Echeveria
Echeveria spp.
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Full sun and rare deep drinks; stretching means it wants more light.
🍂 Fall
Stress colors peak with cool nights; reduce water.
❄️ Winter
Nearly dry rest: water about monthly, keep it cool and bright.
🌱 Spring
Growth restarts, so give it more sun and a careful increase in water.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Bright light with 4–6 hrs direct sun; stretches pale without it
- Ideal PPFD
- 400–800 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 6–12 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Soak-and-dry, sparingly: drench, then wait until leaves just begin to soften/wrinkle. Water the soil, never the rosette.
- Fertilizer
- Cactus feed at ¼ strength, 2–3× in spring–summer.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Gritty succulent mix (50%+ mineral); pH 6.0
- Humidity
- Low; dry air preferred
- Temperature
- 65–80 °F; protect below 45 °F
- Mature size
- 4–12 in rosettes
- Repotting
- Every 2 yrs; shallow pots suit them
- Propagation
- Single leaves laid on dry soil sprout babies; beheading restarts leggy plants.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Translucent, mushy, easily-dropping leaves
- Underwatering signs
- Wrinkled, deflated, rubbery leaves
- Common pests
- Mealybugs tucked in the rosette; fungus gnats in wet soil
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Echeveria looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Stretching upward with gaps between leaves
Likely cause
Not enough light — the classic succulent stretch.
What to do
Move it to your sunniest window. Behead and re-root the rosette if it is badly stretched.
Mushy, translucent lower leaves
Likely cause
Overwatering. Echeverias rot quickly.
What to do
Let the soil dry out completely, use gritty mix, and water at the soil, never into the rosette.
Wrinkled, thin leaves
Likely cause
Genuinely thirsty — unusual, but they do run dry in summer.
What to do
Soak thoroughly, let it drain, and leave it until the soil is dry again.
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