Transcript:
Hey, guys! I wanted to do a series where I kind of go over some of the basics of succulents and kind of like things like repotting and beheading and things like that. So I want to do this video on just basic repotting after you buy a succulent, so right here. I’ve got a few succulents that I bought, and so I want to show you what I’m gonna do and what you would do when you buy a succulent and and then go from there, so I’m gonna go ahead and pan on down. I’m in the greenhouse and right here. I’ve got four succulents that I bought. This is a jade plant. It’s a golem, And I really, I’m not a big fan of these, but I really like this one just because of the coloration, so I bought it. This is just it just says Echeverria assorted and you guys know I collect each of areas, so I had to get it because I don’t know what it is, and it’s got a baby right here. It’s got a bloom stock here, and I think there may even be a baby hiding underneath. I’ve got this edge of various atossa, so it’s one of the fuzzy hairy ones, and there’s two in there that I know of who knows if there may be more. And then finally I have this that I pulled out of an arrangement and this is a crested pack of item of some sort, and it’s really cool. I’ve actually laid it out to dry because it was the soil was kind of moist when I pulled it out. And so that’s one of the things we’re going to talk about. Is when to repot them and not to repot them if the soil is moist. I’m sorry, there’s a mosquito in here and I have bug spray on, but that’s okay, so let’s go ahead and talk a little bit about what we need to do so so basically, when you are repotting something you don’t want a pot, that’s too big or too small. So if you use a pot, that’s too big for your plant then. Basically, when you water it, you might put too much water in it. I’m going to get this level if it is the last thing I do. Okay, all right, so anyway. You don’t want a pop, that’s too big or too small, so I’ve chosen this pot for this one, so it’s it’s got room to grow, but I wouldn’t want to use one too big unless I was making an arrangement with several of them. And then you know, some of these would fit in, like one of these tiny pots like this, but I want to have room to grow and it’s gonna dry out faster, so you have to think about that when you when you repot, so I’m gonna use for the three of these in the pots. I’m gonna use these little four inch terra cotta pots. First thing about repotting is if you’re beginner. You need a pot with drainage. So you need a pot with a hole. I do have succulents with pots that don’t have drainage, but you have to be really really meticulous about when you water them. How often you water them and checking them and it’s one of those things that you know, you mess up one time and they’re dead so for now. I’m gonna use these and I typically use these for all my edge of areas. So at least these two. At least these two guys are going to go in the Terra Cotta pots and then. I think I’m gonna put this one in a special pot because it’s a little special. It’s crested, so let’s go ahead and get started so with this. Jade, plant the firt. Anything you want to do when you repot it? You know, you’ve got your pot. You’ve got a drainage hole the reason. I like terracotta is because you know, nine times out of ten. If you kill your succulent, it’s from over watering, so I would rather under water and it look a little shriveled and then I water it and it comes back, then over water at once, and then it’s dead and rotting, and I can’t bring it back. So the cool thing about terracotta is is that it absorbs water, so if you use a potting mix with really good drainage like something, that’s got perlite or pebbles, or I’ve heard of some people, even using chicken grit. You are going to get super good drainage. So you’re not going to have water just sitting in there? Bad things you use would be like Peat Moss, and it’s really weird because the people who grow these a lot of it is Peat Moss, but I’m thinking they may be just water them once and then don’t water them for a long time. Maybe that’s how they get by, but I have not had good luck with that. So what I like to use is soil. Mix that’s about first. I mix half-and-half cactus and succulent mix and then the cactus and succulent soil. And then I put another half of that perlite, and if you look over here. I’ve got kind of like a little bin that I used for my soil mix, and also after I make that 50/50 mix, I add in maybe a 10 to 20 percent of just gravel. You know, pea gravel, so the little, you know, like, looks like playground rocks just to add a little bit extra air because succulents don’t really get their nutrient or their moisture from touching the soil. They can kind of absorb it. When there’s air pockets and plus, air pockets are gonna let the water drain out better, so let’s go to our first example so this. Jade Golem plant. What I like to do is kind of squeeze the sides like this. And then I will gently Pull it out and I can tell. By this that it’s it’s pretty root bound and the soil feels dry. So the main thing I want to do when its root bound is I want to break up the roots? Um, so that it has room to grow, so what? I’m actually gonna do is kind of squish up some of these roots, and not everyone does this, but if you don’t break up some of these roots, they can just stay where they’re at and so yes. I’m causing some damage in the roots. So when you do this, you have to know that any kind of cut on a succulent! If it it’s if it gets touching any water, it’s not going to not going to