New Succulent Setup: Complete Guide to Repotting and First Care

COMPLETE GULDE TO REPOTTING AND FIRST CARE

This is an extremely important issue, deciding more than 50% of whether your succulent plant will live well or not. In this artical, I will mention the following issues:

First, why do you have to change the soil for succulents, and how to mix soil for succulents?

Next, how to choose a pot for succulents, what size and material should you use?

Steps to change the pot for succulents.

Finally, how to take care of succulents after changing the pot?

1. Why do you need to change the soil for succulents and how to mix the soil in detail.

When you just bought succulents, check the soil and you will often see that the soil is relatively moist and has a high water retention capacity. The reason is because succulents are often bred in greenhouses, or areas with cold, dry climates, so the soil will often be mixed so that the soil can retain the best moisture to help the plant grow. However, when bringing the plant home to plant in the garden, it is usually an area with a hot, humid climate, and the sunny and windy conditions will not be as ideal as in a greenhouse. Therefore, we need to mix the soil for succulents so that the soil has good drainage and dries quickly.

There are many ways to mix soil for succulents, below I will introduce everyone to 3 ways to mix soil for succulents and the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

- Firstly, mix the soil with a ratio of 40% peat moss or rice husk ash + 40% pumice stone + 20% perlite stone

The advantage of this mixing method is that the soil mixture has all the organic and inorganic components to help the plant grow quickly. The disadvantage of this soil mixing ratio is that the peat moss or rice husk ash component must be replaced after about 3 months, otherwise the mixture is easy to clump and the roots do not develop.

- The second soil mixture is 100% Akadama soil, this is a high-quality soil commonly used for growing bonsai.

The advantage of this mixture is that the substrate is very clean and can be used for more than 6 months. The disadvantage is that it is expensive and difficult to use for mass planting of many trees.

- The third soil mixture is 100% mineral rocks such as masato, lava rock and zeolite.

The advantage of this mixture is that when watered, it dries very quickly, the plant will almost never be waterlogged if planted with this rock mixture. However, that is also a disadvantage if the planting place has too much wind, the rock mixture dries too quickly, causing the plant to not absorb enough water, the plant will grow slowly. And this rock mixture is also not full of nutrients, so if using 100% rock mixture, you must add other types of fertilizer.

Those are 3 suggested soil mixtures for growing succulents that I want to introduce to you. You can choose the mix that suits your needs.

2/ Choosing a pot for succulents

Material

Planting pots come in many materials, and there are 3 popular materials: terracotta pots, ceramic pots and plastic pots.

In my opinion, terracotta pots are the best choice when planting succulents. The reason is that terracotta pots have the ability to absorb water to the surface of the pot, helping the soil to dry quickly and be airy. In addition, when planting in terracotta pots, we can easily observe when the terracotta pot is dry or wet. When we see that the terracotta pot is dry, it means that the soil in the pot is dry, we can water the plant.

For the remaining 2 types of pots, ceramic pots and plastic pots, although they have the advantage of being more aesthetically pleasing than terracotta pots, when planted in these 2 types of pots, the soil will take longer to dry, so it will take longer to take care of the plants.

Choosing the right size

Many people who are new to growing succulents often make the mistake of choosing a large pot for a small succulent, because they don't want to have to replace it later when the plant grows. However, this is a common reason why your succulent cannot live well. The reason is that when the pot is too big, there is too much soil in the pot, when watering, the amount of water retained exceeds the plant's needs, and it takes a long time for the soil to dry, making the plant prone to waterlogging.

Therefore, when choosing a pot for a succulent, you should choose a pot that is a little larger than the plant, not too big.

3/ Procedure for repotting the succulent when you first buy it

With the first step, take the plant out of the old pot and remove all the old soil.

Check the roots of the plant, only cut off the damaged or diseased roots, keep the healthy roots.

Then, if you want to be safe, you can dry the plant in a dry place for 1 day before repotting.

Or you can repot the plant immediately, but be careful not to water it immediately.

Use a mesh to line the bottom of the pot so that the soil and rocks do not fall out.

For tall pots, you should put a layer of rocks at the bottom to reduce the amount of soil.Gently place the plant in the pot, add soil to secure the plant.

On the top, you should spread a layer of stones such as pumice, masato or zeolite so that when watering, the soil will not be washed out.

4/ How to care for succulents after buying them

After repotting the plant, leave it in a place with light sunlight for about 1 hour in the morning, do not water it on the first day, only water it after 24 hours, and wait for the soil to dry completely before watering it again. Expose it to light sunlight for the first 3 days

During the first week, gradually increase the amount of sunlight for the plant by 2-3 hours, so that the plant can get used to the new environment.

The ideal place to plant succulents is a place that receives morning sunlight before 10am or after 2pm, avoid harsh sunlight at noon. The place should have as much wind as possible and avoid rain.

After 1 week the plant has gotten used to the new planting location and the plant is stable, you can increase the amount of sunlight for the plant to 5-6 hours per day.

A few small notes

- When watering the plant, you must water thoroughly, watering so that all the soil in the pot is wet. And observe the soil to water the next time, when the soil is completely dry, then water. Usually after 3-4 days the soil will dry.

- When you first change the pot for the succulent, in the first few days the plant may have a few yellow leaves at the bottom, this is a normal sign, you just need to pluck the yellow leaves and take care of it normally.

This is the complete guide to handling succulents when you first buy them, hopefully this video will help everyone know how to grow succulents properly.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in the comments section below, I will try to answer all your questions.