Best Soil For Your Succulents

Succulent plants are a great investment because they’re quite easy to tend to. Their undemanding nature makes them a favorite staple plant in an indoor setting. But, do you know that a huge part of your success when it comes to tending to succulents depends on the type of soil you’re using?

For sure, these plants are low-maintenance but too much water retention destroys them. Succulents could easily suffer from root rot. And to avoid this peril, you have to carefully choose the type of potting mix to suit your succulents.

We are here to help as we have learned what works best for your indoor and outdoor plants through trial and error.

Things to Think About Before Choosing Potting Soil

If one thing will stop you right in your tracks, it is providing your succulents with the wrong potting soil. As a result, your plants become waterlogged and stressed, leading to their death.

Yes, some succulents are hardy compared to others, but still, the right soil helps to boost their health. Another important note is that most succulents come from a drier climate with little water.

Hence, they do not do well with too moist soil or heavy watering. So, before planting succulents, consider the following:

Indoor vs. Outdoor Set-up With Succulent Soil Mix

You can find different succulent soil made for indoor houseplants on the market. But you have to think about the volume of potting mix you’ll need. As you need more soil composition, you will have to consider the price as well.

Growing plants outside are different from indoor plants. Your plant receives more airflow and sun, so you need not pay attention to perfectly draining soil compared to your indoor succulents. However, you still have to pay attention to using well-draining soil to be on the safe side.

Organic vs. Non-organic Soil Mix

If you are concerned about using chemicals, an organic mix is best. It will provide adequate drainage, but the organic materials offer nutrients to your plants.

Using a succulent organic mix is more expensive but worth the while. Still, you cannot eat a succulent plant so buying a cheaper non-organic mix is okay if the price is a concern.

The Soil vs. the Mineral Ratio

Most soils have a mix of organic and mineral constituents. But when you look at a professionally formulated soil mix for succulents, it has more mineral content.

The reason is that organic materials retain more water. Even drought-tolerant plants still need nutrients delivered to the roots.

Hence, mineral constituents improve drainage depending on the succulent you grow. The best soil for succulents is sandy soils to help improve drainage.

Container and Drainage

The biggest enemy of potted succulents is soggy soil. Thus, when potting your succulents in a container, please make sure it has ample drainage holes. This applies to any plant you grow.

You can add gravel or rocks to the pot’s base for optimal drainage. In addition, you can place the plant pot on a saucer to help remove excess water once it drains through the holes to throw it on other plants.

Types of Succulent Soil Mixes

Now, you have two options to provide your succulent plants with the best soil mix. You can invest in over-the-counter succulent soils, or you can make your own potting soil.

Best Succulent Soil Available Over the Counter

Here are some of the succulent mixes that you can readily buy over the counter.

• Bonsai Jack Succulent Soil

For the best soil providing drainage for your plants, investing in Bonsai Jack is excellent. You can use these commercial succulent soils for bonsai and cactus plants.

The gritty mix is pre-washed and airy, plus it is an organic soil that is pathogen-free. You find pine bark, calcined clay, and monto clay in the mix. It also has sphagnum peat moss that mimics a dry environment for your plants.

We like that it is of excellent quality and highly effective with fast drainage and presents you with value for money.

• Hoffman 10404 Organic Succulent Soil Mix

To help mimic the natural environment for your plant to grow, Hoffman is the best potting soil to achieve this. It is pH balanced with Canadian sphagnum peat moss, some reeds sedge peat, sand, limestone, and perlite.

The gravelly soil provides nutrients to your plants, and it has ample drainage to prevent root rot. We love that it has an organic mix with a nutrition blend and prevents wet soil. You get detailed instructions on what works best for your plants.

• Perfect Plants Coarse Grit Minerals Potting Soil

No matter what succulent plant you have, they will grow ideally in this porous soil. The freshly mixed soil has organic peat moss with pine bark, lime, and perlite. We like the resealable zip bag for storage to keep the soil fresh.

This cactus soil is of high quality and found at a reasonable price. It is perfectly balanced and specially formulated to retain moisture for growing succulent plants.

• Miracle-Gro Citrus, Cactus, and Palm Potting Soil

The organic materials provide nutrients to your plants to bring them to life using this cactus mix. You need not fertilize your succulents as it has Miracle-Gro plant food included. It also has a mixture of sphagnum peat moss, perlite, and sand to stop soil compaction.

It is of high quality and specially formulated for succulents. With the succulent mix, your plants will produce colorful flowers, and it is easy to use. Unfortunately, you can only use it with your container plants, and we recommend adding more perlite to the mix.

DIY Succulent Soil Recipe

If you like playing in-ground and prefer making a DIY plant succulents mix, here are some great soil recipes you can use:

First Recipe

When it comes to your succulent babies, you do not want to use the wrong soil. When you plant succulents in suitable soil like the recipe here, you can feel assured they will flourish.

Ingredients

• Two parts coarse sand

• One part pumice or perlite

• Three parts potting soil

Dump everything in a bucket and give it a good stir. Then, all you need to do is make sure it is evenly mixed before throwing it in your container.

Second Recipe

Another tremendous do-it-yourself succulent soil mix is this one that is straightforward to make:

Ingredients

• One part potting soil

• One part pine bark

• One part compost

• One part coconut coir

• Two parts coarse sand

• Two parts perlite

• Two parts volcanic rock or pumice

• Two parts gravel rinsed

Mix all the ingredients in a bucket to use as your succulent potting mix.

Why is DIY Soil Mix the Best Soil for Succulents?

Making potting soil for your plants offers you many benefits. The main advantage is that it is more affordable, and you control what goes into your succulent soil.

You can control your ingredients and modify them according to your succulent’s needs to create the perfect soil for succulents to flourish.

Furthermore, the potting mix will be airy, and it helps prevent root rot as the water drains freely, keeping your plants alive.

Final Thought

We hope that our article on using soil for succulents helps you provide your babies with the love and attention they need. If you need to find some succulents to add to your collection, browse the Plantly collection. We are sure that you will find a perfect indoor plant for your living space.