A guy at the local nursery told me to stop watering my succulents every week and now they're actually thriving

I used to water them every Sunday without fail and they kept getting mushy. He said wait until the soil is bone dry and the leaves look a little wrinkled, which for me is about every 3 weeks. Has anyone else been overwatering their plants without realizing it?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana_black11d ago

Read somewhere that succulents are basically like cacti when it comes to water - they store it in their leaves and stems. So overwatering rots the roots because they aren't used to sitting in wet soil for long. That's why checking with your finger works so well, you can actually feel if there's any moisture left down deep. I also heard that using a pot with drainage holes helps a ton because it lets excess water escape instead of pooling at the bottom. Once I switched to terracotta pots with holes and stopped watering on a schedule, my succulents went from sad and mushy to looking plump and green. Took me way too long to figure that out.

williamm8215d ago

Yeah, that "bone dry and leaves wrinkled" advice is spot on. I had this exact same problem with my jade plant for like a year. I was watering it every week too because I thought succulents just needed regular water like any other plant. Turned out I was basically drowning it in its own pot. Once I stopped and started checking the soil with my finger, I realized it stayed wet for way longer than I expected. Now I just let it sit there until it looks a little thirsty and it's finally growing new leaves and looking healthy.

king.aaron15d ago

And the "checking the soil with my finger" part is key... I used to just go by a schedule too but now I stick my finger in like an inch deep and if it's still damp at all I just walk away. Feels weird at first but once you get the hang of it, it's almost like the plant tells you when it's actually thirsty.