be happy. It can rot. So that means if I plant this in soil. I need to plant it in really dry soil, and I don’t need to water it for at least a few days. This is also a good time if there’s any dead leaves at the bottom or the base to kind of clear those out. So I’m gonna do that real quick So basically, for this, This particular case, it’s rebound. So I’m going to. I’m gonna break up the roots a little bit. I’m gonna plant it in dry soil and I’m not gonna water it for at least two or three days because I just made some injuries to this root, so if I put it in there in dry soil and then watered it immediately, any water that touches one of those open breaks on that root can cause root rot, and so that would kill the plant right away, so I’m gonna go ahead and fill up my pot a little bit with soil, and I want to put enough in there to where when I place the plant in there and the top of the the top of the you know, the top of the soil that it was originally in is a little bit underneath where I want it to be, and then what I’ll do from there is I’m just going to fill it up with soil around the sides like this sometimes. I’ll use a tool, but right now I’m just messing around the greenhouse, and I’m okay with making a mess because I have a sink out here, so I’m just going to fill in the sides, and I’m gonna I don’t pack it in real hard, but since it is an airy mix. I’ll pack it in a little bit because when I pour water in it, I don’t want water to spill over the sides. So that’s it for this one. So the main thing with this one. This one is completely done now, but here’s the thing. I don’t want to water this for at least three or four days because I want to make sure that those areas that I damaged on the roots are calloused over, so this one is done. I have to do is set it aside and label it, so I’m gonna put it over here and we’re gonna move on to the next one so alright. What do we have next? Let’s see we have a mosquito laying around and. I don’t think I got him, but that’s okay. I think I’m gonna do this a Tosun X. So this this guy’s pretty finicky. I actually got one of these. Before and in the bottom of the the base, it had been sitting in a pot that was just basically waterlogged and so I replanted it in dry soil and didn’t do anything to it, but it was too late. The base was already ruined, so I beheaded it, so I’m gonna make another video on that later, but let’s go ahead and see what this is. See what’s happening here, so I’m actually kind of hard to pull out, and if it is, you can just kind of do this and squeeze the sides. Okay, so here is case number two. The soil is really wet, so normally if the soil is really wet, What I want to do is be gentle with it, because if I break up all the roots now then the root could get root rot, So I don’t want to do that. I am just removing some of this dead stuff around the sides, but the soil is pretty wet, so what? I like to do with these guys. I’m not going to repot this right away. In fact, what I’m gonna do, I’m going to take off all the dead leaves, and I’m going to lay it out on the table and I’m gonna leave it there because I need this to dry up if I were to just plant this even in some dry soil since they’re still wet soil, it’s not going to be good, so it’s got to get dry or it’s going to get rot, so I’m just going to just gently Kind of massage the root ball, and when you do that, these might actually separate. I don’t know, I I kind of hope they do because I want them and separate pots eventually, but if they don’t, that’s okay, and I’ve taken off the dead leaves and I’m try. Be careful not to touch the spots where the dead leaves were with with any of the wet soil just in case so. I’m going to, I think I’ve got most of the dirt out, so I’m gonna lay this aside and I’m gonna let this completely dry, so I’ll probably have to get this one later tomorrow because we’ve injured the roots for one. We’ve removed some dead leaves, so even if I planted this in dry soil. I’m still a little worried about it because this soil is wet, So I’m just gonna set this aside. Just right over here with with some of my other things and sometimes. I’ll set them just kind of like this that way. I’m not really messing with anything, so give me just one second. There’s a mosquito running around, and it’s driving me crazy, okay, guys? I’m back, so I got that mosquito, and I sprayed myself again with bug spray, and I also spray it all around my work table. So maybe that will keep him away. Okay, so anyway. We decided that we’re not going to repot this. Satou, so right, now! I’m just gonna leave him laying right here facedown and I’ll probably repot him tomorrow because it’s been very hot here. I’m in Little Rock, Arkansas and our days have been in the 90s and the greenhouse right now is about 96 degrees, and that may be because I have the fan off because it was lower now, but I had to turn the fan off, so I could make the videos So next specimen is going to be this. Echeverria, so lets. See what we have here? I’m gonna just do this and see if I can. Yes, I can pull them out, okay, And so the soil is pretty dry. I was right that. There is a baby here. There’s a baby here. There is a baby right here and another one here, So this guy is trying to grow but does not really have the space. So here’s what I’m gonna do with this one, so there’s dead leaves right here, so I’m gonna be real careful, but I’m gonna try to pull these deadly out without harming the babies. So here’s another one if it comes out easily, then it’s good, but like some of these other ones, they look like