Succulent plants are so cute and a popular choice for home decor and your garden. However, if you have a feline friend, you may be wondering which types of succulents are safe for them to be around. While succulents are generall considered to be non-toxic to cats, some species can be harmful if ingested. Here is a list of some of the most common succulents that are safe for cats:
Echeveria
Aeonium
Peperomia
Haworthia
Â
Research and data on poisonous plants evolves constantly, please do your own research before purchasing a plant. If your cat starts showing a loss of appetite, mouth irritation, vomiting, lethargy, difficulty breathing, these are all signs of plant poisoning. Pets exhibiting severe symptoms of any kind should be taken immediately to an emergency vet clinic or animal hospital. If your pet is experiencing mild symptoms, supervise them for at least the next 24 hours. Call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (888-426-4435) if their symptoms don’t clear up within a short time.
In this post, we will be talking about when to water your succulents. This is a very good question and the answer is a lot more complicated than you’d think. Your watering schedule depends on several factors. These factors include the species of succulent, your soil, and your climate.
Your succulent
The species of your succulent, think Graptosedum vs. Mammillaria Cactus, will dictate your watering schedule. When your succulent is thirsty, you will see wrinkling on their leaves. As we learned in my post 5 Reasons Succulents Are The Best Plants for Beginners, succulents store water in their leaves. This is so they can withstand a severe drought in their natural habitat. When you notice that your succulent’s leaves wrinkling, this is an indication that you should be watering them more frequently going forward. As your succulent has new growth, older leaves will die off naturally. However, do not wait to see wrinkling on your leaves before you water as this could cause you to lose those bottom leaves prematurely.
Your Soil
Your soil will also play a major factor in your watering schedule. If you have a good cactus mix soil with good drainage, your soil will dry out more frequently. If you do not have a good mix with perlite or orchid bark (paid link), your soil will retain moisture for a lot longer.
When I started gardening, I invested in a $10 Dr.Meter moisture meter (paid link) so that I could quickly assess the moisture of all the plants in my garden. Based on the reading from the meter, I would decide if it was time to water or not. If you do not want to spend $10, you could use a wooden chop stick. Stick it into your soil and pull it out. If it comes out moist or with soil attached, it is not time to water. You could also just stick your finger an inch or two into the soil to feel if your soil is wet.
Your containers also play a role into how quickly your soil will dry up. I have found that ceramic and plastic pots will retain moisture much longer than terracotta pots. My favorite pots are terracotta because they help the plant breathe.
Your Climate
Lastly, your climate also plays a big role in your watering schedule. As you get more into gardening and plants, you will hear talk of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone. These zones will tell you what the best plants are to grow in your zone. If you go to their website, you can type in your zip code and get your hardiness zone. Here in Southern California, I am in zone 10b. When you find a plant that you like, you can google their ideal zone. You could also google the best plants for your specific zone.
When you are purchasing plants, it is important to ask if your succulents are fully acclimated to being out in the direct sun. Remember that these plants are grown in large greenhouses with filtered sunlight. I’ve burned lots of plants that I brought home and put them outside before acclimating them to direct sun. To acclimate your succulent, you should put it outside in direct sun for a few hours a day and then move them to the shade. After a week, they should be ready for direct sun.
Your watering schedule will depend on if your succulent is indoors or outdoors. If outdoors, it will also depend if they are in direct or indirect sunlight. Also, in the summer, your soil will dry out quicker. This might have you watering every three or four days.
In the winter, you might water once a week or every two weeks. For some succulent species, you might actually need to stop watering all together in the winter.
Ultimately, succulents are very resilient plants. Unless they get completely burned in the sun, any damage is salvageable. Remember that with watering, less is more. You can make more mistakes and kill more plants with overwatering than underwatering. Overwatering your succulent will cause your plant’s stems and leaves to yellow and rot. If this happens, you should cut off the top new growth and try to propagate this part. Use my succulent propagation guide if you need help.
Please do not overthink or overcomplicate your watering schedule. Don’t listen to people online who give you exact times to water. As you learned, watering depends on a lot of variables based on your own situation. There is no one schedule fits all.
As you continue your succulent journey, these skills and knowledge will become second nature. Please tell me in the comments or on social media using the hashtag #succulentflora if you learned anything new and anything you’d like me to write about!
In this post, we will be discussing how to propagate succulents in 3 easy methods. Succulents are the easiest plant to propagate which I am excited to share with you below.
           Have you ever moved or repotted your succulent only to accidentally remove or break a leaf? Don’t freak out! If it was a clean break from the stem, this leaf can be placed on top of soil and it will sprout roots. You can dig the part that broke off from the steam into the soil a bit, but this step is not required. Once the roots grow out, they will find and grow into the soil.
