You're so right about those blurple lights, YUK! Not exactly mood lighting in your living room. I use the Durolux full spectrum lights. They keep my succulents colorful and full. Thanks for posting.
I'm also in TX just got a wire rack and lights for my plants but after watching this video I feel like I need to get another rack and more lights so I can stick my bigger plants in my garage and all my props in my room.
Andrea, as usual, another great video and message and strategies! Dispite box stores selling them, many plants are are not native and will not survive in winter and scorching summer! Down to 40F now so I'm moving some caudiciforms, Stapelias, Euphorbias, adeniums! Please know your plant ID and don't be one of those people that say, " Only the strong survive. I'm not going to protect them." ❤😂🌵🌺🌱🪴
Thank you for your video! I live in zone 6b and usually bring my plants inside when temps consistently drop between 40-50 degrees. Over the past two weeks I’ve been repotting my plants in prep to bring them all inside. I repot in order to use fresh soil to eliminate bringing bugs into the house, and I also use very little soil and mostly gritty mix while they’re inside which helps with maintaining the low moisture for over-wintering. I have grow lights and shelving units indoors. Every year I seem to have to buy more grow lights and more shelves. Your video was very helpful; especially with tips on when to start moving and reminders to stop fertilizing and cut back on the water. My house is fairly warm and there is no garage or basement, so it’s difficult keeping the plants dormant. I will see how it goes with cutting back on the water.
Stop watering and don't let them get below 40F - some will be pickier but others will be just fine! The main concern is wet soil and cold sucs. And tropical sucs like Aloes, Kalanchoes, Euphorbias, and mesembs are the first to suffer. It's a learning process to figure out who to worry about first and who can handle the cold 🙏
As always....Thank you, thank You! Love when a new video of yours pops up! I also really freaking love all the creatures in your yard! Sheesh, I want little lizard friends like You!!! Lol
I've spent the morning making protective covers, last year's were good but I have a better design this year. I have to get some aloes, echeverias and haworthia through a UK winter. Oh and loads of semps but that's quite easy. Bit nervous about the others though. The survived it last winter, so fingers crossed.
Best bet is to put them up next to your house where it's warmer and protected from the north wind - here's a vid on protecting outdoor sucs from the cold :) ruclips.net/video/YWkS2l__mfo/видео.html
thanks for sharing this informative video. I totally agree with investing in good grow lights to protect our investment on these succulents. I started off with bulbs but had to upgrade to t5s as my collection grew. I love them!😊
Good stuff! You will love a nice grow light fixture - definitely go for a natural white! I'm linking to my playlist on light/lights 🙏 ruclips.net/video/ucB31pMa5ek/видео.html
I need help what do I do bc I have a huge north face window and a small west that prob fits 2 plants and a south that prob fits 5 plants thoughts??? I have a frost blanket ??
I live in the North of England and at the moment it is freezing. My succulents are in the garage under 6 T5 grow lights for 12 hours. The pots are on trays with big heating pads underneath. I find it keeps my plants warm in freezing weather with the addition of fleece overnight. The pads are propagation heating pads. Hope it helps.
Thanks Mari! I'm so glad it's not often that cold here (like less than a month all year, thank goodness!!!) and I know a lot of other folks in different climates who this will be very helpful to 💚🙏
Thank you so much for your knowledge. Will your hard cover book be coming out? I have been waiting because I do not have a computer right now. I am from Minnesota so I have had my SUV’s and cacti in for a couple weeks. I have 38 large pots in my living room lol. Last year that’s all I had. Now I have plant shelves in my dining room and In my downstairs living room. Take care and God Bless.
Hi Linda! I feel for you in Minnesota - that's not an easy climate to keep sucs in lol! I'm hoping the print version will be out by the holidays or spring 2020 at the latest. BUT if you have a mobile phone with a reading app you can read the ebook (and it's also available as a pdf - at sucsforyou.com/shop ) 💜
How far down should i let the temp get to get to get my cactus to go dormant? I'm trying to get my cactus into dormancy so it will bloom in the summer. I have to keep my cactus in the window but I can close it into the curtains to get the temp down.
