Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener: Stressed succulents, 4 by owly

owly wrote:
Hi there!

I\'m relatively new to gardening and I\'ve been having some trouble with my succulents turning pink, which I understand to be a sign of stress.

They used to be in a backyard with full evening sun, but I moved recently and now they are all squeezed onto a (very small) third floor patio. The patio gets hours of morning sun, and since I live in Austin, TX, I make sure to water them regularly. I\'m not over watering them, as far as I know, and I\'ve positioned them so each gets as much sun as possible. Some of them have been pink for a while but most only turned pink after the move. Only two out of three of my aloe plants seem to be actually suffering, as some of the leaves are starting to turn grey. The one in the small white pot is dying, I\'m pretty sure. The other succulents seem to be ok, but I\'m still concerned.

Besides repotting some of them into bigger pots, the only thing I have done to them is sprinkle some rose food on the top layer of soil. I needed the rose food for a few of my other plants and I put the rest on the succulents just because I didn\'t have a place to store it and I didn\'t want it to go to waste. Maybe that was my mistake? I can\'t find much online about the effects of giving food like that to succulents. I see now that I should be buying food specially formulated for succulents and cacti, which is what I will do I the future.

My mind is spinning with the possibilities: More sun? Less sun? More water? Less water? Fertilizer? Bigger pots? I\'ve included some pictures to illustrate what I\'m talking about. My babies need help!

Thanks!