How to water Succulents?

Watering a succulent has been a challenging task since ages for both the beginners as well as experienced growers, it is often seen that in the fear of over watering a succulent we just do not water them and the result will be a dull looking shabby plant. Now to answer the question we need to know few basic things about succulents.

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1.what is a succulent?

The meaning of word succulent is soft, juicy, fleshy tender pulpy etc.. in English and in plants they are group of cute looking adorable once with thick leaves, stem or roots in which they store water. So now you can understand that succulents by default have stored water in there parts and are also known by the name “Xerophytes”.

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2.know your Climate…..

To grow a succulent successfully you should first know your growing area, as it determines much about the health and growth of the plant. Humidity level and temperatures are two main factors that will control the watering intervals of the succulents. To be more precise these bunch of plants like low humidity and temperatures between 12C to 36C. Higher the humidity then the plant has to be watered sparingly, lower the temperature once again the plant needs to be watered sparingly and it is the reverse if the humidity is low and the temperature is high.

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Now that we have understood the succulents in a proper way let us know how to water a succulents. Generally I have heard many people saying that they spray water once or twice a week, but I some how feel that over a long run this will not work out properly, let me explain why.

When you spray on the succulents ,you generally spray them on there leaves and make them damp which most of the succulent do not like and further there is a chance that while spraying, the water does not reach the soil. Few people taking a precaution they do not spray on the leaves but with a nozzle they spray on the soil to make it damp, but here we are not sure how much water the plant is getting. Out of my experience suggest two ways to you in order to have a good and healthy succulent.

1. If the succulent is small and if it is growing in a pot then you can immerse the pot totally into a tub of water in such a way that the water does not flow in to the pot. In this way we are making sure that the soil is completely damp and there is no extra water and at the same time the roots tend to grow deep and strong as the soil at the bottom of the pot is more damp, in this way the succulents will develop deep and healthy roots and more over this is the natural system in which the plants obtain water in the nature from the ground
2. If you have big succulents or if the pot is not movable then the alternate way is to take a can with a long spout and completely dampen the soil till the water flows out through the drain hole. Make sure that the bottom tray is empty and there is no excess drain water stored in it. This way of watering also helps to develop long and strong roots.

Note: in both the ways which ever way you prefer see to that the watering should be done only after the soil has totally dried up.

To learn about the soil requirement of the succulents click here

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