Update on the Succulent Growth! ( a guide to grow your own!)

And here are a few pictures of the succulents now.

This is an indoor table, lit with two lamps with high light bulbs on a 12-hr timer. The window is also right there which gives good afternoon sun. This indoor table is where I dry cuttings (on the window sill), begin to propogate them (the green tray), and "hospitalize" any plants that aren't doing well outdoors. Inside, I can regulate the amount of water and light they receive so that they can grow better. They don't grow as fast as they would outside, but the conditions outside can vary, which has killed several of my succulents.

I have two tables outdoors that hold the original black 1" pots, green 2.5" pots, black 4" pots, and round 8" pots. I also have a few random sized/shaped pots there in the middle; they came with some succulents when I bought them. This is the main "growing table" where I take plants to get bigger. They still need a great deal of care at this stage and are easy to kill if I neglect them too much, much to my chagrin.

Awesome!!! We grew a bunch of succulents to give out as favors. It was fun and easy!!

And last is the "retirement home" I send the giant succulents to when they outgrow even my 8" pots, they're plenty big enough to not need as much care and attention. My parents have a large backyard and there's a patch that gets nearly 12 hrs of sun every day. I bring these huge ones there where my mom looks after them. It's not that she doesn't have a green thumb; I just didn't want to force 8 hrs a week of care on her by trying to send her baby succulents to grow. These larger plants just require occasional watering -- maybe once or twice a week if it hasn't rained at all.

COST

This cost a lot more than I initially anticipated. I got a quote for $300 for 100 succulent rosettes that I could use for the centerpieces, but I figured, "Hey, I bet I could do it cheaper!" Well, I was wrong, but I did have a TON of fun doing this over the last year. And now I actually have enough succulents that I could start selling them. So where did all the cost come from?

MATERIALS

- pots. Succulents outgrow their 1" pots and if you want them to get bigger, you absolutely need to size up their pots. A good way to save money on this is to buy 3 sizes of pots; I'd recommend 1-2" for babies, 4" for medium sized succulents, and 6-8" for large succulents. And buy in bulk on amazon! I wasted a lot of money buying mine at the local greenhouse.

- soil. Every time you size up a succulent to a new pot, they're gonna need more soil. And they need special, high-drainage soil, which gets expensive. I learned late in the process that coco fiber works as a high drainage soil, so learn from my mistake. You can buy a pack of compressed coco fiber from any pet store in the reptile section for $10; This will fill a 5-gal bucket of soil. Then buy a bag of succulent soil from your local hardware store (~$4), and mix it in as you go. This will give you the soil nutrients you need, but at like half the cost of just buying succulent soil.

- tables. I needed space to put all my succulents, and as they get bigger, they will need more and more surface space! I found that the fold-out tables from target were great for their cost (~$40/each), and bonus, now I have tables in the future for picnics and such. This doesn't apply if you have a house with a large backyard, and you can just set your succulents out on the ground; I live in an apartment, so our windows/balcony were our only options.

- lighting. For indoor plants (which is going to be necessary in winter, unless you live in California), you will need a lot of light. I have plant lights for my other hobby (fish tanks), so I used those to start. I found a more cost effective option was a simple desk lamp ($10) with a high light bulb ($6-10) worked great! Needed multiple lamps though.

- rooting hormone. I bought a bottle from Amazon for like $5. There's arguements over its effectiveness, but I noticed more rooting when I used it vs before I used it. Plus it's super cheap, why not?

TIME:

I grew these plants over the course of a little under a year. It worked out great, but I think if you can at least have a full summer's growing season, you should be fine with even less time. I started in Oct 2016 for a Sept 2017 wedding. I feel I could have done just as well starting in January, but the succulents would have been much more difficult to purchase in January.

Day-to-day, the time isn't a whole lot. Baby succulents need more frequent watering than adult plants, so while I may water my 1" pots daily or every-other-day, I really only water my 8" pots once or twice a week. Watering frequency also depends on the species of succulent! I learned that some succulents like a lot of water, while others will die if you water them too much. One of my plants I learned I could only water on hot, dry days.

Every week or two I would take a look at the succulents and see if any needed to be sized up. Replanting is simple, but takes time to do, especially if you're being careful about not breaking off any leaves. I did also break off lower leaves on some succulents to use them to propogate more baby succulents. They're remarkable plants, and you can grow a whole new succulent from just one leaf!

TIPS:

- You WILL kill some succulents as you learn. Don't buy 100 succulents and expect all 100 to make it a year later.

- When the leaves turn yellow, feel squishy, or fall off the stem with a slight bump, you are watering too much; back off! if they're too far gone, the plant will begin to turn black at the stem and all the leaves will begin to turn black. You can save some leaves by taking them all off the plant immediately and trying to propogate them.

- DO NOT buy succulent fertilizer. You will kill your succulents and you will be sad... The only time you'd really need it is if a succulent was in a pot with the same soil for 2-3 years.

- DO NOT plant any sort of animal-loved plant near your succulents. I was growing wheat grass for my rabbits at one point and the chipmunks found it and loved the grass-- destroyed a few succulents because they ran back and forth across them.

- Research your succulent species. Some are easy to take care of, some are much more difficult. If you look up info on them you're much less likely to kill them

That's awesome.