So, you just started your own garden. Well Done! You have lots of outdoor plants, and you use some outdoor soil for them. But, you decided to buy some succulents and now you need the best soil for succulents. Unlike most plants, these don’t need the same stuff.
When you want to buy the best soil for succulents, you should take into consideration how it will absorb the water and how it drains it.
If you want your succulent plants to reach their full potential, you must find soil that keeps a great balance when it comes to water. It will need to keep enough water, without absorbing too much of it.
This can be difficult to gauge. There aren’t ingredient labels that state the percentages of the water that is absorbed. But, you should not worry. We are here to help you. We will take a look at the best potting soil for succulents.
Table of Contents
Top 10 Best Soil For Succulents
When it comes to what soil is best for succulents, these were the ones that stood out on the market:
1. Succulent Planter Soil Kit
This is one of the best soil kits you can get for your succulents. It is made by TerraGreen Creations, and is a kit that has everything that you’ll need to set up your own garden filled with succulents. Plus, it comes with straightforward instructions, so you should have no problem adding the soil to your succulent plants.
The kit contains tons of goodies. You will find some pea gravel, which allows for great drainage, as well as some activated charcoal that removes any toxins that might be harmful to your succulents. It also contains some organic soil, providing all the nutrients needed, accompanied by a bright sheet moss. This removes any excess moisture and gives a beautiful bright pop of color to the plants.
What makes this kit really great is its value. If you decided to get all of the ingredients we previously mentioned on their own, you would need to buy them in bulk, which would prove to be really expensive.
Another great thing about the kit is its variety of sizes. It comes in small, medium and large, each of which includes enough materials that will allow you to build your personal terrarium. It’s also a great gift for anyone who’s just getting started with succulents and wants to build their own terrarium.
Pros
- Best Value
- Great Gift For A Gardener
Cons
- Nothing Notable
2. Succulent and Cactus Soil Mix
This another awesome choice for the best potting soil for succulent plants. It is made by the famous Superfly Bonsai, who are a well-known company in the gardening industry.
It is a pre-mixed blend that you can use right out of the box. The mix has many different ingredients, namely Hard Japanese Akadama, which allows for great water retention, as well as USA Pumice that has plenty of useful nutrients for your succulents. It also has some New Zealand Pine Bark which holds the water really well, as well as any fertilizer you use. Lastly, the USA Haydite included helps with the absorption of extra water.
The key selling point of this amazing mix is that it has great water drainage and retention, so your succulents will surely remain healthy. Another great thing is that the air can reach the roots, which helps them thrive. In reality, it doesn’t even contain a lot of dirt, so it would be fair to name it a substrate.
The packaging is also really neat. The bag is resealable, making it really convenient to keep all the mix inside fresh. The mix comes in four different sizes, ranging from 1.25 to 12 dry quarts, so that you can pick according to your needs.
Pros
- Great Resealable Packaging
- Amazing Water Drainage and Retention
Cons
- Not That Many Sizes
3. Cactus and Succulent Blend Potting Mix
Here is another great putting mix by rePotme, the greatest name in the industry. It is an incredible blend. What makes it really unique is that it’s handcrafted in small batches. This is especially good because it ensures that every package has the same amount of care put into it. This translates into the same level of quality and freshness being present in every bag of this mix.
This mix is also great when it comes to draining and absorbing the correct amount of water. It will easily sustain all the water that the succulent needs, without keeping to much of it in. So, in return, your succulent will not rot, which is always a plus.
The blend has a lot of different ingredients, such as pumice, perlite, and sand. However, there is no peat moss in it. Peat moss can sometimes lead to fungus gnats being grown in your succulent, which can kill it on a whim. Instead of peat moss, this blend has ground coconut husk, which is a really durable and effective alternative.
The great thing about this blend is that it comes in a total of six sizes, that range from a small bag of 1.5 quarts to a huge cube of a whopping 50 quarts.
Pros
- Great Ingredients List
- Handmade
Cons
- Nothing of Note
4. Bonsai Jack Succulent Cactus Soil Gritty Mix
This is an amazing soil mix by Bonsai Jack. The key feature of it is that it’s the fastest soil when it comes to draining water. This will help your succulent immensely, since it will never be overwatered, and in return won’t rot. The great thing about Bonsai Jack is that they are both professionals and hobbyists, so the blend is built with great care.
It is also super lightweight and airy, which is exactly what a succulent plant needs. The gritty texture of the soil is also the best choice when it comes to absorbing water, as well as its evaporation and density. Some of the mix’s ingredients are the bonsai block, monitor cal and the pine bark. All of the above are lab-tested, so that they don’t have any insects that might harm your succulent plants.
