Succulents - The Meaning of Top-Heavy

Succulent when I first got it

In this post I relate how I got to know the meaning of top-heavy plants.  Unfortunately I had to learn the hard way so I hope this will give you some insight so you have time to take action before the same happens to you.

When I first got this succulent it was a little small than this so I put it in a small pot thinking it was quite big enough for it.  As you can see in the above picture it started hanging over the pot a little but I didn't take much notice.  I thought it was just growing and was actually pleased with the progress! Silly me!

Now this plant has grown to a point where it fell completely over the side and I think the stem is half broken.  The only thing saving the plant I believe is the fact that it is resting on the shelf.  I started noticing that it wasn't drinking as much as it used to but I didn't even realise it was broken until I lifted it up one day to check on it.  The plant now looks like this:

Succulent with broken stem hanging over the side of the pot

I should have bought a support for it from the start when I saw it overhanging the pot, or else put it in a bigger pot.  I can still trim it back now or just cut off the stems altogether, these plants can be propagated so easily, here's the story.  Trimming will also encourage root growth, this plant grew so fast the stems are not thick enough to support it, trimming will lessen the load and thicken the stems.

In any case the damage is done now and I need to fix this before it dies.  Next time I'll definitely plant this in a bigger pot and keep it in check.