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How to transfer succulents from soil to pot?

KevinPlant
Growing in Experience

How to transfer succulents from soil to pot?

Hi, does anyone know what happens to my succulent?


After I transfer them from the soil to the pot, they look sick. They used to be very healthy.

 

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Thanks

BradN
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Re: How to transfer succulents from soil to pot?

Hi @KevinPlant. What's your concern about the Echeveria in the top photos? It looks good to me.

 

Are you worried about the red tinges around the edges of the leaves? That's nothing to be concerned about. That red colouring is caused by protective compounds called anthocyanins that many succulents (and many other plants) push into their leaves when the plant is under stress.

 

These compounds can perform different functions depending on what is stressing the plant. They can act as a natural sunscreen if a plant has been placed in harsh sunlight, or they can reduce moisture loss if the plant is not getting enough water.

 

With many succulents, such as your Echeveria, people deliberately "stress" them by putting them in full sun and/or not giving them much water so that all those lovely red, pink and purple colours really come up.

 

Yours might be a bit stressed from being transplanted, but the new growth in the centre of the rosettes looks great.

 

The best thing to do is to make sure that it's in nice, fresh, free-draining succulent potting mix, and that the pot has good drainage. If you have transplanted it in old garden soil I would tip that soil out of the pot and replace it with succulent mix. Don't damage the roots trying to remove any soil caught up within the root system. Just leave it there.

 

Other than that, the best thing to do is probably nothing. The worst thing you can do is overwater it because then it might rot.

 

With the jade plant down the bottom, I can't tell whether those black spots are a bit of odema from the plant sucking up too much water, or whether it has some sort of disease. Perhaps the wonderfully knowledgeable @Noelle could offer a diagnosis.

 

Once again, I would make sure it's in fresh succulent potting mix and a pot that drains freely, and then leave it alone for a while to get settled in. I'd also keep it away from any other jade plants you have, just in case.

 

My best tip for not overwatering succulents is first to gently try to bend a leaf or two. If the leaf is firm and feels like it will snap if you bend it that means its cells are already full of water and you shouldn't water it

 

If the leaves are bendy you can give it a good drink. If you're ever in doubt, wait another week.

 

Brad

 

Noelle
Kind of a Big Deal

Re: How to transfer succulents from soil to pot?

Hi @KevinPlant 

There's certainly nothing wrong at all with the echeveria!  Brad is right about the russeting of the leaf edges and it does look quite attractiv as well as healthy.

 

The spotting on the jade looks to be mainly on older leaves, so I wouldn't worry too much about that either. 

 

Choosing a good potting mix when growing in pots is important, as is taking care not to over-water.

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