Use plants to bring life.
-Douglas Wilson
Got cuttings?
Click here for instructions.
BASIC Succulent Care
Succulents are low maintenance plants, not no maintenance plants. This section will show you basic care instructions to ensure that your succulent arrangements thrive.
Zones
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed plant hardiness zone maps to guide gardeners or landscapers in choosing plants that will survive in their climate. Zone numbers are based on the minimum winter temperature of the area: the lower the temperature, the lower the zone number. For instance, Alaska has Zone 1 whereas Hawaii is Zone 11.
As you can imagine, knowing your zone number will help you grow the right succulent plants and learn how to care for them properly.
To find your zone number, check out the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. You can enter your zip code or search by state.
light
The more light, the better. Most succulents are meant to be outdoors requiring half to full day of sunlight, but some can thrive indoors as well. You just need to know what to do. See examples below:
1. My previous work office with no windows. Yikes.
2. Our guest bathroom that has one small window.
I promise you, all of my plants in both less-ideal conditions survive. For example #1, I gave them artificial light using my desk lamp, watered them as needed, and took them home on the weekends for some sun love. For example #2, I opened the blinds to let some light in, watered them as needed, and took them outside for some sun love once or twice a week.
For terrariums: Direct sunlight is not recommended because glass tends to magnify sunlight which would burn your plants.
WATER
Succulents don’t need a lot of water. Unlike non-succulent plants that require shallow but frequent watering, succulents need the exact opposite: deep but less frequent. Deep-watering method requires you to run the water until the water runs out of the drainage hole.
Over-watering is oftentimes the cause for many succulent’s untimely death. I totally get it, we all have busy schedules and sometimes, we forget when we last watered which plant. So naturally, we just water when we remember because we’re thinking, “Just to be safe.” Problem is, you can’t and shouldn’t do this with succulents. So here’s my tip: when in doubt, don’t do it. At least not right away.
Here’s another tip: If you don’t know when you should water, let the soil tell you. Touch the top soil using the tip of your finger. If it feels dry to the touch, then water. But if not, it’s best to leave it alone and try again the following week.
Make sure you allow the soil to completely dry before watering again to avoid root rot.
When watering small arrangements including terrariums, I recommend using a bottle squeezer that is oftentimes used for ketchup, mayo, or mustard. This will allow you to control the amount of water you’re using.
SOIL
All succulents require a well-draining soil. This means that the soil must allow water to flow through easily to avoid soaking the roots that will end up in root rot. If you received an arrangement from me, this is not something you need to worry about. Lucky you!
When mixing your own planting medium though, I recommend mixing potting soil with either sand, fine gravel, or what I always use and can’t garden without — perlite. I do a 60/40 mix, roughly. Most sites recommend using cactus soil. You can do that too but I find it unnecessary for 2 reasons: it cost more and when I do use it, I still put perlite. So I stick with potting soil and my plants thrive as they did with cactus soil.
FERTILIZER
Knowing your succulent’s growing season will help you determine when is best to fertilize. Most succulents that I grow and arrange are active in the spring season so I fertilize with a well-balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) a month or so before we expect “spring weather”. I do this on a monthly basis and stop in the late fall before they go dormant in winter.