How to: Care for Succulents
What Are Succulents?
In short, succulents are arid plants with fleshy, thick leaves that retain water. Some only store the water in their stems, such as cacti, and others store water in each leaf.
Why Should I Grow Succulents?
For the fun of it!
Succulents come in so many shapes, sizes, colors, and heights.
They’re also insanely easy to keep. I like to say that succulents thrive on neglect because they don’t need a lot of intensive care. What more could you want??
If you choose to grow aloe, you can also use the leaves for all kinds of beauty and health needs. The gel from aloe leaves is great for burns, diy face and hair masks, or even making aloe vera juice (which happens to be a great remedy for hangovers).
Light Requirements for Succulents
As a general rule succulents, who are desert plants by nature, prefer bright light. However, direct light can often be too harsh for succulents used to being indoors. I recommend a bright windowsill but check on them often when initially placing them in your home. You want to be sure the light isn’t so intense that the leaves start to burn.
One of my cactus plants that had a little too much sun after repotting.
“Sunburn” on succulents usually looks like dry brown spots but may also be discoloration. On aloe, they blush and turn a faded green when in more direct light.
If your plant starts to burn, the best bet is to move it elsewhere.
That being said, you can acclimate a succulent to thrive in the more direct light by regular and increased time intervals in that light.
For example, I bring my aloe plants inside for winter (I have Lola, who produces a couple dozen pups a year so whatever I don’t sell or give away, I keep). On the first few warm days in spring, I put the smaller plants outside for a few hours at a time. Every few days, I increase the duration they spend outside. I usually spent about 7-10 days acclimating them to be outside. Once they make it to about 8 hours without any signs of burn, I leave them out. For the more mature plants, I don’t worry too much about acclimation because they have plenty of water stored in their leaves.
You can always reach out to me for specific suggestions based on your plant and situation. I’m happy to help!
Watering Succulents
Watering is just about as easy as it could get. Remember how I said succulents thrive on neglect? Water needs are where they show it most.
I usually water my succulent once every 1-2 weeks, depending on their size. For smaller pots, you may need to water more often versus big pots with mature plants may be able to last 2+ weeks.
The best way to tell if your plant needs water is to watch the soil and feel the leaves. These two things will let you know. When the top inch or two is dry (test with your finger or a toothpick, like you would a cake), water it. The leaves of succulents are supposed to be firm and full, so if the leaves are starting to feel squishy or look wrinkled, it’s time to water.
I almost always recommend bottom watering, which is where you submerge the bottom of your pot (as long as the pot has drainage holes) in water and let the soil soak up what it needs. I leave my containers in water until the top of the soil is darkened and moist. Bottom watering is the best way I’ve found to make sure the roots are supplied with all the moisture they need. By bottom watering, you can also water less often because the soil has been fully saturated.
All I do is place my plants in my kitchen sink, stopper the drain and fill the water until it’s about an inch and a half up the containers.
If your container doesn’t have drainage, or you simply choose not to bottom water, I suggest watering at the base of the plants. Succulents can be super picky about water in their leaves because it can lead to rot. As long as you keep this in mind, you’ll be fine.
Be sure to water thoroughly without drowning them. For pots without drainage, it’s better to water more frequently than to have water sitting in the bottom of the pot because this can lead to root rot. Root rot is often discovered when it’s too late to save the plant.
Tip: When planting a succulent in a container without drainage, add some pea gravel (like aquarium substrate in fish tanks) or horticultural charcoal to the bottom of the pot before planting. These will help to prevent any excess water from rotting the roots.
