My wife got me this succulent and I have a feeling I am getting close to killing this one also. I feel terrible for these little succulents that are in my possession. I water it once a week and probably too much. I planted it in succulent soil. In the morning it gets direct sunlight and then indirect sunlight for the rest of the day. What am I doing wrong?
by No-Resource6971
19 Comments
it’s not a succulent its a cactus. also bad pot bad soil mix
Once a week is too much!
That’s a catus. Once a month is perfect for the guys.
Does that pot have drainage? How long has the soil been soggy?
Sounds like you self-diagnosed the issue – over watering! Once a week sounds far too often for a cactus. I would wait until your soil is bone dry before deeply watering, making sure your pot has drainage as well
Terracotta pot it wants and less water
Wrong pot. Wrong media. Wrong depth. You want free draining potting mix with a free draining pot. That height of potting media will hinder a bit of airflow in the base so potential rot as part of the cactus is hidden behind the pot. Youd want the potting mix to be closer to top of the pot.. I probably only water my cactus twice a season and let it air dry outside to make sure the top soil is not too wet once I bring it in to prevent rot. Terracota pot suggestion is good.
50% cactus soil, 50% perlite in a small terracotta pot
Ok so first of all, succulents and cacti are trickier than a lot of people give them credit for! Don’t feel terrible, you can learn and improve 🙂 I have a very similar cactus that I’ve been growing for about 3 years, adding a picture too. You can see he’s been chopped and regrown; that’s because a couple of years ago I had overwatered it and there was a spot of rot beginning to develop–so they can be really resilient too.
Anyway, the first thing I would recommend is repotting. Especially if you are prone to overwatering, these types of plants will do best in a terracotta pot with good drainage and a loose, chunky soil. Most succulent soils sold at like the garden center (Miracle Gro I am looking at you) are still too heavy and dense to successfully grow these. But that’s okay because you can still use the succulent soil you have; you’ll just have to amend it to make it less water-retaining. The most commonly used amendment for this is probably perlite. I prefer pumice now but either will work. You want the soil mix to be about 50/50 between the soil and the amendment. Your pot should be no more than an inch, *maybe* two, larger in diameter than the root ball. You can see my guy here is still in a 4-inch pot after 3 years.
If your soil is chunky enough, your pot is terracotta and well-draining, and it’s getting a lot of light, you may be fine watering once a week, but you want to make sure the soil has dried out before you water again. Personally I water this one about every other week. When you water, make sure you are thoroughly drenching the soil until water comes out the drainage hole.
https://preview.redd.it/dnkwjdw149nf1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12b926827cfc50b11a5f0e24ce86147cccab88be
Make sure the plant is in a pot with drainage holes on the bottom. Do NOT give that guy little drips of water every now and then. That will keep the soil moist and will cause rot. Instead, place it in the sunniest spot indoors that you can find. DO NOT WATER IT. Once a month (or less), put that dude in the sink and DROWN his ass in water. Leave him in the sink to drain water out of the bottom of the pot. Once the excess water has drained (give it some hours), move him back to his sunny spot. That’s all.
That’s a cactus. So you need to get a smaller pot and make sure it had numerous holes in the bottom for drainage. This pot is in looks like it had none it maybe one. You only need to water a cactus every 3 weeks. In winter 3/4 weeks. They don’t need water like that cuz they are desert plants and can handle drought. Please c u ange the pot it will definitely kill this plant.
why are you giving it a bath
There’s potting mix/ cactus mix you can buy at most nurseries. To remove the cactus from the pot use kitchen tongs and a cloth. Let the cactus dry out, outside of soil for a few days.
Fill container to the top, fully saturate the soil and let it drain out the bottom.
Repot the cactus in the middle of the pot and support with a stick while it accumulates
Hi! Definitely repot it with a super chunky cactus soil mix, water it thoroughly after repotting and don’t water again until the soil is dry 🥰 good luck!
Change the soil. Cut it in half with sand rocks or anything that’s not soil.
Ok friend here’s what you need to do.Â
Pot, soil, watering, light. Get these dialed and your plant will thrive. Remember it’s natural habitat is a desert, so make it a little desert.Â
Repot this little one into an unglazed terra cotta pot that is smaller than what you have here. Make sure it has a drainage hole.Â
The soil you have is much too dark and moisture retentive- your cactus wants soil mix that drains and dries quickly. Get some nice cactus soil and mix it with perlite 50/50, or even 70% perlite. (Wear a mask when mixing because perlite dust is bad for lungs!) This one change will be a huge improvement.Â
Why? This plant evolved to thrive in a desert, baking and getting blasted with sun all day every day with no water for months on end. It should be in drought, bone dry, the vast majority of the time. Getting blasted full force with sun. This is happy place. They can’t tolerate prolonged moisture and are prone to root rot, which can kill them quickly. I would take this little fella out of that soil asap and just leave him bare rooted for a while until you get the new setup together. It will be fine this way for at least a few weeks.
Watering once a week is far too often, and I’m impressed this little guy is hanging in there. It should be more like once a month. Seriously. Mayyybe every three weeks if it’s super hot for a long time. In winter, it should be more like once every 2 months.Â
Light- you cannot give it too much light. It needs more than you think. What the light situation you’re giving it?Â
Thanks for caring so much for this little one, a few tweaks and it will be happy and healthy for the long run.Â
Gently lift the cactus from its pot, grabbing as close to the soil line as possible – it’s easier if you wait until the soil is completely dry. Use thick gloves or a layer of thick paper (brown paper grocery bags). Gently shake off any excess soil surrounding the roots of the plant, you can massage the root ball a little to minimize the compaction of soil within the roots. Lay the plant to the side and mix equal parts cactus/succulent mix and perlite, enough to fill the pot to one inch below the top. Fill the pot about halfway with your soil mixture then grab the plant and hold it so that the base of the plant (before the roots) roughly matches the level of the top of the pot. Fill in the area around the roots with your soil mixture and press down lightly from the top until the roots are buried and the soil level is about one half inch to one quarter inch below the top of the pot. Water until the soil is saturated and water is running out of the bottom of the pot. Do not water again until the soil is completely dry for a few days. This is a cactus plant, the environment it comes from is very hot and arid. They are used to not having water for extended periods of time. Don’t water on a schedule, only water when the soil is very dry, but when you do water, do a thorough soaking. You can do this!
If you want an indestructible cactus, get a toothpick cactus. I once left it out in the cold for like 2 weeks sitting waterlogged near freezing when I first got it. 6 years later and it is still going strong.
Water onve a month instead
When people say “less water” they don’t mean “smaller amount” they mean “less often”
I honestly don’t remember the last time I watered my cactus!!
Water less. Succulents are plants that grow in dry conditions. Get a cacti and succulent potting soil. It has more grit in it for drainage.
That is actually a cactus.
For perspective, I got a couple of cacti for my ex when I still lived there. I go up once a month to see my adult kids and im sure it’s the only water it gets and it’s absolutely fine.
Cacti dont need full sun and they dont need weekly watering. Put it in indirect light or a window that gets some light but not all day.
The cactus I speak of above is in an upper floor north facing window and is happy