How to repot a succulent arrangement

If you have one of my arrangements, I think this particular blog will be helpful. Your succulents may have grown out or up and there is a long stem under the leaves or rosettes. If you want to try to clean up the look of your arrangement, it is fairly easy to do.

This arrangement was created back in September 2013. In this red 6 inch bonsai pot, some of the succulents are rooted and some are cuttings. After finishing the arrangement, I placed it in a bright shady spot in my back yard so the plants can get nicely rooted without have to use its precious resources to fight off the heat of the scorching sun. Some plants will root faster (within 1-2 weeks), while others may take 6 weeks or longer to root. After about 6 weeks, I gradually moved it to a different spot to get more direct sunlight. When in bright shade, some of the more vibrant succulents started to turn green, but once I introduced it to more sunlight, the bright colors came back. I watered it about 1 a week and even less often as time went on. I have to admit, I neglected it after 2-3 months paying little attention to it.

One year later, September 2014, it looks like this. Even with neglect, this is what it looks like. As with any garden, there will be some plants that do not do so well and even plants that die, but with succulents, even with neglect, many will do fine. As a general rule, the thicker the leaves, the more water it can store and the longer it can go without water. As you can see below, the more delicate plants couldn’t hang on for as long. If you look carefully, they had thinner leaves to begin with.

Now we dismantle and recreate the arrangement.

Some people like to leave their plants alone and see how they develop. Many like seeing their plants grow out of their pot, but others like looking at a clean and organized arrangement. With succulents, the latter is fairly easy to achieve. Transplanting a succulent will not traumatize it as it would with traditional plants. For those of you who may have done some gardening, you may have experienced a plant dying after you dig it up and tried replanting it someplace else. This is called transplanting. Succulents do very well when moved from one location to another. In this case, we will be taking the succulents out of the original pot, cleaning them up and re-potting them into its original pot with fresh soil and a new look fresher look.

Step one:

Carefully remove each succulent out of the pot and set them aside. You may clean the bottom of the succulents by removing any dry or dead leaves:

Step two:

Remove old soil and add new soil. I like to use cactus/succulent soil or a regular potting soil mixed with perlite or pumice. The perlite or pumice is important because it helps provide better drainage, which is important for succulents. Succulents will not do well if they sit in wet soil for long periods of time. They need periods of drought time, which means the soil must be allowed to get all almost dry to completely dry before it is watered again. Generally, once the succulent has established itself (rooted and cozy in its location), it can go longer without water. During this extended period of drought, they will draw moisture from their plump leaves until they get watered again. Having said this, if you would like to see your succulents do their best, they will benefit from regular watering. If I had given my arrangement above regular watering, allowing the soil to dry in between, with only a few occasions of longer drought periods, I am sure more of the delicate plants would have survived. However, the after photos above show what happens from too many extended periods of drought and just plain neglect. Nevertheless, one could argue it has done ok despite the neglect.

Step three:

I wanted to try to get the arrangement back to its original form as much as possible, so I trimmed some of the plants back to create a more compact look. Again, this is what is so cool about succulents, you can almost cut anywhere on the plant and it will regrow roots. A cutting of a succulent is often just as good as a well-rooted plant.

The final product. I look forward to repotting this arrangement in a couple of years.