raining (been 3 days) I will take a picture of what i mean to see if it's the same thing Rinkmom is talking about in case i have them in to much shade.

Are you out there rinkmom? How are your plants doing?

Hi! My Sempervivum has leaves that are curled downward as well. I thought it was because I hadn't watered it enough. When I stuck my finger in the side of the pot it was dry. I also wanted to separate on of the chicks so I repotted it and watered it thoroughly. Now I'm worried that may have been a bad move...

Hi Succulentnewbie. to the Sempervivum forum, so glad you found your way here. Is it possible to put your sempervivum outside? What is your weather like right now? What are you growing conditions like. Do you mind if I ask what part of the country/world you life in? This information can help in advising you on how to care for your semp.
Great photo, nice and sharp and clear.

Hi Lynn! Thank you for the warm welcome and for the response. I've read the previous posts on this but still worried. I live in Eau Claire WI. There is about 2 feet of snow on the ground (with still more coming down) so no ground in sight to plant them. I've since took them out of their pot, removed as much soil from around the roots and left them on a tray near my sun room where it's a little cooler. I was going to move them out to my sun room directly but was afraid the sudden change in temp (30^)might hurt them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated😊

More light and cooler temps would be helpful. They won't really recover until they can go outside. But they should do fine with less water, more light and cooler temps. That will put them into a somewhat dormant state until your spring arrives.

You live in @goldfinch4 country. She is has a wealth of information growing semps in your area.

Hi @Succulentnewbie and welcome to our forum! I'm also a Wisconsinite (Ripon)!

Lynn's advice is spot-on. They're really outdoor plants and will survive our winters fine being outside as long as they have good drainage. What I would do is repot them, but make sure you put some type of grit in your potting soil. I mix chicken grit in mine. Then if you have a window that gets morning sun, it would help to place them on that windowsill. That way they'll get good sun and also benefit from the cooler temperature by the window. In the spring slowly acclimate them to the outdoors.

Hi Chris! Thanks for the welcome! Glad to have a fellow Wisconsinite to bolster my confidence that I can actually grow these wonderful plants here. I will repot my gold nugget as you suggest and not leave it bare root and in a cold garage as I have read on another thread. Can you suggest a place to get chicken grit? I'm not familiar with it. I've read that pumice can also be used? Is one more beneficial than the other. I've been using Schultz Cactus Palm and Citrus Potting Mix for my succulents but it seems to hold too much water.

I get my chicken grit at a local feed store, but you can also get it at some Fleet Farm, Menards, Walmart, etc. locations. Here is a picture of exactly what I use. It comes in a 50 lb. bag.


Yes, pumice can be used too, although I've never used it. I've never tried any type of bagged potting mix specifically for succulents either.

Don't be discouraged if you don't see any changes in your plant while it's in the house. Your main goal is to keep it alive until you can get it outside. Then you'll see changes. I would give it a bit of water every week - with our furnaces running all the time plants dry out in a hurry.