I live in East Texas. Until this summer I have had a collection of around 10 succulents that I’ve brought inside for the winter. They’ve done OK but it wasn’t the best solution for them. Now I have quite a big collection and it isn’t possible to bring them in the house any longer. One of my cats got really sick with what could’ve been succulent poisoning. He doesn’t usually bother them but the vet can’t rule that out. He is fine now but I need to find another solution to protect my succulents in the winter. I’ve been looking into small greenhouses. Is that a good solution? I really have learned a lot from watching your videos.
I'm sorry about your kitty but glad he's okay! Yes a greenhouse could work as long as it is secure and sturdy. You might also consider a table in the garage with grow lights if that's an option.
Most of my sempervivums seem to be too wet despite having lots of grit in the soil mixture. In the UK. I think I'm going to lose most of them. They did so well in the summer it's such a shame. People tell me they come from the mountains covered in snow but winter isn't even here yet and they're not doing good at all.
It could be a variety that is not as cold hardy and/or the soil being wet causing issues. I'd try unpotting them and putting them in straight grit! Maybe just try a few at first :)
@@SucsForYou Thank you for your reply. I will try. At this point I feel like there is no harm trying since they're so wet anyway. I will test it out and see.
I have a large aloe that I’ve just brought in for the winter. I know they bloom in the winter in places they can live outdoors but is there anyway to encourage it to bloom indoors with constant temps around 72f in a large south facing window?
Hello Andrea, I was wondering if you could make a video about winter growers ? (Or give me some info) I have an aloe erinacea and a few other winter growing plants and it is fairly difficult to find informations about them online. Thank you for all the content you have on here, it is all very helpful and fresh !
@@SucsForYou soo if I understood well, they are opportunistic plants so they will grow if the temperatures are right. Mine are indoor in winter, under a grow light (because I am in Switzerland and it gets real cold), so I should water them a little every month ? Thank you so much for the answer!
Thank you so much for this video. I just spent a small fortune on cacti this past year and desperately want to keep them all alive. I have stopped watering them and brought them all in and put them in a Room that stays around 50ﾟ during the Winter. I put them under grow lights for when it is overcast outside but on Sunny days they do get an hour or 2 of direct sunlight and I keep the lights off until evening. Do you think around 2 hours of direct sunlight A-day is enough or should they have more than this?
I have a zebra type plant, I can't figure out the exact type but it doesn't have the white lines like a zebra but looks just like one otherwise. Anyway over this past summer it grew a super long stem with beautiful tiny white blooms on the ends. It has been like that all summer basically but my question is will that stem fall off in the fall and winter or do I need to remove it? I'm very new to this so I'm sorry if this is a dumb question lol any advice is greatly appreciated ☺️
Not a dumb question at all! You can cut it off but one of my greatest cheap thrills is letting Haworthia flower stalks dry on the plant...once they're perfectly dry, they come out with the most satisfying 'pluck!'
This will be my first winter trying to keep succulents alive in my greenhouse. I am in zone 7B in Georgia. My greenhouse gets a good bit of sun every day but it is not heated. Do you think I should heat it? Maybe with a space heater, or heat mats? I've also read and heard that they should be fine as long as it doesn't get down to freezing consistently for several days. I have brought in my aloes and haworthias already. I'm also thinking about frost covers. I'm just not sure what all to do. Thanks!
Sorry for the late reply Lisa! For some reason I'm not getting email notifications about video comments :/ Yes, get a heater but make sure there's still good ventilation. I'm in the Greenhouse and Gardens group on Facebook and they have a lot of great info for your climate. Stay warm!!! facebook.com/groups/1056414957836051
I live in Houston too. My plants don't have much protection from the rain in my yard did I was considering getting a greenhouse for my backyard. Would that help bring all my succulents thru the winter? I do have a garage too but the only grow lights I have are those ridiculous, nearly totally useless red and blue ones...
