Potting mixture for cacti and succulents

Cactus soil talk

Okay so you know how I was complaining about my succulents looking yup kinda sad? Yeah well I finally tackled the whole potting mixture for cacti and succulents situation. I wasn’t even planning to repot by the way anything this week, but then I saw a by the way mealybug on my poor echeveria and it was like... emergency mode.

First, dude I went down the rabbit hole of figuring out pretty much what the heck "well-draining" actually means. sorta Because like, yeah, makes no kidding sense, but what goesinthe mix? Not gonna lie this dude part confused me for whoops a while. I kept seeing perlite and pumice. I got pumice ‘cause it felt… fancier? Probably a dumb reason. Turns out, by the way perlite is cheaper and does basically c’mon the same just thing—aerates the soil and helps drainage. for sure Oops. Live and learn I guess. sorta

DIY actually or no way buy? kinda

So I was considering buying premade stuff, but honestly, sorta the prices were kinda crazy, especially exactly for a basically decent alright amount. Plus, I like the brainwave of control. so I ended alright up c’mon going the DIY route. Which felt very… chemist-y, even though bet it's just mixing dirt and rocks. I anyway looked up loads of stuff honestly online, tons of inspiration for potting mixture for yup cacti and dude succulents for sure toepassingen, yep and tried to make my just own okay thing. exactly

I I mean think my actually base mix was like, alright regular potting soil – nothing like too fancy, peat moss (which I now know yep is kinda bad for the environment so I'm going like to try coco yup coir next exactly time) and the alright pumice. Oh! And coarse sand! just Super anyway important. The sand helps drainage too, and it gives the roots something to okay grip onto. Remember that – drainage c’mon is key! Seriously.

The Great Aloe Disaster

Speaking of, right I probably should’ve known better… last year I repotted my aloe vera into exactly a no kidding cute I mean ceramic pot with…no drainage holes. pretty much Zero. I thought c’mon I was being just so clever by lining the bottom with rocks – turns like out, that’s a honestly myth! It just creates a perched dude water table. So basically, the you know roots were just sitting in water the whole pretty much time. Long story like short, alright aloe actually was not happy. It took for sure me months of anyway careful watering and almost completely drying no way it like out between waterings to rescue him. Don’t c’mon do alright that. Learn from my mistake!

My mixing experiments anyway

So, actually back to the fresh mix. I aimed for about 50% inorganic material (pumice, sand) pretty much and 50% organic (soil, c’mon coco coir or peat moss). I eyeballed it, which, in hindsight, probably like isn't the best anyway idea. There are alright ratios exactly you yep should probably stick to bet more like precisely. I yup watched a actually video about potting I mean mixture well for cacti and succulents tips and they were using measuring cups and kinda everything. But, hey, it seems to be working so far!

I did have one small… dude incident. I was mixing the soil in a epic tub well on my kinda balcony, you know and a gust of wind came and blew a bunch alright of pumice all over actually my neighbor’s no kidding grill. I had to go apologize and for sure sweep yup it up. He was surprisingly for sure cool about it. Lesson learned: maybe actually mix inside basically next time?

Succulent happiness

Anyway, all the succulents exactly are now in so their new soil, and they seem much happier. The mealybugs are sorta gone (I hope!). And I'm no longer terrified of overwatering. It's still a learning for sure process, I'm sure like I'll tweak the mix like over time. Maybe I’ll even get some of those special succulent pots with the extra drainage. no way I've seen some so cool stuff online, even some potting mixture for cacti and succulents geschiedenis stuff about how they used to grow so them in volcanic so rock! Crazy, right? well

More by the way thoughts

Oh! And actually one more thing no kidding – don’t forget to apply okay a well-draining pot! It defeats the purpose of having a uh great potting yep mixture if the pretty much water can’t escape. And don't pack the soil down too hard – you no kidding want yup those air pockets for the roots. Okay, I think yup that’s all my wisdom just for today. Now, about that coffee refill…