Succulents are an amazing and beautiful plant, as you all here will agree. They make your home smell better, are drought resistance and overall carry so many amazing qualities that are unique just to Succulents. Even though a sudden change of colour in a succulent usually is an indicator that something is wrong with your succulent, many people want to trigger a colour change in their Succulent for a variety of reasons, usually to make them look prettier or if you don’t like the colour it already had.
Obviously, some types of succulents may not be able to change colour, or may not do it at the same pace or under the same amount of stress as others. However, in general, the things we will be covering in this article will apply to all succulents. If you want to get coloured succulents, you have come to the right place.
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What Is Succulent Stress?
An important thing to know before you go on your adventure of getting coloured succulents/changing your succulents colour is to understand the key-words we will be using so you can follow the article easier and therefore increase the likelihood of having success with your coloured succulents. To get coloured succulents, they must go through some form of physical stress.
Many people believe physically stressing a plant is a bad thing, however, done with the right timing and careful precision physically stressing your Succulents is perfectly safe and won’t damage them. If you are still confused, then compare it to exercise for yourself.
Doing exercise in which pushes you to your limit however not over it will be beneficial for you, same as tanning, being exposed to the sun for a safe amount of time will see your skin become more tanned, being under the sun for too long will result in you having sunburn, or if you push your limits in exercise too much you may pull a muscle and damage yourself. Now apply that to a plant and you should have a grasp over what ‘Stressing’ your plant does.
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What does ‘Stressing’ your succulent do?
When you physically stress your succulent it causes the succulent to begin increasing its production of anthocyanin and carotenoid. Those two are pigments which are formed to help protect your succulent from suffering damage when its optimal environment is changed. These two pigments, along with making your succulent stronger, also produces amazing and vibrant colour changes making your succulents into more coloured succulents.
Does my succulent change colour under stress?
Before going to change your succulents colour, make sure that it is a succulent which can change colour under stress. A lot of succulents are green within their optimal environments and will usually remain green no matter what changes you do to their environment unless you do such a drastic change that it kills them.
Most succulents that change colour or become more vibrant under stress are the ones that include colour in their name, or if your succulent already has a bit of colour around the edges and tips of the leaves. If your succulents don’t have a colour in its name or is completely green, then it is most likely not going to become one of the coloured succulents under stress, unfortunately.
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How To Make Your Succulent Have A Colour Change!
Now you know what ‘Stressing’ is, you can now begin reading on how to trigger a colour change in your succulent/succulents, therefore making them more coloured succulents. Surprisingly, making your succulents into coloured succulents is rather easy.
Just like a human, physical stress can be beneficial to succulents, as long as it is under small doses. Bringing in very small doses of environmental change to a succulent is enough to make it change colour. Such as exposing it to more sunlight than usual one day then exposing it to less the other day, or giving it more and less water, therefore making you’re succulent stronger and making it produce more of those two pigments we mentioned in the first heading.
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How Long Will My Succulent Take To Change colour?
The process of your succulents becoming vibrant and beautiful coloured succulents is a very slow and gradual process. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to make it grow quicker, you must only expose your succulent to small environmental changes every so often otherwise your succulents won’t become coloured succulents but instead dead succulents.
On average, depending on your succulents previous exposure to light, your succulents should take around 1- 2 weeks to become coloured succulents, with it taking longer depending on how severe the exposure to light change is.
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Is Stressing My Succulents Cruel? What Damage Can It Do?
A question that a lot of people ask is whether or not stressing your succulent is cruel. The best answer to this is just no, it is not cruel in any way. A plant has no consciousness and even though it is considered a living thing it has no way of feeling pain. Obviously, if you are worried about making a mistake and killing your succulents then just make sure to not rush it, follow the instructions the article gave you and give it 1-2 weeks to have a colour change.
Stressing can both do damage and do good, if done right (only introducing gradual environmental changes other the 1-2 weeks) then your succulents won’t see any damage on the transition to becoming coloured succulents, and as well as being beautiful coloured succulents they will also be stronger and more resistant to all types of environmental changes. Obviously, if rushed, it can damage your succulent and even kill it.
Congratulations!
If you have reached here you are on the way to transitioning your succulents into beautiful coloured succulents, even though it may seem to take a long time (1-2 weeks) and the changes may not be immediately noticeable, just keep it in mind that keeping up with slightly changing your succulents environment throughout the 1-2 weeks is completely worth it no matter the inconvenience and time it may consume.
The end result of you successfully transitioning your succulents into coloured succulents is that you will have beautiful coloured succulents which you can decorate your home and garden with. Coloured succulents usually present beautiful and simply draw-dropping bright blues and reds and so much more.