When do you start bringing your plants inside here in houston? I have trouble knowing when since our weather here is so off and on cool fronts this season.
Rachel you know that is a trick question lol!! I really don't start worrying until December, but even then it can still be tank top weather! I'd say if you see more than 5 days in a row of 50F or less and it's been raining, that's going to be a danger to your sucs. If you can keep them dry and it looks like it will warm up w/in the week, they should be fine with a few more sensitive exceptions, like Lithops/Mesembs.
Do you have any tips to not ruin the farina/powder when spraying for mealies? I find that isopropyl alcohol always ruins The beautiful farina 😭😩thank you so much for your videos, I always look forward to them
If you're just spraying the diluted alcohol it shouldn't do much damage - otherwise try just water - either submerge the plant fully for several hours or spray it 🙏
I’m so nervous. I lost so many succulents last winter. We can’t afford to keep our house above 65 degrees so our house is COLD. but it’s of course a lot colder outside so they have to be inside. but light and warmth is going to be so hard this winter
I’m worried my plants will get confused! In oregon by the time it’s 50 degrees out there will not be much day light... inside I have grow lights and it’s warm. Should I only do a certain amount of light once inside??
I'd treat them as if they were partially dormant. Different plants will react different ways but definitely stop fertilizing and cut back on watering as much as you think they can tolerate. It will be hard giving them 'too much light' if it's still warm and they're not fully dormant.
I didn’t even know I should bring my succulents in for winter, but that’s for informing us🌱 but what about Southern California? I live there and the weather fluctuates over the winter, there’s some freezing days but also mostly warm ones
I live in a very fickle climate (Reno,NV) where one day it will be blistering hot with no clouds, and the next it could be snowing, how do I know when to bring in my succulents? Most of them I already keep in the house, but do you know any good ways to help them when the weather is so wishy washy? Thank you! Lovely video
Just keep an eye on the forecast and if you don't mind moving them in and back out a lot you can keep them outside until the temps get too low. Or maybe cover them with a frost cloth outdoors if it's not going to be below freezing :)
Hello this is a good video! I need to know too how to recognize frostburns because some of my succs have strange areas that never seen them before... Like yellowish or black ones but aren't squishy... Seems dry... Any idea, someone? Sorry if anyone don't understand 😂 I'm not North american...
You're so right about those blurple lights, YUK! Not exactly mood lighting in your living room. I use the Durolux full spectrum lights. They keep my succulents colorful and full. Thanks for posting.
Good to know! I'll pass the name along 🙏
I'm also in TX just got a wire rack and lights for my plants but after watching this video I feel like I need to get another rack and more lights so I can stick my bigger plants in my garage and all my props in my room.
Always better to have more lights than not enough ;)
I'm so glad I found this video. It's mid September and I'm in WV. I have been so worried about fall and winter. I learned a lot today! Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Andrea, as usual, another great video and message and strategies! Dispite box stores selling them, many plants are are not native and will not survive in winter and scorching summer! Down to 40F now so I'm moving some caudiciforms, Stapelias, Euphorbias, adeniums! Please know your plant ID and don't be one of those people that say, " Only the strong survive. I'm not going to protect them." ❤😂🌵🌺🌱🪴
Thank you for your video! I live in zone 6b and usually bring my plants inside when temps consistently drop between 40-50 degrees. Over the past two weeks I’ve been repotting my plants in prep to bring them all inside. I repot in order to use fresh soil to eliminate bringing bugs into the house, and I also use very little soil and mostly gritty mix while they’re inside which helps with maintaining the low moisture for over-wintering. I have grow lights and shelving units indoors. Every year I seem to have to buy more grow lights and more shelves. Your video was very helpful; especially with tips on when to start moving and reminders to stop fertilizing and cut back on the water. My house is fairly warm and there is no garage or basement, so it’s difficult keeping the plants dormant. I will see how it goes with cutting back on the water.
