Hello!

If you are growing indoors, south and west facing windows work the best. I would personally skip Echeverias as I find that they suck up a lot of light. I have a lot of trouble keeping them compact in a window. You could try something like Haworthias, maybe some Gasterias and Aloes as well.

If the lighting is good enough, you should see the plants start to color up. Green plants that begin to stretch are a sign that the lighting isn't that strong. For grow lights, a lot of people here use fluorescent bulbs. You can use linear or compact bulbs. If you buy those, make sure you get around 6500K color temperature.

I concur with skipping echeverias. Also skip sempervivum, jovibarba and most sedums--all look their best only in full sun. Aside from what mesembs suggested, and if you are interested in exploring the limits of your patience and self-esteem, also consider, well, mesembs.

Or, you can go crazy adapt your space even for sun-loving plants. Go on 1000bulbs to get 10000k fluorescents. If you don't mind blurple, you can also consider LED grow light panels. Low power ones are available on online market places and they are the best if you have limited space.

Have fun!

I've only been growing a year or so and know far less than the above posters but my opinion is that starting with an echieveria would be fine, maybe a couple others. Not to be flippant, but if it dies, you've learned something. I think you'll be fine because you are informing yourself.

Your south windows will be best, could even be too much sun I'm in Southern California and my succulents prefer morning and afternoon sun, shaded mid day. I can't imagine you would need grow lights. Wouldn't south facing be full sun?

You will need to repot the succulents when you get them home. You could use the pots they come in unless you get those tiny ones (2"?) ----or purchase new but don't put them in a much bigger pots thinking they will grow faster or better. I prefer clay but plastic works too.

potting medium--get a bag of commercial cactus and succulent mix and a bag of Perlite or preferably pumice. Rinse the smaller particles out of the perlite by running water through it in a strainer. Don't breathe it. Mix 50/50 and that's your potting mix. Gently get as much of the existing soil off your new plant as possible and repot in the new faster draining mix. Don't pot too low in the pot, don't water for a few days. Bright light no direct sun during that time. When you do water, let the water run out the drain hole. Don't let your plants sit in standing water. Some people like double pots; I don't. Transition them slowly into your full sun over a period of days. If you get haworthias, they need less sun than echies.

if you think you might post here more often, go to the usda website and get your gardening zone number and add it in with your name. Also we'd love to see pictures of what you get and your repot.

link for your gardening zone. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

I have done very well with my cacti and succulents, even echeverias, indoors on my south-facing windowsills, I even have blooms. Still, some echies and crassula took the longest winter days hard (even though i live in the sunniest place in Canada), and I will be supplementing with grow lights next winter.

kd

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Some of you are suggesting that the plants don't need to be in direct sun all day, for example some prefer shade during the midday. How do you accommodate for this inside, do you just move their position within the house? That may not be practical if you are at work all day.

Another question I have is concerning Echeverias. Several users have said they are not easy to maintain plants, for example Pagan stated 'I have a lot of trouble keeping them compact in a window'. Does the word compact here mean the opposite of stretching? As in the Echeveria will start stretching and losing its form to try and pull in more light?

For Echeverias would they be easier to take care of inside an apartment with a grow light, because I might be willing to give that a go - but not for my first plant.

Lastly, for some of the more hardy plants mentioned where do other plants such as Sedveria's and Sempervivum's fit into that spectrum?

Full sun indoors is much less intense than full sun outdoors, so it may not be much of a problem indoors. Most ppl do not get sufficient light indoors. And moving plants even a foot away from the window will cut down on light considerably. If you have great, unobstructed south or south-west facing window, and there isn't any UV protection on glass, maybe the sunlight could be quite strong but with acclimatization it shouldn't be a problem.

Plants that prefer less than full sun-full day exposure may do very well indoors without any supplemental light. Good example are most Hawortias and Sansevierias - they will grow well in lower light. They could be in 'second row' - first, right on the windowsill, occupied by more light-hungry plants. If using supplemental lights, these plants could be placed at the ends of set-ups, where much less light is reaching them.

Etiolation is caused by lack of light and yes, plants will grow longer and weaker stems, often bending toward source of light, leaves will be spaced further apart and the color may get lighter. The rosettes often open up a lot and leaves may 'hang down' - in effort to absorb as much light as possible. Exact opposite of compact, where stems are sturdier/thicker and shorter, internodes are usually very short. The color is rich and often with reddish tint.

Sedeverias are not as cold hardy IIRC (maybe around 30*F?), Sempervivums are hardy to z4 and some even z3 and do best if grown outdoors year-round.

What I actually said was that they look their best in full sun and also that semps and related genus fall in the same category. But I might have said that elsewhere---I did give away a restarted Black Prince for this reason.

Maybe you can do it in a bay window that gets sun from dawn to dusk. Or you have to adjust your standards of compact growth a little to allow for some stretching. But I can't imagine semps or sedum lasting more than a few months on a window without showing you some stem which I don't find attractive in such plants.

I'm talking about years here, too. Not just months. Also, full sun is outdoors, in full sun. Behind any sort of obstruction, including glass, is not full sun. I've even had nurserymen tell me that only 6 hours or more under direct sunlight is considered full sun. After all, glass--especially insulated double-pane windows--will rearrange photons and filter a lot of it.

There is a way for it to work and that is to keep your plant chronically semi-dormant. Very little water and no fertilizer to maintain extremely slow growth. I have met a very compact 12-year old sedum cultivated this way indoors with only sporadic stem visible. It is on the corner between two long south and south-west Palladian windows. Aggressive cultivation with heavy water and feeding will just encourage rapid growth and without the right amount of light, will eventually result in etiolation.

How could I forget mesembs?? However, I would not recommend them for a first plant :)

Even though you are in an apartment, do you have any outdoor balcony space?