How to Plant Succulents

1. Start with a hole, not a pretty bowl.

How to plant succulents fails most often in a container that cannot drain. Iowa State Extension says the pot can be clay, ceramic, plastic, or glass, but it needs a drainage hole. A layer of gravel is not a substitute. If the container you like cannot have a hole, grow the plant in a smaller nursery pot that drains and set that pot inside. Empty the outer pot. Terra cotta dries faster than glazed ceramic, which is useful, not a requirement.

Choose a pot just large enough for the roots. A much larger pot stays wet. Succulents can share a dish garden when every plant wants the same dry-down and the dish has a hole. Do not pack them against each other so tightly that air cannot move.

2. Use a mix that dries.

Ordinary potting mix holds more water than most succulents want. Iowa State recommends a commercial cactus and succulent mix for a first plant, or a home blend of about one part organic material to two parts mineral material such as perlite, coarse sand, or pumice. Do not use garden soil. Do not fill the pot with finished compost.

The plant pages already name the mix for two common plants: aloe vera and jade. A snake plant uses a cactus or succulent mix when it is time to repot. Follow that page if the plant is a snake plant rather than a jade.

3. Set it at the same depth and water lightly once.

Handle the plant so leaves and spines stay intact. A folded paper band helps with spines. Shake off loose old mix if you are repotting, set the crown at the same level it grew before, and fill around the roots. Do not bury the leaves. Iowa State says to water lightly after potting.

If you took a cutting, that is a different start. Let a jade stem or leaf callus before it goes into mix, as the jade page describes. An aloe pup should have its own roots. Do not plant a single torn leaf and expect the same result as a rooted plant.

4. Bright light, then a real dry-down.

Iowa State describes useful indoor light as bright enough to cast a shadow, but not a sudden blast of direct sun on a plant that just left a shop. Most succulents want many hours of that bright light. A dark shelf makes them pale and stretched. Move a plant toward a brighter window over a week or two. The light guide is the comparison if you are unsure the window is doing anything. The wider habit is indoor plant care.

After the first light watering, wait until the mix is dry several inches down. Then soak the root ball and let it drain. Iowa State’s “every two or three weeks” line is a starting reminder, not a calendar. A cool, dim week takes longer. Wrinkled lower leaves can mean the mix stayed dry too long. Yellow, soft stems usually mean it stayed wet. Do not add fertilizer in winter. In spring and summer, Iowa State’s general rate is one-quarter to one-half of an all-purpose label rate, or a cactus fertilizer used as its label says. If the plant is jade or aloe, use the measured note on that page instead of stacking a second recipe.

Jade and aloe are toxic to pets if chewed. Keep new pots where animals cannot reach the leaves.