Sounds like you're doing everything right! I wish you luck this winter!
thank you from massachusetts!! it gets cold pretty quickly here and winter is always hard for my succulents, so thank you so much for this vid!!
You're welcome!! Sending warm and sunny thoughts your way!
Thank You its September and here in Kansas it is suppose to get down to 49° tonite and upper 70s in daytime. I should probably bring in my Succs😕
Stop watering and don't let them get below 40F - some will be pickier but others will be just fine! The main concern is wet soil and cold sucs. And tropical sucs like Aloes, Kalanchoes, Euphorbias, and mesembs are the first to suffer. It's a learning process to figure out who to worry about first and who can handle the cold 🙏
Exactly what I wanted to hear. Very good info! 👍🏻
Yayyy I needed this video
As always....Thank you, thank You! Love when a new video of yours pops up! I also really freaking love all the creatures in your yard! Sheesh, I want little lizard friends like You!!! Lol
Aww thanks Susie!! And I love my lizard-frans too! I'm going to miss them over the winter :/
Thanks from NC!
You're welcome Shari!
U r soooo amazing!!! Thank u sooo much for ur awesome help sis! ❤ from Kansas
My pleasure 😊
Thanks Andrea! I am about to buy grow lights for my cactus seedlings. 🙂
Awesome!! You'll love them!
Merry Christmas Andrea from England and thank you for all your videos.
Thank you Marie!! Merry Christmas from Texas! 💚
I've spent the morning making protective covers, last year's were good but I have a better design this year. I have to get some aloes, echeverias and haworthia through a UK winter. Oh and loads of semps but that's quite easy. Bit nervous about the others though. The survived it last winter, so fingers crossed.
Best bet is to put them up next to your house where it's warmer and protected from the north wind - here's a vid on protecting outdoor sucs from the cold :) ruclips.net/video/YWkS2l__mfo/видео.html
thanks for sharing this informative video. I totally agree with investing in good grow lights to protect our investment on these succulents. I started off with bulbs but had to upgrade to t5s as my collection grew. I love them!😊
Grow lights are the best! I'm glad you got some :)
I like that jatropha and the euphorbia. good show
Thanks!
Hi, Andrea!!! Nice to hear from you!!! :))
🙏🌺You too!
@@SucsForYou :)❤😍
Very timely 👍
Hope it helps!
Im new to Succs. Ive only owned these for a few months so I need all the help I can get. I will purchase a grow light
Good stuff! You will love a nice grow light fixture - definitely go for a natural white! I'm linking to my playlist on light/lights 🙏 ruclips.net/video/ucB31pMa5ek/видео.html
Thank you. Can you give a list of what succulents are not dormant during winter?
It's more about temperature than particular types. Basically all succulents will go dormant in temps lower than 50F.
I need help what do I do bc I have a huge north face window and a small west that prob fits 2 plants and a south that prob fits 5 plants thoughts??? I have a frost blanket ??
I live in the North of England and at the moment it is freezing. My succulents are in the garage under 6 T5 grow lights for 12 hours. The pots are on trays with big heating pads underneath. I find it keeps my plants warm in freezing weather with the addition of fleece overnight.
The pads are propagation heating pads. Hope it helps.
Thanks Mari! I'm so glad it's not often that cold here (like less than a month all year, thank goodness!!!) and I know a lot of other folks in different climates who this will be very helpful to 💚🙏
Thank you so much for your knowledge. Will your hard cover book be coming out? I have been waiting because I do not have a computer right now. I am from Minnesota so I have had my SUV’s and cacti in for a couple weeks. I have 38 large pots in my living room lol. Last year that’s all I had. Now I have plant shelves in my dining room and In my downstairs living room. Take care and God Bless.
Hi Linda! I feel for you in Minnesota - that's not an easy climate to keep sucs in lol! I'm hoping the print version will be out by the holidays or spring 2020 at the latest. BUT if you have a mobile phone with a reading app you can read the ebook (and it's also available as a pdf - at sucsforyou.com/shop ) 💜
How far down should i let the temp get to get to get my cactus to go dormant?