You do not need to care for this little leaf too much, just protect it from direct sunlight as this can dry out or burn your fragile leaf. In my post 5 Reasons Succulents Are The Best Plants For Beginners, I taught you how succulents are resilient and carry water in their leaves. This means you do not need to water your leaves.
After a week, check if you start to see little pink roots growing at the end of your leaf that broke off from the steam. Once you start seeing these roots, you can begin to water by gently spraying the roots every 3 days or when the soil is completely dried out. After a few weeks, you will start to see a new plant grow from the roots.
When do you cut off the mama leaf? You can pretty much leave it to dry off on its own. Once you have pretty established roots and a new plant, you can decide to cut off the mama leaf with clippers. You could also pull it away from the new plant if you can do so without causing damage to the new plant.
You could also propagate through division. Some species grow little babies that you can separate from the mama plant by digging them up and pulling apart. You can then put them in separate pots. Please wait until the baby plant is big enough to survive on its own. 1-2 inches is pretty good. By this point, when you pull them apart, your baby plant should have some roots of their own.
You can do the same method on a plant with multiple rosettes or clumps in one. You can then pot them up individually. Please put them in dry soil and wait a day or two before watering, remember these roots have open wounds and watering too soon can cause them to rot. Over on YouTube, Urban Gardening has a great video demonstrating how to leaf propagate.
You can also propagate by beheading. This is when you cut the succulent at the bottom of the stem. Treat this as you would leaf propagating and pot in dry soil and wait a week before you begin watering. You can use this method when your plant has grown leggy (etiolation) or you feel your plant is struggling with its old roots. You can also keep the old roots with the stem and this will grow new leaves in a few weeks. Now you have two (or more) new plants!
Please let me know in the comments or on Instagram if you have used these methods before. Add the hashtag #succulentflora to your posts to show us progress/success from the methods you’ve learned.
In this post, I will be explaining the 5 reasons succulents are the best plants for beginners. These plants are great if you’re just beginning your journey of being a plant enthusiast. I have been collecting Succulents for over 2 and a half years. I also own other houseplants such as Pothos and Monstera Deliciosa.
They are forgiving – It is completely fine to fall in love with that beautiful echeveria, bring it home, then lose interest now. When I started, I would buy a plant, pot them in a nice container, and water them. After a few days, I’d sort of lose interest. This plant isn’t “new” or as exciting anymore. That doesn’t mean I’m a bad plant parent. I think realizing that is just human nature helps. Succulents are used to infrequent waterings in the wild so they are built to withstand long droughts. They store water in their leaves which is why you’ll notice them plump for a few days after a watering. I’ve gone more than two weeks without watering my plants before I noticed any damage by drought.
They are long-lasting – When I started my fascination with plants, I began by growing roses. This is one of the most popular flowers. However, I quickly learned that this plant needed a lot of care and attention. Between work and family life, I would sometimes miss a watering and my plant would burn in the sun. Also, their flowering was sporadic and short lived. This is not the case with succulents which you can always enjoy as they do not have seasons. Depending on their species and climate at your place on the globe, some succulents go dormant or stop growing.
They help increase focus – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 11 percent of American children have ADHD. Many adults and children also have issues with attention. But as Richard Louv describes in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods, which introduced the concept of Nature Deficit Disorder, regular exposure to nature – even in the form of houseplants and succulents – can help children to focus better.
They are affordable and easy to propagate – Succulents are relatively cheap compared to some hybrid roses. I started purchasing expensive David Austin roses, which for the price of one I have bought dozens of succulents. With low investment, you can test the waters and see how you’d do as a plant parent. If you find that gardening is not for you, gift the plant to a friend who might enjoy it more.
They are therapeutic – I am not kidding, it can be exciting to see new growth on your little plant. After forgetting about it for a week, finding new growth shows you how resilient this plant is. It helps me decompress when I can check on my plants and have something to take care of. Once a month (or whenever I remember/have time), I put on my AirPods and do some maintenance on my plants. This is when I check for pests and remove dead/dried up leaves. This is my “me time” and I’ve found it to be very therapeutic.
I hope these 5 reasons succulents are the best plants for beginners push you to start your own journey. There is a huge community of succulent enthusiasts on almost every platform which is great to be a part of. The community will also help you along your journey.
Let me know in the comments if you decide to start and which plant you go with. Also, check out my other informative posts on succulents & cacti care. Let me know if there is anything you would like to learn more about.
Welcome to Succulent Flora. This is a new blog that I have start which will be about Succulents and Cacti. I have been interested in Succulents and Cacti for a little over 2 and a half years. Starting with a tiny Echeveria Lola, my collection has since grown to over 100 plants! I am now getting into houseplants as well. As much as I think I know about these plants, I am still learning new things and discovering new species.
Be sure to check out our Informative, Resources, and Videos posts for specific posts on different categories.
Please come along on the journey as I document my love for these plants and share my knowledge with you. Let me know if there is anything you would like me to cover in my blog and I will try to do just that!
