Succulent Unboxing: What should you do when you receive a succulent by post?

1. Unboxing

You should unbox straight away, don't leave it in the dark a minute longer than necessary. Please be really careful when unwrapping, as some succulents can be very delicate. Succulents usually need to stay dry for a period of time, otherwise they can rot during transit. This makes them to be even more fragile than they usually are. 

2. Potting

Now your precious succulents are out of the box, what do you do with them next?

If they arrived potted, place the potted succulent in bright area out of direct sunlight. Even though they love the sun, they will get burnt if they are suddenly moved to strong sun. Also, don't re-pot it just yet and wait until they acclimatise and get stronger.

For bare-rooted succulents, you can either pot them right away, or leave them like that.

• If you decide to pot up right way, please use dry soil. Unrooted succulents don't like moisture and are liable to rot. Then you can leave them in bright shade for a few days before gradually move to sunnier area. 
• if you didn't pot them straight away, you can leave them in bright shade area for a few days before potting up. Dry soil still recommended. I would keep them in the bright shade still for a few days after potting up, then you can start introducing them to the sun.

The bottom line is they don't like too much too quick change. Everything has to be gradual.

3. Watering

• When?

Once you see that they start rooting, you can start giving it water. 

Some of you may wonder how to know if they root when its under the soil. I personally have a peak, I use little tweezers to remove little soil to check if they root. Otherwise, it wont harm them much to just empty the pot to check if they’ve begun to root. But this doesn't mean that you can empty to pot to check the root every day! 😂 If you check and no roots at all, I would suggest leave it another month (don't worry, they can live a long time with no water).

The time they take to start rooting will depends on the variety (some roots fast, some takes longer), and season (they root faster in their growing season)

• How much?

My basic rule of thumb for watering succulents is as follows; “No roots, no water. Little root, little water. Fully rooted, fully water.”

For any watering, please remember that the soil should be able to dry completely within 2-3 days or you will risk the succulent rotting.

• How often?

Don't water the same succulent in the same week!

Even though you only gave it a little watering at first because it only had little roots, you will still need to wait another week or 2 before watering again.

When the soil is dry, the roots will grow to search for water. This helps the roots to be strong and healthy.

Best of luck with your new plant! 🪴 

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