Transcript:
There’s a lot of different materials that you can choose from. When you’re picking a planter for your succulents. One of my new favorite materials is concrete and in this video, I’m going to tell you why it’s become my favorite material for succulents and also some of the drawbacks as well. One of the things that I like is the pots come in a ton of different shapes and sizes. Now this can be said of a lot of different materials, but concrete just tends to have a different look and feel so you have some very smooth modern containers or you might also have some that have a decorative design on them, and then they can also come painted as well. You’ll see a lot of gold leafing a lot of times with concrete, Which is something that I really like. The look of and the great thing about concrete is you can actually make your own planters and make them really inexpensively. You can get a giant bag of concrete that will make dozens of pots for just 10 to 15 dollars at your local hardware store, but the thing that really sealed the deal for me with concrete planters is its tendency to pull water out of the soil. So I noticed it most when I was using these rectangle planters which, unfortunately I have not been able to find them again. Otherwise I would buy up a bunch, but the great thing about these is they don’t have a drainage hole, and yet the soil still dries out really quickly now. The reason for that is because concrete is made with water, and so when it gets wet, it starts to absorb that water and pull it away from the soil. I found that with these planters. I could fill them all the way to the brim with water and within about an hour or so, the concrete planter would absorb most of that water and pull it away from the soil now. The soil itself still retains some water, so the succulent was getting what it needed, but it helped the planter in general to just dry out more quickly. Which succulents like so you can check out my video to learn about the soak and dry method for watering succulents, but with all my plants, I soak the soil and I let it dry out completely and the great thing about concrete. Is it really speeds along the drying out process, which is great? If you tend to over water succulents, now with most pots, I recommend that you have a drainage hole and with concrete, you’ll definitely still benefit from having a drainage hole in your pot, but if you want to go the route where you don’t have a drainage hole concrete is a really good option because even without that drainage hole, it’ll still dry out quickly so again. This is a really good one to use if you tend to over water succulents or water them too frequently, concrete can kind of help offset some of the damage that that might do to your succulents. You’ll still want to make sure you’re paying attention to your succulents and the science that they’re giving you if they’re getting too much or too little water, but concrete is really great at helping you avoid over watering your succulents now. As much as I love concrete, it definitely has some drawbacks as well. One of the main things that you might notice even with these planters. Here is youll? See, they start to get this white buildup. You can see it here. On my frizzle sizzle. There’s a lot of white along the top edge of this so because that water absorbs into the concrete, it leaves all the extra minerals that are in the water or in the soil, and they create kind of a cakey buildup on the outside of the planter. Now I’ve left these. I haven’t done anything with them, but you can easily scrub that off or scrape it off, so it’s not like it’s there forever, but if you have a planted concrete planter or container, you might notice that it can alter the color a little bit, just as those minerals seep out, so just something to be aware of. It’s not going to be problematic for your succulents, but it may alter the way. Your planter looks over time. Another pretty obvious drawback to concrete is that it is very heavy, especially compared to plastic planters. It is going to weigh a lot now. It is going to be similar in weight to a ceramic or terracotta pot, but it’s actually more durable than definitely than terra cotta and even then some ceramic planters, so it is heavy, but it does also come with some durability as well. The last thing to keep in mind. Especially if you’re making your own concrete planters is that concrete can have some rough edges that can cause scratching. So if you were to have this on, say your dining room table and you were to scoot it along or push it out to the side, you may end up with a scratch in your table or on a shelf, but there’s an easy way to combat that you can simply put little rubber feet or felt pads on the bottom of the planter, and actually, some of these will even come with those on the bottom, and that way it will protect the surface that you have it. Sitting on top of I have loved using concrete planters for my succulents. I’ve been making a bunch more and also buying more. I’ve just found it works really well for the way that I water succulents, and I like how they look as well. If you want to see some of the concrete planters that I’ve purchased, you can check out the links in the description below. Thank you so much for watching. If you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, hit, subscribe and share it with all of your second. Loving friends and I will see you next time you.