If You Do This Your Succulent Will Never Thrive

If you are regularly touching the leaves of your succulents, keeping them out of the sun or watering once a year, then your plants will never have the chance to thrive. I've got all the tips you need and all the mistakes to avoid to help you have the best succulents possible. If you're not keeping your succulent in full sun then I'm afraid it will never thrive. When it comes to houseplants, the common advice is to keep them away from direct sunlight to prevent leaf scorching. However, this advice doesn't apply to succulents, which are naturally arid growing plants that thrive in desert-like conditions with plenty of sunlight throughout the day. In order to ensure healthy growth for your succulents, it's important to mimic their natural environment by providing them with as much light as possible. If you have a south-facing window in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the perfect spot to place them so they can soak up the sun's rays all day. This will help your plants to produce flowers and new growth rather than being confined to a dark corner of the room. Jade plants, for example, should be kept in full sun to achieve their characteristic full bushy appearance. A jade plant that is kept out of the sun will start to become leggy with smaller leaves and larger spaces between each leaf on the stem. I keep my succulents on my west-facing bedroom windowsill and every year my Echeverias bloom all spring. If your Echeveria has never flowered, then the chances are it's not in a bright enough spot. The brighter and warmer a spot you keep your succulent in will directly impact how much water you need to give your plant. Keep it on a south-facing window and you'll need to water it more frequently than if you keep it on an east-facing window, and we'll come back to watering in a little bit. Constantly touching the leaves of your succulents will stop them from ever thriving. Lots of succulents, such as Echeverias, have something called Farina on their leaves, but what's Farina? Apart from being the Italian word for flower, Farina is a powdery, waxy substance that appears on the leaves of certain succulents and plays an important role in keeping it healthy. It is produced by the plant to help protect it from excess sun exposure, moisture loss and other environmental stresses. It can be thought of as a natural sunscreen for succulents. Farina is typically white or pale grey and gives the leaves a dusty or chalky appearance. It serves as an indicator of the plant's health. A lack of Farina on the leaves may indicate that the plant is not receiving enough sunlight or that it's not producing enough of the protective coating. It's therefore important that we do not touch the leaves of our succulents with our fingers to avoid this coating from rubbing off. This weakens the plant and makes it more vulnerable to environmental stresses such as sunburn, dehydration and fungal infections. And this is especially true if the leaves are touched with wet hands, which can introduce excess moisture and increase the risk of disease. It is possible that Farina can grow back but usually takes a very long time, depending on how much light and humidity the plant is receiving. You're much more likely to see that leaf fall off before the Farina has had a chance to regrow. You often see echeverias in the shops with finger marks all over the leaves when people have prodded them with their fingers. Not a great practice and if you're choosing one in the shops, pick one with a healthy coating on that hasn't been disturbed too much. Watering succulents is a tricky thing. It's hard to know when exactly to give your plants some water. You've no doubt read lots of warnings to not give them too much water. The problem is newcomers to succulent care often mistakenly believe that their plants never need watering. This misconception arises from the idea that succulents require minimal water and can be left untouched on a windowsill for several months. However, this approach can have adverse effects on your succulents' health. While they do require less water than aroids like philodendrons and alocasias, they do still need water to grow. They store water in their thick leaves and stems, but if they go without water for an extended period, the water in their leaves will deplete, causing them to shrink and shrivel until they die and fall off. To prevent this, it's essential to water our succulents appropriately. I keep mine on a west-facing windowsill in my bedroom where they receive plenty of afternoon sunlight. It's the brightest and warmest spot in my house, and this means that the soil and the leaves and stems dry out quicker than if they were kept in a north-facing spot. During summer, I water them probably every two or three weeks, and during winter I water them every couple of months. This frequency might surprise some, but it's crucial to keep the plants hydrated. But this is my house and my climate, it may well be different for you. The first step to knowing when to water your succulent is to check the soil. I use my moisture meter for this, but you can use your finger by sticking it as far down into the soil as you can go and feeling for moisture. If there is any moisture at all, then leave it another week and check again. It's important to keep on top of probing your succulent, because the fact is, just because the soil is dry does not necessarily mean it's ready for