Acclimating Succulents Outside

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Some of you are lucky enough to live in a climate that allows you to care for your succulents outside all year round. Others, like me, live half of the year in a tundra. If you live anywhere that gets below freezing temperatures, check out sempervivums and sedums from your local nursery because those are usually hardy through zone 3! However, I personally love soft succulents, a term describing those that are hardy to zone 8. In the summer however, I like my succulents to be outside. They get rainwater and don’t have to be under grow lights all the time! I want to talk to you about acclimating succulents outside because it is a big transition and there are several things you should consider.

When?

You can start moving your succulents outside once temperatures in your area are free from dropping below 40 F. You can start acclimating succulents when at night they drop below, just make sure you are diligent about bringing them all inside, otherwise you will lose all of your succulents.

How?

Start by finding an area in your yard or on your porch that receives morning sun but is more protected from the harsh afternoon sun. Ideally, this will be the place you plan on keeping your succulents once you move them outside for the summer.

Begin by moving them to that place and leaving them for only 5 hours and then bringing them in. Do this for 2-3 days. Then you can gradually leave them outside for longer each day. For an example 5, 5, 5, 7, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16. Once you get to this point, if the weather has warmed up enough to not drop below freezing at night, you can start keeping them out there 24/7.

Things to Consider

Sunburn:

If the succulent has too much bright sun, it is going to get sunburnt. You can tell it is sunburnt by the brown discoloring spots on the leaves.

You can prevent this by moving them into more shade/more morning sun spot or covering them with a shade cloth.

Watering:

Since it is outside in hotter temperatures than your home is, you are going to probably have to water more frequently, unless it is raining.

Make sure all of your containers have drainage holes and fast draining soil.

If it is raining several days a week, move your succulents to a spot that isn’t raining to allow them to dry in between waterings. If not, this could lead to root rot.

For succulent arrangements, use my favorite watering syringe.

Pests:

My biggest issue for pests has actually been squirrels. They love my succulents. They have taken bites out of them or ripped them out of the soil. There are a couple of methods I have found to work against them. Top dressing your soil with rocks will prevent them from digging. I have also tried sprinkling Cayenne pepper on the soil which seems to have worked as well.

I know several people have issues with slugs. Sprinkling cornmeal around your plant should keep them away.

Added Benefits

Rainwater is amazing and succulents will eat it up. Don’t let them have too much all at once though.

Ladybugs are outside and will eat any mealy bugs or aphids that try to eat your plant. If you have mealy bug problems, buy some ladybugs! I bought some last year and it was so much fun having them in my garden on my succulents.

I hope you learned a lot about moving your succulents outside! I can’t wait to get mine out this year! Don’t forget to subscribe to our email list so you never miss a new post! Also go subscribe to our youtube channel for fun tutorials!