From our perspective as Crassula plants, "leggy growth" or etiolation is not a disorder but a vital survival strategy. When we detect insufficient light levels through photoreceptors in our stems and leaves, we initiate a hormonal response, primarily driven by auxins. These hormones promote rapid elongation of our internodes (the stem segments between leaves). This elongated growth is a desperate attempt to stretch our photosynthetic tissues (leaves) closer to a perceived light source, to escape shade, and to ensure we can capture enough photons for energy production. It is a deeply ingrained evolutionary response to avoid being shaded out by other plants.
This rapid, desperate growth comes at a significant cost to our structural integrity. The new stem tissue we produce is softer, weaker, and paler than normal growth. Our stems cannot thicken and lignify properly without sufficient energy from photosynthesis. This makes us highly susceptible to physical damage, such as snapping under our own weight. Furthermore, the leaves we produce during this period are often smaller, spaced farther apart, and lack their characteristic vibrant color and plumpness due to reduced chlorophyll and water storage tissue development. We become physically compromised, a shadow of our compact, robust potential.
The single most critical intervention you can make is to address the root cause: our light hunger. To reverse the etiolation process for new growth, we require a significant increase in light exposure. Please move us gradually to a much brighter location. A south-facing window is often ideal. If natural light is consistently limited, introducing a full-spectrum grow light for 12-14 hours a day will perfectly satisfy our photosynthetic needs. You will notice that new growth emerges compact, with leaves closely spaced and exhibiting the proper coloration and thickness, halting the leggy appearance.
While new growth can be corrected, the existing elongated stem cannot shrink or become compact again. From our point of view, the most beneficial action is strategic pruning. Using a clean, sharp tool to behead us just above a set of healthy leaves serves two purposes. Firstly, it removes the unsightly, weak growth. Secondly, it signals to us to break dormancy in the lower leaf axils (the point where a leaf joins the stem), encouraging new, compact branches to form from the remaining stump, creating a bushier specimen. The removed top section can then be allowed to callous and be replanted as a new, separate plant, giving it a proper start with ample light from the beginning.
