Succulent care in winter comes down to three changes: water far less, give them all the light you can, and keep most of them above about 40°F (5°C). Most popular succulents, including echeverias, sedums, kalanchoes and most cacti, slow down or stop growing when days shorten and temperatures fall. A dormant plant uses very little water, and the soil it sits in stays wet much longer. The winter killer is rarely the cold itself. Usually it is summer-style watering into cold, slow-drying soil.
The exception is a group of winter growers that do the opposite and grow through the cool months. So the first step is knowing which plants you have.
Step 1: Know which of your succulents rest in winter
This is the step that decides everything else. Watering a resting echeveria like a growing aeonium, or the other way round, is how collections lose plants in January.
| Succulent | When it grows | Winter watering |
|---|---|---|
| Echeveria, graptopetalum | Spring to autumn | Sparse: a small drink roughly monthly, only when bone dry |
| Most cacti | Spring to autumn | Very little to none if kept cool; a cool, dry rest helps many flower |
| Kalanchoe | Spring to autumn | Sparse, when fully dry |
| Tender sedums | Spring to autumn | Sparse, when fully dry |
| Aeonium | Autumn to spring (rests in summer heat) | Keep watering with the soak-and-dry method while it grows |
| String of pearls (senecio) | Cool seasons | Moderate; let the top of the soil dry between drinks |
| Haworthia | Mild spring and autumn weather; slows in heat and cold | Light, when dry |
| Lithops (living stones) | New leaf pair forms in winter to spring | Keep dry while the old leaves shrivel and feed the new pair |
| Sempervivum, hardy sedums | Spring to autumn; cold-hardy | Can stay outdoors; protect from sitting in wet |
If you don't know what a plant is, treat it as a summer grower and water sparingly. An under-watered succulent recovers within days of a good soak. A rotted one usually doesn't recover.
Step 2: Water by the soil, and stretch the gap
The soak-and-dry method still applies in winter: water thoroughly when the soil is completely dry, then wait. What changes is how long the wait is. Where a summer cycle might run one to two weeks, a winter cycle for a resting plant often runs a month or more.
- Heated rooms dry pots faster. A small pot near a radiator or in a warm, bright apartment may need water every three to four weeks. A cool windowsill in an unheated room may need none for six weeks or longer. That is why a fixed schedule fails.
- Check deep, not the surface. Push a wooden skewer or finger an inch or two into the soil. Damp or clinging soil means wait.
- A little wrinkling is normal. Resting plants often look slightly softer and a bit wrinkled at the lowest leaves. That is not an emergency. Deeply puckered, deflating leaves across the whole plant are the signal to water.
- Water in the morning, with room-temperature water, so the pot is not cold and wet overnight.
For a full breakdown of the soak-and-dry method and the signs of over- and under-watering, see How Often to Water Succulents. Our free succulent watering calculator takes season, light, pot and soil into account and tells you when to go and check the soil.
Step 3: Give them every hour of light you can
Winter days are short and the sun is low, and indoor succulents feel it most. A plant that was compact on a summer windowsill can start stretching by midwinter: growing tall and pale, leaning toward the glass, with gaps opening between the leaves.
- Move the plants to your brightest window. In the northern hemisphere that is usually south-facing, and in the southern hemisphere north-facing.
- Rotate pots a quarter turn every week or two so they don't lean.
- If the brightest window is still not enough, add a full-spectrum LED grow light a short distance above the plants, on a timer for about 12 to 14 hours a day.
Stretched growth does not shrink back, but new growth comes in tight once the light is fixed. Why Is My Succulent Stretching? covers it in detail, and the succulent light checker will tell you whether a particular window is bright enough.
Step 4: Know how cold is too cold
Most tender succulents are comfortable down to about 40°F (5°C), and many cacti enjoy a cool winter rest in that range. Below freezing, the water stored in the leaves freezes, cells burst, and the damage shows up a day later as translucent, mushy or blackened leaves. This looks a lot like overwatering, except it appears suddenly after a cold night.