This mix is actually a bit more bulky than the competition, and the texture of it is not that much like soil, but it’s a 0.25 inch particle size. What this means is that it drains water more effectively than the competition, and allows air to easily get in the soil, which is very beneficial to your succulents.
It comes in a wide range of sizes, ranging from 2 to 112 quarts, which is extremely helpful for those of you who have a huge terrarium or just one small potted succulent.
Pros
- Best Size Selection
- Really Lightweight
Cons
- Nothing of Note
5. Fat Plants San Diego Premium Cacti and Succulent Soil
The soil from Fat Plants is one of the best soils for succulents in pots. As you can see from the name, it’s manufactured by Fat Plants, a licensed grower and nursery that is based in San Diego, California.
It has a plethora of different ingredients, namely perlite, volcanic pumice, blood and bone meal and sand. The main ingredient, which is perlite, is usually one of the easiest ones to work with, so even if you are a beginner, you should have no problem using this soil.
These ingredients have been used by Fat Plants for many years, and have helped many grow their succulents to their full potential. This specific mix is great in draining the water and distributing evenly all over the soil. So, in return, your succulent plants will be very fertile and will get nourished really well.
The great thing about it is that it doesn’t have any big chunks, so it’s all a very nice medium sized blend, which helps the air penetrate the soil and the roots to grow.
It comes in small packages. This specific packaging (gallon size) will fill around four 10-inch pots. You’re also getting a handwritten “Thank You” in each package, so that is also really nice.
Pros
- Great message on the Package
- Amazing Blend
Cons
- The packaging choices aren’t the best
6. Hoffman 10404 Organic Cactus and Succulent Soil Mix
This is the best organic mix for succulent plants that you will be able to find on the market. It is made from Hoffman, a reputable brand when it comes to soils and gardening in general. It can be used in a plethora of succulents, since Hoffman formulated to do so. This also includes cacti, something that is pretty rare.
You will be able to use this one straight out of the box, because it is a ready-to-use product. It is also pH balanced, so you will have no problems with it. The great thing about it is that your succulent will get all the right nutrients from this simple soil mix. It also does a tremendous job when it comes to absorbing and draining water.
The ingredients in the mix are various, some of which are the Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, perlite, limestone and reed sedge peat. Even though peat moss is known to attract some harmful pathogens, you can just place the entire package in the freezer, and all of these will be killed overnight.
You can get this mix in 4-quarts packages, or you could order it in packs of two, three or four. This flexibility is beneficial, since you won’t have to get a big package if you will just use half of it.
Pros
- Great For Cacti
- Great pH
Cons
- Contains Peat Moss
7. Organic Succulent and Cactus Soil Mix
This is another organic succulent mix, like the one above from Hoffman. But, this is made from Next Gardener, a team of professional plant growers based in Denmark, who export it all over the world. The Next Gardener team formulated this mix specifically for bonsai, cacti and many other succulents, including lesser known ones like crassula ovata jade and donkey’s tail.
The soil mix itself is pretty lightweight, allowing air to easily pass through it and helping when it comes to water absorption and drainage. This, in turn, will allow your succulent plant to never rot, which is a common result of over-watering.
The mix itself has organic double-sifted compost, calcined clay and a total of 29 other trace elements, that will keep your succulent healthy and allow it to grow well.
For any professionals out there, the pH of the soil is 5.5, which is a great balance. For those of you who don’t know what that means, if your soil is too acidic or too neutral, it will slowly kill your succulent. The texture might seem a bit different than most of the products on our list, but that doesn’t stop it from being an extremely effective mix.
The great thing about it is that it comes in three different packages, these being a two, four and eight quarts package.
Pros
- Great Organic Option
- Balanced pH
Cons
- The Texture isn’t the best
8. Miracle-Gro Cactus, Palm and Citrus Potting Mix
We’ve already mentioned Miracle-Gro once on this list. This is another one that is considered as one of the best succulent soils. This specific mix is geared towards palm, citrus and cacti as well as other succulents. But, we think that this was evident from the name of the product. As we have previously said, this mix has Miracle-Gro plant food that can keep feeding your plants for up to six months.
Some of the main ingredients of this mix include perlite and sand. These stop the soil from becoming too compact. So, the soil can drain water really fast, and as a result, the result of your succulent will not rot from being overwatered.
This mix is available in an eight quarts package. This might not seem like a lot, but you could buy two, three, or four packs. So, if you have a nice terrarium that you want to take care of, you should opt for the four packs. If you just have some pots with succulents lying around, we’d suggest you buy the one-pack package.
