The biggest issue a lot of first time succulent grows have is not knowing this and keeping their houses cooler in the winter than they do in the summer. Succulents (even tropical varieties) have a warm season and a cooler/cold season. Take your empty pot, cover the drain hole with a broken chip of terra cotta and fill the bottom 1” (2.5cm) with aggregate (I typically use course perlite for this), fill the remaining amount of the pot (to the bottom of the lip around the top) with your soil mix, add your plant by digging out the middle deep enough for the root ball but shallow enough that the plant IS NOT touching the soil, fill the rest of the pot (to about half the depth of the lip) with aggregate making sure there is at least 1/2” (1 1/4cm) of aggregate between the soil and the plant and 1/2” (1 1/4cm) higher than the base of the plant.
For cacti I mix at a rate of 75% aggregate and 25% potting soil for general succulents it’s 50/50.Ĭ) The process. We make our own mix using Fox Farm’s Happy Frog potting soil and Adobe Pebbles (not sure how available they are outside of our area but the aggregate is 1/4” rough tumbled… no smooth sides). You want a soil that will drain quickly but retain moist, the texture should crumble even after you water it. Specifically to true cacti, the diameter of the pot should be about 2-4” (5-10cm) larger than the diameter of the plant but no larger.ī) Soil composition. If you find a pot you have to have and it doesn’t have a drain hole, use a 1/2” (12-13mm) cement or masonry drill bit to make one in the center.ī) Pot size. Unglazed terra cotta is the standard for one reason: it will wick out excess water in the soil and allow the soil to dry faster. Always, always, always use unglazed terra cotta pots WITH a drain hole.
The problem is timing that water soil, pots, and ambient temperature dictate when you water.ī) water the pot until it starts draining out of the bottom of the pot.ĭ) NEVER let the pot sit in a saucer of water.Ī) Pots. So, their care will be the same 85% of the time.Ī) Despite popular though, succulents LOVE water. All cacti are succulents but not all succulents are cacti. Succulents and cacti are like squares and rectangles. If you want to be even more extra try and put some coarser grit or broken clay pots as a layer in the bottom of the pot for extra drainage goodness.īut sometimes with all the best intentions in the world a cactus friend just wants to go to the Great Greenhouse in the sky.īy no means am I a succulent expert but, my day job (for four years) includes curator of our succulent collection at a local conservatory which comprises 250 species and here is what I’ve learned and what I advise everyone who asks me: It looks a tad moist to my eyes based off of one photo, so forgive me if I'm mistaken.Īnyway like the other cactus nerd says, spikeybois are a lot like rabbits, they can appear fine for ages then just one day it's obviously game over.įor best results use a low clay and higher sand/grit based soil, when putting in those nice decorative pots always try and keep a cactus in the plastic pot it came in if it did, or transfer it to one so there's space between the soil and the outer pot, it helps aerate the soil and draining of moister. a little once a month at best if at all even depending on species.Īlso will depend on the quality of your soil, is it retaining too much water? Etc. In northern hemisphere winters it's generally better to just not water much at all than water too much. How long exactly have you had it and how much did you water both those times? r/sanpedrocactus/ < Go here for San Pedro and related IDs.
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