I'm trying to get my cactus into dormancy so it will bloom in the summer.
I have to keep my cactus in the window but I can close it into the curtains to get the temp down.
I live in East Texas. Until this summer I have had a collection of around 10 succulents that I’ve brought inside for the winter. They’ve done OK but it wasn’t the best solution for them. Now I have quite a big collection and it isn’t possible to bring them in the house any longer. One of my cats got really sick with what could’ve been succulent poisoning. He doesn’t usually bother them but the vet can’t rule that out. He is fine now but I need to find another solution to protect my succulents in the winter. I’ve been looking into small greenhouses. Is that a good solution? I really have learned a lot from watching your videos.
I'm sorry about your kitty but glad he's okay! Yes a greenhouse could work as long as it is secure and sturdy. You might also consider a table in the garage with grow lights if that's an option.
Thanks for the reply and the advice
Most of my sempervivums seem to be too wet despite having lots of grit in the soil mixture. In the UK. I think I'm going to lose most of them. They did so well in the summer it's such a shame. People tell me they come from the mountains covered in snow but winter isn't even here yet and they're not doing good at all.
It could be a variety that is not as cold hardy and/or the soil being wet causing issues. I'd try unpotting them and putting them in straight grit! Maybe just try a few at first :)
@@SucsForYou Thank you for your reply. I will try. At this point I feel like there is no harm trying since they're so wet anyway. I will test it out and see.
What do you suggest for preparing plants for wintering in a green house, including heating, insulation and pests.
In Abilene, Texas!
Retweet. Also, thoughts on using DE?
I have a large aloe that I’ve just brought in for the winter. I know they bloom in the winter in places they can live outdoors but is there anyway to encourage it to bloom indoors with constant temps around 72f in a large south facing window?
Give it as much light as you can as light encourages blooms :)
Hello Andrea, I was wondering if you could make a video about winter growers ? (Or give me some info) I have an aloe erinacea and a few other winter growing plants and it is fairly difficult to find informations about them online. Thank you for all the content you have on here, it is all very helpful and fresh !
I do touch on winter growing Aloes in this vid - see if this helps! ruclips.net/video/ikcQqY_J4hs/видео.html
@@SucsForYou soo if I understood well, they are opportunistic plants so they will grow if the temperatures are right. Mine are indoor in winter, under a grow light (because I am in Switzerland and it gets real cold), so I should water them a little every month ? Thank you so much for the answer!
Thank you so much for this video. I just spent a small fortune on cacti this past year and desperately want to keep them all alive. I have stopped watering them and brought them all in and put them in a Room that stays around 50ﾟ during the Winter. I put them under grow lights for when it is overcast outside but on Sunny days they do get an hour or 2 of direct sunlight and I keep the lights off until evening. Do you think around 2 hours of direct sunlight A-day is enough or should they have more than this?
If you can give them more light I would. The temp is great and cold, bright conditions will help encourage flowering in the spring!
@@SucsForYou Ok, thankyou so much!
I have a zebra type plant, I can't figure out the exact type but it doesn't have the white lines like a zebra but looks just like one otherwise. Anyway over this past summer it grew a super long stem with beautiful tiny white blooms on the ends. It has been like that all summer basically but my question is will that stem fall off in the fall and winter or do I need to remove it? I'm very new to this so I'm sorry if this is a dumb question lol any advice is greatly appreciated ☺️
Not a dumb question at all! You can cut it off but one of my greatest cheap thrills is letting Haworthia flower stalks dry on the plant...once they're perfectly dry, they come out with the most satisfying 'pluck!'
This will be my first winter trying to keep succulents alive in my greenhouse. I am in zone 7B in Georgia. My greenhouse gets a good bit of sun every day but it is not heated. Do you think I should heat it? Maybe with a space heater, or heat mats? I've also read and heard that they should be fine as long as it doesn't get down to freezing consistently for several days. I have brought in my aloes and haworthias already. I'm also thinking about frost covers. I'm just not sure what all to do. Thanks!