Pros
- Great For Citrus and other Succulents
- Contains Miracle-Gro Plant Food
Cons
- Not the Cheapest one
9. Espoma CA4 Organic Cactus Mix
As you can see from the name, this is an organic cactus mix made by Espoma. However, it isn’t the best one for cacti. The great thing about it is that you can also use it for other citrus and succulent plants. It has some Myco-Tone, which is a water-saving blend. In other words, this helps the soil retain most of the moisture from the water, as well as improving the flow of air through the soil. Thus, the plant will grow much stronger.
Some of the other ingredients that this mix has include peat humus, perlite, sand and sphagnum peat moss. All these make this a great mix with the absolute perfect texture for your succulent. And, even if you forget to water your succulent, this mix offers some great drought stress.
Unfortunately, this mix only comes in a four-quart package and is only available in a two-pack package, for any of you who want to buy it in bulk. But, the bag is resealable, so you can use as much soil as you want and then seal it back up and leave it on the side to use it again later.
Pros
- Best For Citrus Plants
- Perfect Texture
Cons
- Not many packaging options
10. Bonsai Pumice Professional American Additive
The last soil on our list is a soil by Superfly Bonsai. They made this amazing soil, which is ready to be used right out of the box, from the US.
The package has some white pumice, an ingredient that we have seen in some of the other soil mixes we have mentioned today. It also comes pre-sieved, so the package is actually really small compared to some of the other products on the list.
Pumice is an amazing choice as a soil for succulents, since it dries out the soil. This, in turn, will allow the pot your succulent is in to never have a lot of water, thus not rotting the root and destroying your potted succulent. It also offers great drainage and allows a lot of air to pass through the soil and into the roots.
Another great feature, that most of the soils on the list didn’t have, is that it comes with a money-back guarantee. So, if the results aren’t adequate, you can contact the company and get your money back.
This soil comes in three different packages, a 1.25, 6 and 12-quarts one. Each bag is easily resealable, and can be used multiple times, while the soil inside stays fresh for a long time.
Pros
- Made Solely in the USA
- Great Packaging Selection
Cons
- Not the Greatest Quality
FAQs on Potting Soil For Indoor Plants
1. What Ingredients are Used in Succulent Soil?
The most important ingredient in any succulent soil is some kind of organic matter, with peat moss being the most common one. However, it dries out pretty quickly and sometimes it doesn’t even absorb the water that the plant needs.
Some finely ground bark or fiber is often added to the peat moss, which helps the water get sucked by the roots much more quickly, and prevents it from drying out too much.
There’s also an inorganic substance, such a clay and crushed granite, that helps the water get drained enough, keeping the soil light.
2. How Much Water Do Succulents Need?
The worst thing that you can do to your succulent plants is over-water them. It’s actually better if you under-water them, rather than over-watering them. If you have a pot with drainage holes, then all you need to really do is moisten the soil every few days. That’s it.
You want to keep the soil moist, not full of water. A great way to check if your succulent plants need water is by watering them and checking how quick the soil absorbs the water. If the water is absorbed immediately, then it means that you should water them.
If you are not watering the plants enough, they will start becoming much dryer, so that’s a sign of under-watering. To fix this issue, you need nothing more than a bit more water.
Keep in mind that when the temperature drops around winter, you don’t have to water them that much.
3. Can I Leave My Succulent Plants Outside?
Yes, you can keep your succulents outside. As long as the temperature remains high, all you need to do is keep them in direct sunlight. But, if it’s freezing cold outside, you should definitely keep them inside.
Same goes for really high temperatures. Anything above 100 Fahrenheit will dry out the plants, so you will need to keep them indoors.
There are actually some succulents that get sunburned in the form of cloudy leaves or black patches. This means that the plant is getting too much direct sunlight, so you should move it in a shadier place.
When they are not dormant, succulents need to be exposed to sunlight for 6 hours at least, so you should either leave them outside or close to a window.
Conclusion
Succulents are thought to be some of the easiest plants to take care of. The only thing you really need to take care of is that they have enough sunlight and water. But, you will need to find the balance between too much water and too little water.
The soil for your succulents is as important as water and sunlight. Some would say that it’s more important than the latter. This means that you must find the right soil.
Something to look out for is how well the soil drains the water, and how well it holds water. This way, your succulent plant will remain nourished, without getting too much water.
Our personal favorite is the Succulent and Cactus Soil Mix from Superfly Bonsai. Because of the great balance that it has and because of the variety of sizes that it comes, it’s the best choice to make your succulent plants reach their potential.
External references:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succulent_plant
James Fields is the founder of Gardener to Farmer. His passion for gardening goes back to his childhood days when he would visit his grandfather during the holidays and help him with the plants in the backyard. This has now translated to creating a dependable resource for gardening.