I was gifted this beautiful arrangement but it didn’t come with any care instructions. The pot has no drainage and is currently under a grow light with my monstera. Haven’t worked with whatever medium it’s potted in before and it’s currently slightly damp. Any recommendations are appreciated!!
I used to kill succulents regularly until I moved them into containers with drainage— they love to get dry. Really dry. I also use a combination of Miracle grow succulent soil and Bonsai Jack (mostly this) succulent and gritty mix for my mixed grouping of succulents. You’re doing well with the grow light. Mine got very leggy (tall) and I had to cut back and propagate before using a grow light. I use the weigh method of judging when to water. Sound alike your pot is nice and wet now. Feel or use a kitchen scale to note how heavy, then water when it’s 1/4 or less heavy than that weight.
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I’d suggest getting a couple of cheap terra cotta or plastic pots with drainage holes on the bottom from a Home Depot or Lowe’s and placing them into individual planters, and repotting them with cactus mix, as from the looks of it it’s currently in something with a fair amount of moss in it, which succulents don’t need that much of, and like soil that allows them to dry out between waterings. I swear by Espoma’s Cactus and Succulent mix and it runs for about $7-9 a bag where I live. All my succulents live it. While the care for some of these may be similar in terms of soil and light requirements, they’ll all gonna wanna dry out at different times, so giving them separate pots prevents the risk of overwatering them. If you do plan on separating them, I’d be happy to help you identify the individual plants you have in the arrangement to ID them and log each of them into Planta if you’d like. If you’re gonna try keeping them in one container together, I’d at least repot it with cactus mix and remove the moss, and put it in a larger terra cotta or plastic pot with drainage holes. Hope this helps!
2 likes If you’re new to succulents, or just want some info for any of the plants in the arrangement you’re new to, I’d be happy to share a couple tips for them. Succulents are really low maintenance once they’re in a spot with enough light and in a well draining soil mix. For one, the thin, almost white “film” on the leaves acts like the plant’s natural sunscreen, (it’s not dust) so try to avoid rubbing or wiping it off if you can, cause they can’t regenerate it and if it’s under a grow light or bright windowsill without much of the film, the leaves can quickly burn. Because of that, the ones with the “film” are better to be “bottom watered” (if you’re new to that, it’s really easy. It prevents the leaves from getting wet, helps promote a healthy root system, and helps prevent attracting fungus gnats to soil. Just look up “how to bottom water a plant on YouTube and you’ll be able to find tons of short lil tutorials on it) to keep the film on the leaves protected, and also helps if you’re worried about overwatering plants.
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