Sorry for the late reply Lisa! For some reason I'm not getting email notifications about video comments :/ Yes, get a heater but make sure there's still good ventilation. I'm in the Greenhouse and Gardens group on Facebook and they have a lot of great info for your climate. Stay warm!!! facebook.com/groups/1056414957836051
I live in Houston too. My plants don't have much protection from the rain in my yard did I was considering getting a greenhouse for my backyard. Would that help bring all my succulents thru the winter? I do have a garage too but the only grow lights I have are those ridiculous, nearly totally useless red and blue ones...
The greenhouse would help w/ the rain but possibly not if it gets really cold for too long... you can cover it with blankets/frost clothes though!
When do you start bringing your plants inside here in houston? I have trouble knowing when since our weather here is so off and on cool fronts this season.
Rachel you know that is a trick question lol!! I really don't start worrying until December, but even then it can still be tank top weather! I'd say if you see more than 5 days in a row of 50F or less and it's been raining, that's going to be a danger to your sucs. If you can keep them dry and it looks like it will warm up w/in the week, they should be fine with a few more sensitive exceptions, like Lithops/Mesembs.
@@SucsForYou Thanks so much! I'll keep an eye out on them. Love your channel!
@@rachel.beth99 Welcome! And thank you!!
Man such good info...just not sure I’m up for the task 😒 Maybe I’ll give my potted succulents away.
Do you have any tips to not ruin the farina/powder when spraying for mealies? I find that isopropyl alcohol always ruins The beautiful farina 😭😩thank you so much for your videos, I always look forward to them
If you're just spraying the diluted alcohol it shouldn't do much damage - otherwise try just water - either submerge the plant fully for several hours or spray it 🙏
I’m so nervous. I lost so many succulents last winter. We can’t afford to keep our house above 65 degrees so our house is COLD. but it’s of course a lot colder outside so they have to be inside. but light and warmth is going to be so hard this winter
65 is better than 70 when you're trying to keep your sucs dormant indoors :) It will help them need less light too!
I’m worried my plants will get confused! In oregon by the time it’s 50 degrees out there will not be much day light... inside I have grow lights and it’s warm. Should I only do a certain amount of light once inside??
I'd treat them as if they were partially dormant. Different plants will react different ways but definitely stop fertilizing and cut back on watering as much as you think they can tolerate. It will be hard giving them 'too much light' if it's still warm and they're not fully dormant.
I didn’t even know I should bring my succulents in for winter, but that’s for informing us🌱 but what about Southern California? I live there and the weather fluctuates over the winter, there’s some freezing days but also mostly warm ones
If you can keep them dry most should be fine down to 45F :)
I live in a very fickle climate (Reno,NV) where one day it will be blistering hot with no clouds, and the next it could be snowing, how do I know when to bring in my succulents? Most of them I already keep in the house, but do you know any good ways to help them when the weather is so wishy washy? Thank you! Lovely video
Just keep an eye on the forecast and if you don't mind moving them in and back out a lot you can keep them outside until the temps get too low. Or maybe cover them with a frost cloth outdoors if it's not going to be below freezing :)
Hello this is a good video! I need to know too how to recognize frostburns because some of my succs have strange areas that never seen them before... Like yellowish or black ones but aren't squishy... Seems dry... Any idea, someone? Sorry if anyone don't understand 😂 I'm not North american...
It depends on the plant... Frost can leave pock marks, brown spots like sun damage.
@@SucsForYou Oh I see, thank you
@@nebulakick welcome!
Hi. Can we still propagate leaves over the winter?
Yes but it may be really slow ;)
What do you do if the power goes off during a bad snow storm? Just put what you can next to a window and hope for the best? :)
I wouldn't put them near a window if it's too cold but yeah...that would NOT be fun!!
@@SucsForYou Thank you Andrea!
Are cactus needs direct sun outside in winter
Not if you're letting them go dormant :)