The secret to succulents bursting out of their pots year after year is right here

One of the top ten confusions for new succulent growers: why do the experts' succulents always keep bursting with new growth... while mine are so hard to describe...

You're both growing succulents, yet you end up with empty pots while others get pots overflowing with growth. How can the gap be so big?

Other people's succulents look like this:

While yours, at the slightest provocation, turn into this --

It's as if you can hear countless succulent growers roaring from the bottom of their hearts: Why? Why? Why?

Actually, getting succulents to burst out of their pots takes some small tricks. Besides the usual care habits you need to pay attention to, there are also some necessary auxiliary methods, such as pulling off leaves, leaf cuttings, stem cuttings, and so on.

1. Placement

Most succulents love sunlight. Even shade-tolerant varieties can only survive under semi-shade conditions without dying; to grow well, they must get sun.

However, for succulents, the longer the sun exposure the better, not the stronger the light the better, so succulents should be placed in the spot indoors with the longest sunshine duration.

2. Watering

Succulents have poorly developed root systems and are very drought-tolerant, so there's no need to water too frequently. Never mind ten days or half a month -- they won't die even without water for 1 month. Of course, adjust according to actual conditions!

However, during the succulent's growing season, depending on your soil and ventilation conditions, you can water about once a week.

3. Fertilizing

Succulents basically don't need much fertilizer. If fellow growers want their succulents to burst out of their pots faster, they can put a dozen or so granules of Osmocote fertilizer at the bottom of the pot when repotting.

Alternatively, when watering, put five or six granules of compound fertilizer into the water, shake well after dissolving, and water the succulents with it.

4. Leaf cuttings

For leaves that accidentally fall off or get knocked off, dry them slightly, clean the base of the leaf (cleanliness is needed for rooting), and place the succulent leaves facing up toward the sky, back side down, arranged in order on the soil (dry soil), and they can sprout new plants.

Note:For leaves accidentally knocked off, you must make sure the mother plant is healthy. Newly arranged leaves must not be watered, otherwise the leaves will rot before they even grow roots. Avoid strong sunlight; it's best to place them indoors in a spot with weaker light.

5. Stem cuttings

Succulent plants have a very strong regenerative ability. Use scissors to cut off a section from the top of the succulent.Note that the cut section of the plant should expose a bare stretch of stem at the bottom, then let it dry in a cool, ventilated place.

After letting it sit for about 10 days, the cut will heal on its own and grow new roots. At this point, plant it in prepared soil, and just like that, there's one more succulent in the pot.

Of course, we can also choose some succulents that easily burst out of their pots to grow, such as:

1. Graptosedum 'Bronze'

One of the top choices for beginners starting with leaf cuttings: Graptosedum 'Bronze'. It propagates extremely fast, especially from leaf cuttings, with a success rate of almost 100%. Normally green, its leaf color turns vermilion with brown when sunlight is abundant.

2. Echeveria 'Mebina'

Echeveria 'Mebina' basically doesn't need leaf pulling; the lower stems will produce offsets on their own. When there are too many and too crowded small offsets, you can appropriately remove some leaves and small offsets, because if too dense and poorly ventilated, it's prone to black rot and pests.

The removed leaves and small offsets placed on soil can also grow into several pots.Normally Echeveria 'Mebina' has emerald green leaves. In autumn, with sufficient light and large temperature differences, the leaf margins will show pink.

3. Echeveria 'Ice Berry'

No need to say much about Echeveria 'Ice Berry'! A succulent variety that has captured countless growers' hearts. When it's in its prime state, it's unbelievably cute! As if being beautiful weren't enough, it also loves producing pups -- often a single small rosette can turn into a big cluster in a year.

If you want Echeveria 'Ice Berry' to burst out of its pot,growers recommend not using only granules like volcanic rock, diatomite, and vermiculite in the soil mix; you can add some peat soil or leaf mold to the soil to ensure the soil contains rich nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium nutrients.

You can mix it at a ratio of peat soil : granules = 2:1 or 3:1, and add some organic fertilizer at the bottom of the pot, such as chicken manure.

4. Sedum multiceps

Sedum multiceps is a succulent plant of the Crassulaceae family, Sedum genus, also called dragon's blood stonecrop. Sedum multiceps has a delicate and slender appearance, very good cold and drought tolerance, and strong propagation ability, suitable as a pot-covering grass or lawn grass.

In environments with large temperature differences and sufficient sunlight, the leaf color becomes even more vivid, bright red and very endearing.

5. Sedum dasyphyllum

Sedum dasyphyllum is a succulent plant of the Crassulaceae family, Sedum genus. The plant is extremely small but grows and propagates quickly, forming gray-green cushion-like colonies within half a year; the five-petaled small white flowers are elegant and sweet.

6. Sedum rubrotinctum

Sedum rubrotinctum, like most succulents, likes warmth, light, ventilation, and temperature differences between day and night. But what's different is that Sedum rubrotinctum is not delicate at all: it's not afraid of strong sunlight in summer, and can withstand brief low temperatures of minus 5 degrees in winter,and has strong drought tolerance, moisture tolerance, and very strong environmental adaptability.

Moreover, it can burst out of its pot in a short time. The method used is all leaf-cutting propagation, and the leaf-cutting success rate is very high.

7. Orostachys boehmeri

Orostachys boehmeri is also a very easy-to-burst adorable succulent. Orostachys boehmeri of the Orostachys genus can be propagated by separating side shoots. Cut off a side shoot the size of a coin and lay it flat or insert it into the soil, and it will quickly take root. So if you want a pot of Orostachys boehmeri bursting with growth, you have to be ruthless and keep pruning the side shoots~