- Bring outdoor pots in before the first frost. Don't wait for the first freeze warning.
- Keep leaves off cold window glass. On a frosty night the glass can be much colder than the room.
- Avoid the other extreme too. A plant right above a radiator or in the path of a heating vent dries out unevenly and is prone to pests.
- Hardy exceptions: sempervivums and many hardy sedums can spend the winter outside in freezing climates. What kills them is wet, not cold, so gritty soil and drainage matter more than shelter.
Step 5: Pause the rest of the routine
- Don't fertilize resting plants. They cannot use it. Winter growers can have a weak feed while they are actively growing.
- Hold off on repotting until spring growth starts, unless a plant is rotting and needs rescuing.
- Watch for pests. Mealybugs (white, cottony tufts in the leaf joints) spread faster indoors in winter, and fungus gnats breed in soil that stays damp, which is one more reason to keep it dry.
Your winter succulent checklist
- Sort your plants into winter growers and summer growers.
- Bring tender plants indoors before the first frost.
- Move everything to the brightest window, or set up a grow light.
- Stretch the watering gap. Check the soil, not the calendar.
- Stop fertilizing resting plants and postpone repotting.
- Check leaf joints for mealybugs every couple of weeks.
- Take a photo of each plant now, so in February you can see whether it has stretched.
The hard part in winter: remembering when you last watered
Winter makes the hardest part of succulent care harder. When the gap between waterings is a month or more, and different plants are on different cycles, nobody remembers whether the echeveria got water two weeks ago or five. The usual response to that uncertainty is to water again, which is exactly the mistake you're trying to avoid.
Succulent is the photo journal we make for this. Log a watering in a tap on the day you do it, and the care calendar shows when each plant last had water, when you repotted or propagated, and what needs a look this week. Reminders are gentle and optional, not fixed schedules. The photo timeline is especially useful in winter: put November's photo next to February's, and you will see stretching weeks before you would notice it on the windowsill. Everything stays on your device. It is free to download, with an optional Premium upgrade for larger collections.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I water succulents in winter?
Much less than in summer: for most dormant succulents, roughly once a month or less, and only when the soil is completely dry all the way down. A plant in a heated room, a small pot or a sunny window may need a drink every three to four weeks; one on a cool windowsill may go six weeks or more. Winter growers such as aeoniums are the exception and keep drinking while they grow. Check the soil, not the calendar.
Can succulents stay outside in winter?
Only the cold-hardy ones. Sempervivums (hens and chicks) and many hardy sedums survive freezing winters outdoors if they are in gritty, fast-draining soil and not sitting in wet. Most popular succulents, including echeverias, kalanchoes, aeoniums, string of pearls and most cacti sold as houseplants, should come inside before the first frost, and are safest kept above about 40°F (5°C).
Do succulents need a grow light in winter?
Not always, but many indoor succulents do better with one. Short winter days plus a window that gets little direct sun often cause stretching, where the plant grows tall and pale with gaps between the leaves. If your brightest window is not enough, a full-spectrum LED grow light a short distance above the plants for 12 to 14 hours a day keeps them compact. Stretching that has already happened will not reverse, but new growth will be tight again.
Why are my succulents dying in winter?
The most common cause is watering on a summer schedule. Dormant plants use very little water, cold soil stays wet for weeks, and the roots rot: leaves turn soft, translucent or black and drop at a touch. The next most common causes are cold damage from frost or cold window glass, which looks similar but appears suddenly after a cold night, and stretching from too little light. Pests like mealybugs also spread faster indoors in winter.
Know when each plant last had water
Log waterings in a tap, compare this month's photo with last month's, and get through winter without guessing. Private, on your device.
Download Succulent on the App Store →Related: How Often to Water Succulents and Why Is My Succulent Stretching? Questions? Email us.