First time taking care of a succulent. Are the petals supposed to look dry? When I researched it showed that the petals were really plump and green or whatever color they come in. I don’t know if I’m watering my plant enough or if this is normal. I watered my plant this Sunday and it does have slow fertilizer in the soil.
sometimes the bottom leaves of succulents die off to make room for new ones growing in, totally normal. water when the soil is BONE DRY and then some, never before. i would also be concerned that maybe they’re not getting as much sun, there are very few succulents who don’t love full direct light
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The leaves look like they might need more water. Keep in mind, it’s sharing water with all those plants. Dryer is better than too wet, but it handles too dry by sucking up the water stored in those lower leaves. Check the drainage hole, is the soil there dry? If it is, that’s good.😊 Succulents want to sit in dry dirt until they need water again. You are just going to have to keep an eye on your plants leaves to tell you when they need more water. I’ll explain that better in a minute.😅
1 me gusta Ok, so I screenshotted your pictures and marked where the leaves are showing you they need more water. Also it’s marked in planta as outside and in a seed mix soil. If you change that to cactus soil and inside that should help. Also mark that it has a grow light. Basically just check its stats so it will give you more correct advice. But planta is probably going to be way off still because it doesn’t know you have so many plants in that one pot. 🤪 I don’t think it’s a problem until they get bigger, they’ll just need more water.
1 me gusta Each plant is going to be different. Some are going to wrinkle their leaves, some are going to just become thinner, darker, curved, or become more pliable. That’s where knowing what your plant does is very helpful. I would suggest you look at the healthier leaves on the top 2/3 of the plant to know what they should look like when they’re happy. The newer leaves are always going to look funny and feel different than the rest of the leaves. That middle chunk is the normal leaves for your plant. They look great right now! So they are good guide for you to go by.😊 You always look at the lower leaves to tell when it’s time to water. That center one, its lower leaf is curling. The plant on the left, it’s lower leaf is getting thinner. The plant on the left has dry crispy leaves that it has already depleted. While it is very true that old leaves being used up and falling off eventually is normal, it happens faster when they aren’t getting enough water. Your plants will tell you when they need water. Remember, succulent leaves are like water balloons. They suck up water from the dirt through the roots and fill up their leaves starting with the lower leaves. Once the dirt is dry, they are full and happy. This is the default state, full leaves, and dry dirt. They start using up water from the lower leaves first. Once the leaves look thirsty, you water again. Some of these leaves might not fill up with water after you water them if they are too damaged. So if they don’t, watch the next leaf up to look for signs of when to water. The plant will use up the nutrients in the lower leaves that are too damaged so it doesn’t hurt it in anyway. Let me know if this all makes sense or if you have any more questions, I’m happy to help.😊
Here’s what I mean by more pliable, on one of my plants that usually has very firm leaves. It’s a little hard to show, but you see how it’s bending around my finger? Usually that would snap these sempervivum leaves. So when I can do this, they need more water.
Thank you very much for all this advice! I put my succulent outside in sunlight for 6 hours when I’m home but when I’m working I have no choice but to put them in lamp light made for plants. I can tell that the top part of the plants are plump and happy but I still need to learn the bottom so I can tell when they need water. Do you know the right tool to give them the right amount of water? I have a plant spray bottle but I have seen people use long spouts!
1 me gusta That was the other thing I was going to ask. How in the world do you water that?😅 It’s so full, it definitely would be hard to water from above. Succulents don’t need to be misted like high humidity plants so I think bottom watering would be your best bet. Bottom watering is when you fill a bowl with water and submerge it until all the dirt is wet. This may take an hour if it’s hydrophobic from just being misted. Hydrophobic is when it doesn’t want to absorb water because it’s so dry. I’d say to fill the bowl of water up to the dirt line of the plant, but obviously water displacement would probably cause the bowl to overflow. So maybe put the pot in first and then fill the water in the bowl to the soil line of the pot. Those leaves might be so dry after a week because they didn’t really absorb water the last time. They don’t absorb water through their leaves like some plants, only through the roots.
1 me gusta Are you not able to leave them outside all the time?
0 Me gusta Where I live people steal things from your porch. I try to stay optimistic when I buy new things and try to leave it on the porch, but eventually they go missing. I really like my succulent. I don’t wanna see it. Go missing when I come home from work. Maybe I need a stronger lamp?
0 Me gusta Gotcha! That makes sense! I think your lighting situation is probably just fine for them.😊
1 me gusta Also, now that I’m really looking at my plant, it looks like it’s yellowing a little which I’m not sure if that’s what it’s supposed to do. I also bought fertilizer for succulents specifically. I am going to go back to the garden store that I bought it from so I can ask them when was the last time they fertilized and watered this plant. So I can go from there.I will definitely update you in 14 days and see if it improves or if it worsens
1 me gusta The older leaves on the bottom will do that as they age and the plant kind of kills off those leaves and pulls the nutrients from them. It could also be from the lack of water so they stopped supporting those leaves after they got too drained with water. As long as it’s just the lower leaves, it’s fine. But a fertilizer should give them a boost either way. Overall they look very healthy and happy!❤️
1 me gusta Thank you very much for everything! I greatly appreciate it! 😊
1 me gusta You are very welcome! I’m glad I could help.❤️
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