Whether you’re preparing to bring home a new succulent or are interested in finding out better ways to care for your plants, you’ll find these tips quite handy. In the following six points, you’ll see how getting your plant to grow happy and healthy can be both fun and effortless, so let’s get right to it.
1. Change the Soil
Succulents don’t like too much water and tending to their needs starts with the type of soil you use. Any gardening expert will tell you that there are types of soil that hold too much water and others that hold too little. For growing the best succulents, you’ll need to re-pot your plant when you first get it. You’ll want to use a coarse soil mix which you can make at home using a potting mix, sand, and perlite. Such a mix will allow your succulents to get their fill of water without flooding the roots. For the best potting medium, be sure to transfer your plant to a porous pot with drainage holes that allow the soil to breathe.
2. Rotate
Many tend to ignore the fact that plants need care on a daily basis, especially indoor plants. If you’re growing an outdoor succulent, you won’t need to move your plant around, unless it’s to avoid over-exposure to the sun. An indoor plant, however, needs to be constantly rotated in order to make sure that all parts of your succulent get evenly subjected to sunlight. What you can do is rotate your pot just a little every day or every other day. It will help your plant grow straight and more evenly.
3. Water with Caution
Succulents are one of the most high-maintenance plants when it comes to watering. They need a lot of water, but they don’t like too much of it. Let’s rip this bandage right off, daily watering can kill them, so don’t do it. Instead, observe the soil. What you want to do is pour water directly on the soil, until it’s wet. From there, count the days until the soil is dry again, and only water when it has completely dried, and not just the surface, but from top to bottom. To check, you can stick a chopstick in the soil. If it turns out dry, water away. If the chopstick turns out wet, wait for a day or two then check again.
4. The Occasional Trim
As cruel as it may be, trimming is an essential part of caring for a succulent. It’s the only way to remove rotten and dead leaves and promote the growth of new plants. If you don’t already know about propagating, you’ll be glad to know that with a clean-cut, your plants can grow new leaves. Some plants aren’t capable of being propagated, but luckily, the process is quite easy with succulents. What you should remember when trimming or cutting is to use clean shears to avoid infecting your plant, and when trimming for growth, do it early in the growing season.
5. Listen
Caring for plants, especially succulents, is simple. What makes succulent so great? They tell you what they need, and so, all you have to do is pay attention. If your leaves are rotting, you’re either watering your plant too frequently or the soil is doing too good a job retaining water. If you’re noticing rapid yet poor growth in stems and petals, your plant needs more light. Nevertheless, if you’re noticing black spots, it means that your plant is getting too much sun, maybe it’s time to place it somewhere with more shade. The signs are all there, you just need to see them.
6. Fertilize
Succulents aren’t the type of plant you should be constantly fertilizing, but fertilizing in the right season will actually benefit the plant. Because the lack of sun causes succulents to grow quickly and poorly, fertilizing them in the fall is always a good idea. In the springtime, when most succulents are growing, it’s also good to add some extra nutrients to the soil to support your plant during the growing season. After watering your plant, use manure tea, but keep it light.
With those tips in mind, you’re guaranteed to provide the best care for your succulents. Don’t forget to show your plants that you love them. Whether it’s through kind words, watering them with intent, or gently touching them. It’s been scientifically proven, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, that plants can tell whether or not we care about them, and while they don’t feel it the same way we do, they can indeed tell that we love them.