How important is top dressing for succulents? This article changed my understanding

This article once again changed my understanding of succulent "top dressing", on the importance of succulent top dressing!

If you were asked to name the "importance" of top dressing for succulents, how many could you come up with? I believe the first importance most succulent lovers think of is probably aesthetics, but in this article, let's set aesthetics aside and talk about the other importance of top dressing!

The growing medium we generally use to care for succulents is mostly fairly lightweight; because of its good air permeability, the surface soil basically dries out 2-3 days after watering. At this point, if you open the window for ventilation and the wind is a bit strong, it easily blows the loose soil in the pot everywhere, while top dressing can effectively prevent the soil from being blown away.

Now let's talk about what happens when you water succulents: if there is no top-dressing soil, you will find that every time you water, a hollow pit forms on the soil surface, and after watering several times, the soil surface is full of pits. Sometimes the soil surface tension is so great that it easily splashes out of the pot.

Top-dressing stones happen to reduce the surface tension of the soil, helping the soil absorb water quickly and improving watering efficiency.

For some old Echeveria succulent stems, sometimes after too many leaves have been broken off, there will be a stem that is neither long nor short; it does not look good exposed above the soil, yet burying it in the soil affects the growth of small heads. At this point, you can use some relatively lightweight, breathable material to spread a thick top dressing, which both covers the stem and forms a breathable, drainage surface layer, without affecting the stem's sprouting.

In addition, for some other small old stems with relatively shallow roots, they tend to be "top-heavy" when planted, and it is really difficult for them to stand steady before the roots are well established. At this point, you can use heavier material for top dressing, which in fact indirectly produces a "root-fixing" effect for the succulent.

When choosing top-dressing stones for succulents, we suggest choosing top-dressing stones a bit larger than the soil particles. The purpose is so that one day when you want to repot and change the soil, you can use a sieve to sift out the top-dressing stones and use them again; if they are the same size, sifting them out would be a bit difficult!

A friendly reminder: once you have finished top dressing your succulents, do not easily pull it out again, especially for beginner succulent lovers!