How to Plant Succulents: A Journey Into Desert Gardening That Changed My Perspective on Plants
I killed my first succulent. There, I said it. The plant that everyone swears is "impossible to kill" died under my care within three weeks. That spectacular failure taught me more about succulents than any gardening book ever could, and it fundamentally shifted how I think about these remarkable plants.
Succulents aren't just trendy Instagram props or low-maintenance desk decorations. They're evolutionary marvels that have figured out how to thrive where other plants would shrivel up and blow away. Once you understand their desert logic, planting them becomes less about following rules and more about recreating a tiny piece of their natural habitat in your home or garden.
The Desert Mindset: Understanding What Makes Succulents Tick
Before you even think about soil or pots, you need to rewire your brain. Most of us approach plants with a nurturing instinct – we want to water them, feed them, fuss over them. With succulents, that instinct will kill them faster than neglect ever could.
These plants evolved in places where rain might come once every few months, where soil is more sand and gravel than rich loam, where the sun beats down mercilessly. Their thick, fleshy leaves aren't cute – they're water storage tanks. Their waxy coating isn't decorative – it's sunscreen and moisture barrier rolled into one. Every aspect of their biology screams "leave me alone, I've got this."
I learned this the hard way when I planted my first echeveria in regular potting soil and watered it like my other houseplants. Within days, the leaves started turning yellow and mushy. By week two, it had developed root rot. By week three, it was compost. That $12 plant taught me a $1,200 lesson about respecting a plant's evolutionary history.
Soil: The Foundation of Succulent Success (And Where Most People Mess Up)
Here's something that took me years to fully appreciate: succulent soil isn't really soil at all. It's more like a carefully engineered drainage system that happens to have some nutrients mixed in.
Walk into any garden center and you'll see bags labeled "cactus and succulent soil." Buy one, open it up, and you'll probably find something that looks suspiciously like regular potting mix with some sand thrown in. This is marketing nonsense. Commercial succulent soils are rarely gritty enough, rarely fast-draining enough, and almost always need modification.
My soil recipe has evolved over the years, but here's what works consistently:
- One part regular potting soil (for nutrients and structure)
- One part coarse sand (not fine sand – think construction grade)
- One part perlite or pumice (for drainage and aeration)
Some people swear by adding chicken grit, decomposed granite, or turface. I've tried them all. They work, but they're not magic bullets. The key is achieving a mix that water runs through like a sieve while still holding enough moisture for roots to grab a quick drink.
I once visited a succulent nursery in Arizona where the owner grew everything in pure pumice. No soil at all. Just volcanic rock and liquid fertilizer. His plants were magnificent – compact, colorful, and blooming like crazy. It completely upended my assumptions about what plants "need."
The Container Conundrum: Why Your Cute Pot Might Be a Death Trap
Pinterest has convinced half the world that succulents belong in teacups, mason jars, and glass terrariums. This drives me absolutely bonkers. Those adorable containers without drainage holes? They're succulent coffins.
Drainage holes aren't optional. They're not a nice-to-have feature. They're absolutely, unequivocally essential. Water needs somewhere to go, and if it can't escape out the bottom, it'll sit there turning your soil into a swamp and your roots into mush.
But here's where it gets interesting – the material of your pot matters almost as much as the holes in the bottom. Terracotta pots are succulent gold. They're porous, which means they wick moisture away from the soil. They breathe. They help prevent the number one killer of succulents: overwatering.
Plastic pots work too, but they hold moisture longer. Glazed ceramic falls somewhere in between. Metal pots can cook roots in summer sun. Glass... just don't. I don't care how cute that geometric terrarium is.
Size matters too, but not in the way you might think. Succulents actually prefer being slightly pot-bound. A pot that's too large holds too much soil, which holds too much water, which leads to... you guessed it, root rot. Choose a container just slightly larger than the root ball.
The Planting Process: Where Technique Meets Intuition
Alright, you've got your gritty soil mix, your pot with drainage holes, and your succulent. Now comes the part where most tutorials get annoyingly vague. "Plant your succulent at the same depth it was growing before." What does that even mean when you're dealing with a cutting that has no roots?
Let me walk you through what actually happens when I plant succulents, including all the messy realities that Instagram doesn't show you.
First, if you're working with a nursery plant, that soil has to go. I don't care if the label says it's "premium succulent mix." Nurseries use soil that works for them – it holds moisture during shipping, it's cheap, it's standardized. It's not optimized for your specific growing conditions.
I gently squeeze the pot to loosen the root ball, then shake off as much old soil as possible. Yes, you'll damage some roots. That's fine. Succulents are tough. They can handle it. In fact, slightly damaged roots often branch out more vigorously than intact ones.
For cuttings, the process is different. You need to let cut ends callus over before planting – this takes anywhere from a few days to a week depending on the size of the cut and humidity levels. Plant a fresh-cut succulent and it'll rot faster than you can say "propagation."
When actually placing the plant in soil, I create a small mound in the center of the pot. This does two things: it ensures the crown of the plant (where stems meet roots) sits slightly above the soil line, and it promotes drainage away from the center of the plant. Succulents rot from the crown down, so keeping that area dry is crucial.
The Water Wars: Why Everything You Think You Know Is Probably Wrong
"Water sparingly." "Let soil dry completely between waterings." "Succulents don't need much water." These platitudes are everywhere, and they're simultaneously true and completely useless.
