That master gardener lady told me to stop watering my succulents so much

I was at a plant swap last spring and this older woman saw me holding a droopy echeveria. She said I was probably watering it twice a week like a normal plant and that was killing it. I thought she was crazy because the soil looked dry after 3 days. But I tried her advice anyway and only watered once every 2 weeks for about 6 months. Now my succulent shelf is actually thriving and I lost zero plants to rot this winter. Has anyone else gotten watering advice that went totally against what you thought was right?

3 comments

3 Comments

fisher.thomas9d ago

A buddy of mine @green.noah had the same problem with his jade plant, he was drowning it every weekend until a neighbor told him to just ignore it for a month and it bounced back like crazy. He felt like a bad plant parent at first but now he barely touches his succulents and they're all huge.

jenny_lee9d ago

I used to water mine every few days too... thought I was helping them stay alive. But yeah, cutting way back saved my whole collection, it felt weird at first but the rot stopped completely.

green.noah9d ago

@jenny_lee same here, I killed my first three succulents before I figured out they hate water. Now I wait until the soil is bone dry and the leaves start to pucker a little before I even think about watering. Sometimes I go three or four weeks without watering in the winter and they actually look better. Did you find that your plants started growing way more after you cut back?