a drink. There could still be plenty of water in the leaves and trunk of the plant, so it's not ready to be given more. So I tend to check every weekend. By keeping on top of probing, you know exactly when the soil is drying out. As soon as it has, I generally wait another week before watering to allow the leaves and the trunk some time to dry out a little bit so they're not taking on too much water. And this is a cautious approach to take. Be careful not to wait too long or the leaves will start to shrink too much. It may seem like a pain in the backside to probe your plant every week, but for succulents it's the best way to have thriving plants. One of the main goals when caring for these plants is to avoid getting water onto the leaves. When water sits on the leaves for too long, it can create a damp environment that encourages the growth of fungi and bacteria, which can cause rot and other diseases. And getting the leaves wet can also affect the furina on the leaves, which can be easily wiped away when wet, causing damage to the plant's protective coating. The solution to this problem then is to bottom water. Most of you know that I'm a keen bottom waterer and I love bottom watering my succulents. The main benefit here is that you can easily control the splash back of water on the plant. When you top water your succulents, it's easy to splash water onto the leaves, whereas with bottom watering you can simply lift the plant out of the decorative pot it lives in and add water to the pot and then put the plant back in. Your plant will then be able to wick up water through the soil because of the drainage holes in the bottom of the plastic nursery pot. And this wick action also ensures an even watering of the plant, with no dry patches in the soil that is more likely with top watering. This is much healthier for the plant. To ensure that you are successful with bottom watering, or even if you continue with top watering, we want to make sure that the plant lives in a pot with drainage holes. Drainage holes for your succulent is vital to prevent overwatering of the plant and to protect those large leaves from taking up too much water and becoming mushy. If you pot your plant up into a pot without drainage holes, there's nowhere for excess water to go when you water your plant. If you're not careful, this will lead to too much moisture in the soil and problems for the plant. I always keep my succulents in plastic nursery pots with drainage holes that then sit in decorative pots and this allows me to control how much water the plant is taking up. Potting up your succulents into just compost or potting soil is one of the worst things you can do for it. The right soil for succulents is a well-draining mix that doesn't retain too much moisture. They're native to arid regions and the natural habitat is characterised by sandy, rocky soil that drains water quickly. The soil should be able to mimic these conditions to promote healthy growth and prevent root rot, which is a common problem for succulents. The ideal soil mix should consist of a combination of materials that promote drainage and aeration. A good mix usually includes coarse sand and perlite with some other organic material like compost or coconut coir. These materials work together to create a soil that allows excess water to drain away quickly while still holding on to enough moisture to support the plant's growth. I make a simple mix myself of approximately 5 parts compost to 3 or 4 parts perlite. The compost retains water and gives nutrients while the perlite gives aeration but it's probably worth experimenting yourself to see what works in your home. I mentioned earlier that succulents don't like to have water splashed onto their leaves and to prevent this we should try bottle watering. Equally important is to not have damp compost touching the leaves of the plant as this can lead to mushy, rotting leaves. To prevent this, a nice little hack is to top dress your plant with a layer of gravel or decorative stones. Adding a layer of decorative gravel or stones on top of the soil of your plant will create a barrier between the leaves of the plant and the moist soil protecting the leaves in the process. Top dressing also improves the appearance of the plant too which is no bad thing. Pruning is an essential practice in maintaining healthy and attractive succulent plants. Unfortunately many beginners are hesitant to prune their plants or they may not know how to do so correctly leading to leggy and unappealing plants. This can cause frustration and even prompt some people to throw away their plants. One of the most common issues that succulent growers encounter is the development of tall and leggy plants particularly in echeverias. This growth habit results in a single central stem coming out of the soil and makes the plant look unsightly. However, pruning can easily solve this problem by cutting the stalk and replanting it into soil for it to develop new roots. They are surprisingly resilient plants and quickly develop new roots after being cut and they are also incredibly easy to propagate from their leaves making it an excellent option for those of you who don't want to grow plants without purchasing new ones. Pruning a jade plant for example is one of the best things you can do for it. It allows the plant to become super bushy with a nice thick trunk and in this video here I show you the best way to prune your jade to achieve just that.