they should come out, but they may not come out yet the other thing. I do to kind of clear the soil. Is I just kind of scrape it along here because I want to have a good base around the plant, and I also want those babies to have a little room to grow, so I’m gonna be real careful, but I’m gonna scrape all around this, so I have a good base. He’s not really root bound, so I’m not really gonna mess with the roots too much. I might break them up a little bit, and it’s okay, because it’s dry, but I’m gonna scrape around here. I really need one of those little blower tools. I’ve seen people use those little things that they use on babies, You know, for their ears or whatever they do, but I’m just gonna do this, and now I see the base pretty good. I’m gonna kind of just scrunch a little bit around here, but not too much so once I do that. I want to give this plenty of room for these babies to pop out. I think I even see another baby underneath this one, but it’s kind of hard to see so now. I’m going to take my potting mix again and I’m gonna take another one of these terra cotta pots. I’m going to fill it up just to wear it like I said before where when you touch it there, you know that there’s a little bit of a rim around there, so I’m gonna do like this, and then I’m just gonna fill in the sides, and I want to make sure that I don’t cover up the babies, but I do need to make sure I cover up all the room, so I’m gonna go ahead and this is kind of how I usually do it. I kind of hold my hold the pot like this and just kind of go through this side because I don’t want the dirt getting in between the leaves, but I want to make sure it’s all the way full, and then I just kind of push it in like this and so end result. Is this so you can see there? Are you can see if I kind of turn it around. I still see the babies. We have a little room to peek out, but I’ve got enough soil in there that I can pour some water in there and it’s not gonna come over the sides, so that one is done and I’m gonna put it over here with the other guys and we’ll label them later and now we’ve got my crested. Fight on! My guess is what it is. Anyone can tell me exactly what it is that be great, but it is really cool to crested. So I chose this little pot. Um, I got this pot from Lowe’s. It had a couple different things in it and it does have a drainage hole so basically all. I’m gonna do with this. One is fill it up with soil. Just enough stick this guy in because his roots are dry now, so I’m not worried about rot and honestly, tomorrow I can water him if I wanted to. But one thing with crested succulents is they don’t need as much water because they hold the leaves in or hold the water in the leaves and also in this really thick stem, so they are easy to overwater, So I’m filling up that pot right now, and I’m going to do the same thing. I don’t have it because I want to get those roots in there, and then now I’m just gonna do the same thing. I’m going to just kind of put a little bit in on the sides around it and make sure that the roots are covered And then I probably will water this one in two or three days. You know, the good thing about succulents. Is they tell you when they want to be watered. So if you’re like me and you have other plants and you like to baby them and you look at them all the time, and you just you just want to take care of them. You know, but with succulents, they’re a little bit different. Um, they seem to do better if you just listen to them and let them show you what they want and I’m gonna do a video on that like when to water. When not the water, how to know? Anyway, here’s our. Here’s our finished product right here. It’s pretty cute! I’m gonna place this. I’m kind of put all these in kind of in direct sunlight. I’ll probably put them on my plant shelf for right now, which gets not fully direct sunlight but enough to where they will get some. It’s just not all day every day, and I want them to have a little bit of a little bit of a break. Since they’re already gonna be a little bit stressed from being repotted. That’s another thing when you repot something like you. You instantly put it through some stress, so so you don’t try to repot and water and behead and do all these different things at once, just one thing at a time, so let them get used to their new environment and then you can move on and do things from there so anyway, um. I’m sure there’s a lot of questions that I did not answer, but for the crested one, I’ll probably water that in a few days. The Jade, I can. I’m gonna wait at least three days. Since kind of broke up the roots a little bit and in the edge of area, it was completely dry, But I’ll still wait a few days just because I did kind of mess with the roots, so all of them are gonna go in in direct sunlight and thus Atossa over here. I’m gonna repot this tomorrow when it’s dry, and once I repot it and it’s dry, That means that the roots are going to be callous, too, so I could theoretically water it right away if it needed it, so succulents tell you when they need water, the bottom leaves will be shriveled. They also tell you when they’ve had too much water. The bottom leaves are going to be kind of yellowish translucent, So I’ll keep an eye on it and I’ll Water it when it needs it. And I hope this video was helpful. If you like this video, and you want to keep track of my other videos that I’m gonna make on just succulent basics like repotting, beheading soil mixtures, things like that, then please hit subscribe, so you can watch my other videos and I hope to see you soon. Bye bye!