Think You’re Bad at Plants? Save Your Succulents With These Tips

Succulents are little desert plants that you can now find in several households having love for plants. They have thick fleshy leaves adapted to water storage given the environment that they initially are found in. In fact, the name succulent comes from the Latin word 'sucus' meaning 'juice' or 'sap'. Succulents are found in more than 60 plant families and have hundreds of varieties of juicy and beautiful looking plants. They are in huge demand given how pretty they look and how they can easily refresh anyone's mood. They are also used as décor pieces with different kinds of assembling. The most common succulent you might have come across at first would be that little rose-like plant called 'Echeveria'.

Succulents, apart from being different in the way they look compared to other plants, also need a little different care. If you have opened this blog, you probably have already bought your first succulent and it seems to be dying or has already died or you are about to buy one and want to be prepared not to kill it in advance.

Here are a few things you must keep in mind so that you do not kill your succulents.

1. Use containers with drainage holes

The first and the most important tip that you must keep in mind is that succulents hate overwatering. Keeping that in mind, one cannot stress enough on the importance of using pots with drainage holes so as to prevent water storage in the pot. If the roots are sitting on soggy soil for too long, they can easily die.

2. Use well draining soil

Succulents come from an environment where it does not have enough nutrients in water, so we need to recreate that environment when we make our potting mix. I generally use half portion potting soil, one fourth perlites and one fourth part coco peat. Perlites and coco peat help the soil to not become compact and have proper drainage.

3. Make sure the soil is completely dry before watering

Put one of your fingers in the soil, see if it's still wet. Don't water if it is. Wait for a few days and then water. And make sure you do not pour water over the leaves. It might make the leaves look stained and also, water magnifies heat which can result in sunburns over the leaves and might even kill them. You can use a pipe to water to avoid spilling water on the leaves.
If you live in a humid area, like most regions in India, you can water them once a week or every 10 days. In winters, extend the duration to two weeks or more depending on how long the soil stays wet.

4. Sunlight- Succulents really love sunlight given that they are native to deserts. Depending on the type of the succulent, they generally require six to seven hours of sunlight daily. One point to keep in mind is that, putting a newly planted succulent in direct sunlight might kill it. So to avoid that, you must slowly introduce them to full sunlight after 3-4 days of planting.