Plant notes

How I Finally Stopped Killing My Indoor Succulents

I've murdered more succulents than I care to admit. For years, I thought these plants were supposed to be foolproof, which made each shriveled echeveria feel like a personal failure. Turns out I was making some really basic mistakes that nobody bothered to mention when I bought them. Here's what actually works in my north-facing flat.

The Watering Thing Everyone Gets Wrong

I used to water my succulents every week like clockwork because that's what I did with other plants. Huge mistake. The soil in those little plastic pots they come in stays wet for ages, and succulents absolutely hate that. Now I stick my finger deep into the soil and only water when it's completely dry all the way down, which in my flat means roughly every two to three weeks in winter and maybe weekly in summer. I also learned the hard way that when you do water, you need to absolutely drench them until water runs out the drainage holes, then let them dry out again completely. This feast-or-famine approach mimics their natural environment way better than my old 'a little sip every week' method that rotted more roots than I want to remember.

Light Requirements: They Need More Than You Think

My first batch of succulents died on my bathroom windowsill, which I thought was fine because there was a window right there. Wrong. Most succulents need serious light, like several hours of direct sun if you can manage it, or the brightest indirect light possible. I moved mine to my south-facing kitchen window and the difference was incredible. The plants that had been stretching out and going pale suddenly tightened up and their colors came back. If you don't have good light, I've found that some varieties like haworthia and gasteria tolerate lower light better than others. The super colorful ones and anything with 'sun' in the common name? Forget it without a proper bright spot.

Soil and Pots Matter More Than I Thought

I kept my succulents in the soil they came in for months, and it was basically peat that stayed soggy forever. When I finally repotted into proper succulent mix with lots of grit and perlite, suddenly I stopped getting root rot. You can buy premade cactus soil, but I make my own now by mixing regular potting soil with perlite and horticultural grit, about one-third each. As for pots, I was drawn to those cute ceramic ones without drainage holes, which is basically a death sentence. Now I only use pots with drainage holes, even if they're boring plastic. I put the boring plastic pots inside prettier cache pots when I'm feeling decorative, but the plants themselves need to drain properly or they're doomed.

Winter: The Silent Killer

Nobody told me that succulents basically go dormant in winter, especially in the UK where the light levels drop so dramatically. I kept watering mine on the same schedule and wondering why they kept dying between November and February. Now I barely water at all during winter months, maybe once a month if that, and I've stopped expecting any growth. They just sit there looking the same for months, which apparently is normal. I also moved them slightly back from the cold windowpane because I lost a few to cold damage when we had that freeze last January. They're tough plants, but they're not designed for British winters on a drafty windowsill.

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