You Will Love Growing Succulents
You will love growing succulents, I promise. Do you love flowers, plants, trees, vegetables or whatever grows in the earth outside? I love my tiny front porch with a basket of flowers sitting on a table. It says “welcome” to me and puts a smile on my face. My daughter, Allison took a class on how to make a wreath with succulents. She recently came to visit me and surprised me with a few plants shown below.
I found the galvanized container pictured below in my garage and decided to wash it and get it ready to plant these babies! I love rustic containers for plants, don’t you?
The first thing you need to do is drill a few holes in your container if your containers don’t have any drainage holes. I turned this container upside down and drilled a few holes about 1/4 inch in diameter. Now, you can plant your succulents in clay pots, plastic, or just about any container. You can plant them in the ground as well. Today I am talking about growing them in pots.
Luckily I have a lot of rocks in my yard so I scooped some of these into my metal container for drainage.
I used this potting soil because I had quite a bit of it left over from planting my garden seeds. This is it: Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix, 2-Cubic Feet (currently ships to select Northeastern & Midwestern states)
You can buy this product at your local garden stores as well.
My daughter Allison showed me her favorite ones to plant, so of course, I wanted those. If a “petal” falls off you can stick it in the soil and you will grow another plant. WooHoo! I love hearing this! The next step is to remove the succulents very carefully from the original containers and place them in your pot or pots. You will then add enough soil around them to cover up to the base of the plants. Here’s the deal, you go choose the succulents YOU want and arrange them how YOU want them. I love this! No seeds, just plant the fabulous colored plants available at every nursery or store in your town!
Tips for growing succulents:
Choose your favorite pots, clay, plastic, or galvanized (personal preference).
The pots must have good drainage (holes in the bottom of the containers).
Choose sturdier pots for taller or top-heavy succulents because the lighter weight ones will tip over.
Many succulents have deep tuberous roots while others have shallow fibrous roots and remain closer to the surface.
Succulents need to be repotted every year to a larger pot, yep they need fresh soil, just giving you the heads up here.
Pests, like aphids, spider mites, and slugs can appear on these gems, so be prepared by using a good insecticide or natural form of killing them if they show up one day.
Rain water is better than household hard tap water because of the minerals.
Fertilizer is needed, yep they love Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium (A mixture called 10-10-10 fertilizer) diluted to 1/4 strength is the best.
Light is critical to succulents, not intense direct sunlight with extremely high temperatures, but they do need light. If you can see the plants leaning towards the “light” then periodically turn the pot so it will grow evenly.
Let me know if you have grown succulents, I would love to hear how your’s are doing. Have fun and remember to be prepared for the unexpected.
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