Here's what nobody tells you: succulents want to be watered like their desert homes get rain – rarely, but when it comes, it pours. A little sprinkle here and there? That encourages shallow root growth and weak plants. What you want is to absolutely drench the soil until water pours out the drainage holes, then leave it alone until the soil is bone dry.
In summer, this might mean watering every week or two. In winter, I've gone two months without watering some of my succulents. The plant will tell you when it's thirsty – leaves get slightly soft and wrinkled, colors might fade a bit. That's your cue.
But here's where it gets controversial: I bottom water most of my succulents. I set the pots in a tray of water and let them drink from the bottom up for about 30 minutes. This encourages deep root growth and keeps water off the leaves (which can cause rot or sunburn). Not everyone agrees with this method, but my plants are thriving, so I'll stick with what works.
Light: The Goldilocks Problem Nobody Talks About Honestly
Every care guide says succulents need "bright, indirect light." This is simultaneously true and completely misleading. What they really need is more light than almost any other houseplant, but less than you'd think given their desert origins.
I learned this lesson when I moved my collection from a north-facing apartment to a house with a south-facing sunroom. Within a week, half my plants were sunburned. Crispy, brown, permanently scarred. Turns out, succulents grown in cultivation are wimps compared to their wild cousins. They need to be gradually acclimated to intense light.
The sweet spot for most succulents is morning sun and afternoon shade, or bright light filtered through a sheer curtain. But even this varies wildly by species. Jade plants can handle more sun than string of pearls. Haworthias prefer less light than echeverias. You'll need to observe and adjust.
One trick I've learned: if your succulent is stretching (getting leggy with spaces between leaves), it needs more light. If it's developing brown or white patches, it's getting too much. The plant is constantly communicating; you just need to learn its language.
The First Month: What Actually Happens vs. What Should Happen
Here's something nobody prepares you for: newly planted succulents often look terrible for a few weeks. They might drop leaves, change color, or just sit there looking sad. This is normal. They're adjusting to new soil, new light, new everything.
Resist the urge to water them to perk them up. Resist the urge to move them around looking for the "perfect" spot. Resist the urge to repot them again because you're convinced you did something wrong. Just... resist.
I wait at least a week before first watering a newly planted succulent, sometimes two. This gives damaged roots time to callus and reduces the risk of rot. It feels wrong, especially if the plant looks thirsty, but trust the process.
During this establishment period, you might see aerial roots – little pink or white tendrils growing from the stem above soil level. These aren't a sign of problems; they're the plant's way of grabbing extra moisture from the air. You can leave them or remove them; it's purely aesthetic.
Beyond Basic Planting: The Stuff That Makes You a Succulent Wizard
Once you've mastered basic planting, a whole world opens up. Arrangement planting, where you combine multiple species in one container, requires understanding growth rates and water needs. Some succulents are bullies that will overtake their neighbors. Others are drama queens that will die if they don't get exactly what they want.
Propagation becomes an obsession. Every fallen leaf is a potential new plant. You'll find yourself asking friends if you can have "just one little cutting" from their jade plant. You'll discover that some succulents propagate from leaves, others from stem cuttings, and some stubborn ones only from division or seeds.
Seasonal care matters more than you'd think. Most succulents have a dormant period (usually summer or winter, depending on the species) when they barely grow and need even less water than usual. Watering a dormant succulent like it's actively growing is a recipe for rot.
The Philosophy of Benign Neglect
After years of growing succulents, I've developed what I call the "benign neglect" philosophy. It's not about ignoring your plants – it's about understanding that sometimes the best thing you can do is nothing at all.
This goes against every nurturing instinct we have. We want to help, to care, to improve. But succulents evolved to be self-sufficient. They don't need us; they tolerate us. Once you internalize this, everything becomes easier.
I check my succulents daily, but I might only act on what I see weekly or even monthly. I've learned to read the subtle signs – a slight lean toward the light means it's time to rotate the pot, a barely perceptible softness in the leaves means water in a few days, not today.
This patience, this restraint, this trust in the plant's own wisdom – that's what separates succulent success from the trail of mushy, rotted plants that mark most people's early attempts.
Final Thoughts From a Reformed Over-Waterer
Looking at my collection now – over 50 varieties thriving on various windowsills and shelves – it's hard to believe I started as a succulent serial killer. The journey from that first failed echeveria to here taught me more than just how to keep plants alive. It taught me about patience, observation, and working with nature rather than against it.
Planting succulents isn't really about the physical act of putting plant in pot. It's about understanding and respecting these remarkable plants that have solved the problem of survival in some of Earth's harshest environments. Once you get that, the rest is just details.
So go ahead, plant that succulent. But remember: you're not just planting a trendy houseplant. You're creating a tiny piece of desert, a small monument to evolutionary ingenuity, a living reminder that sometimes the best care is the least care. And if you kill your first one? Welcome to the club. The second one gets easier, I promise.
Authoritative Sources:
Anderson, Miles. The Complete Guide to Growing Cacti & Succulents. Lorenz Books, 2008.
Baldwin, Debra Lee. Designing with Succulents. Timber Press, 2017.
Dortort, Fred. The Timber Press Guide to Succulent Plants of the World. Timber Press, 2011.
Keen, Bill. Cacti and Succulents: Step-by-Step to Growing Success. The Crowood Press, 2011.
Pilbeam, John. The Cactus File Handbook: Echeveria. Nuffield Press, 2008.
Schulz, Rudolf and Attila Kapitany. Echeveria Cultivars. Schulz Publishing, 2005.