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Two succulent-related questions…

joossa

Aklys
My aloes seem lonely all by themselves out in the back yard, so I have been reading up on some succulents that would possibly keep the aloes company. Anyway, I have two general questions regarding succulents.

-While reading various care sheets, I came across the term “deep watering”. What does this mean? (It might be obvious, but I just want to make sure.)
-Have any of you had any problems when using tap water to water any of your succulents? I used tap water all the time to water my aloes, and they don’t seem to mind. Are there any specific succulent genera that prefer pure water?

Thanks.
 
I think deep watering means to make sure that the pot is soaked through. Many people get the impression that because cacti and other succulents don't need to be watered often, they don't need much water at all, and so they'll just wet the top of the soil when watering. But plants that are adapted to low-rainfall habitats tend to send down lots of deep roots to look for aquifers, so just wetting the top of the soil isn't adequate.
As for tap water, I think it should be OK, but I'm not super well-read on cacti. I do know a little bit about soil ecology, though, and I can't think of any good reason for cacti to be mineral sensitive the way CPs are; deserts and scrublands don't typically get enough rainfall to clean the topsoil of soluble minerals.
~Joe
 
Thanks for the help, Joe!
 
Yes. Joe is right. Give them a good thorough watering when you do water them so that the succulent leaves can fill up with water to store until the next watering. Depending on the type of plant, you can see when they need to be watered because their leaves start to droop a tad bit.

xvart.

edit: I used tap water on my small succulent collection until I started growing CPs so tap water is fine.
 
Haha everything they said. As for companion plants Hens-and-Chicks can make a nice little carpet in just about no time and A-Mother-of-Thousands is also a really awesome plant that forms little plantlets along the leaf edges (I have... well... thousands haha). If you get good at growing succulents try Lithops (living stones) I haven't had good luck with them but eh what the heck they are neat and worth a try!

-J.P.
 
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Yeah, I'm thinking of getting some :love:Echeverias:love:.
 
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