I love succulents like jade plants and aloes; I write about them and share photos all the time. Lately, it seems like every time I post something about my succulents, someone asks me what type of succulent soil I use. Great question! In this post, I will show you exactly how to make your own DIY succulent potting soil.
I don’t buy succulent soil, I make my own. It’s much cheaper than buying commercial succulent and cactus potting soil.
Plus, I think the commercial succulent soil mix (at least the stuff I’ve purchased in the past) is light on sand, so it holds more water than I like.
Making your own succulent soil is not only cheaper than buying the commercial stuff, it’s super easy.
DIY Succulent Potting Soil Ingredients
To make your own succulent soil, you only need three ingredients, and you can find them at any garden center or home improvement store:
- Potting soil
- Sand
- Perlite or Pumice
Ingredients For DIY Succulent Potting Soil
Potting Soil
Any type of general potting soil will work as the base for making your own succulent soil. Use whatever you have on hand.
The brand of potting soil I use varies depending what’s on sale at the time I need to buy potting soil. For making your own succulent potting soil, it’s best to use a light potting soil as your base.
Don’t use heavy potting soils, and don’t use potting soil that contains vermiculite, or the kind that says it retains water longer than other potting soils.
Succulents need fast draining soil, not soil that holds moisture.
Potting Soil
Sand
The type of sand I buy is just the stuff they sell for use in a sandbox (I buy it at either Home Depot or Lowes).
You could use any type of sand, but to ensure fast drainage of your succulent potting soil, I recommend buying a coarse sand rather than the really fine stuff.
Just don’t use sand from the garden, the beach, or a sandbox (you never know what nasties will be in that sand).
Sand Ingredient In DIY Succulent Potting Soil
Perlite or Pumice
Perlite is a very lightweight soil amendment. It’s the white pieces that look like Styrofoam that you see in many commercial potting soils.
Perlite retains very little moisture and prevents soil compaction. In other words, it helps the soil drain faster which is exactly what we want for succulent potting soil.
You can usually buy perlite or pumice at any garden center or home improvement store in the same section as you would find the potting soil, but sometimes it’s hard to find.
Perlite Ingredient In DIY Succulent Potting Soil
DIY Succulent Potting Soil Recipe
The recipe I use for my succulent soil mix is
- 3 parts potting soil
- 2 parts coarse sand
- 1 part perlite
If I’m potting up a cactus, I use a little more sand and perlite in my succulent potting soil for extra drainage.
Combine Succulent Potting Soil Ingredients
Making the succulent potting soil is easy. Simply dump all the ingredients into a bucket and stir until they are well mixed.
That’s it. Told you it was easy to make your own succulent potting soil.
Mix Ingredients For Succulent Potting Soil
You could mix a bunch ahead of time and store it for later use, or just mix it as you need it.
I like to mix up a big batch, and then I store it in a plastic bucket in the garage so I always have succulent soil on hand when I need it.
Make sure to store your succulent potting soil in an air tight container. You don’t want pesky bugs getting in there.
Diy Succulent Potting Soil Ready To Use
This DIY succulent potting soil can also be used for propagating succulent cuttings.
My succulents and cactus plants grow very well in my homemade succulent soil mix, and making my own saves me tons of money (I repot a lot of succulent and cactus plants).
Recommended Reading…
- Succulents Simplified
- The Complete Book of Cacti & Succulents
- Idiot’s Guides: Succulents
- Growing Succulents Indoors
- Winter Houseplant Care
- Houseplant Pest Control
More Posts About Growing Succulents
- Gritty Succulent Soil Mix Makes Growing Succulents A Snap!
- Growing Succulents As Houseplants
- How to Propagate Jade Plants
- How to Propagate Succulents
- Plant Propagation Supplies
Products I Recommend:
Click here to read more about the basics of how to care for a houseplant… Houseplant Care
Do you make any of your own potting soil mixes? Share your potting soil recipes in the comments section below.
Very good advice. I just repotted a bunch of succulents this weekend and I just use a imprecise +/- 1/2 sand, 1/2 potting soil (with perlite). It's one of the reasons I love succulents, as long as the soil drains well, they'll be fine.
I love succulents too! They are so easy to care for and propagate.
Amy
Dear Amy. Good advice about the succulent potting soil. One tiny detail you never use the play sand that is meant for sand boxes.1. It has been sterilized.2.Too small particles. It will clump together. So the deal is use big grained sand. Bank sand we call it in Houston. For potting soil and garden soil also.I use to run a plant nursery. It is way cheaper to make your own.
Gwynne
Great, thanks for your tips. The sand I buy is the course-grained stuff. Yes, we definitely don’t want to use the fine-grained stuff. 🙂
what to look for is concrete sand. very coarse and has small stones mixed in for drainage. go to your local concrete plant and they will probably fill your bucket for nothing…
Awesome, thanks for the tip!
Hello!! I read your post and it was very helpfull..I used to use vermiculite when i lived in Portugal (very dry weather) now I'm living in Ireland (very humid, wet) and I'm still using, for the first time i lost a succulent with root rotten..Now I know why. Thank you very much.!!
I'd like to ask permission to make a post at my blog based in yours? but in Portuguese I'll give
Hi Sheila,
I'm glad you like the post. Thanks for asking permission to use my content. I think it would be great if you translated this into Portuguese. As long as you credit my site, link to my site, and make it clear that the content originated here, I'm fine with it. I would love it if you would come back here and share the link to your post too so I can see it and share it with
Thank you Amy! Don't worry about the credits. I'll share your link and say it came from here.
Kisses
Sheila
http://vidasuculenta.blogspot.ie/
Hi Amy!!
Here it goes!! The post…
http://vidasuculenta.blogspot.ie/2013/08/saiba-como-fazer-seu-proprio-substrato.html
I hope you like it..
Thank you for allow me to translate.
Kisses
Sheila
http://vidasuculenta.blogspot.ie/
This is great Sheila! Thanks for sharing this, it's really fun to see my post translated in Portuguese!
Amy
I should make my own too, maybe when we go to Lowe's again I will get all of the above. I guess you have to bring in your succulents for the winter? The only one I bring in is the aloe…and that just comes inside the storage room door…to be forgotten until about January. 🙂
Yah, they all come in for the winter. It's a huge task to wash them all and move them inside. Every fall I wonder why I keep doing it, but they do so much better outside. You're lucky! 🙂
Amy
You wash your succulents? How, is this something I should be doing? I”m getting ready to repot several that have been in same pots for several years and are not doing well now, they live on screened in porch in mostly sunny warm south central FL. Should I try to “wash” them?
Yes, only the ones that spend the summer outside. I had a terrible aphid outbreak in my house one winter, so now I make sure to clean and debug all of my potted plants before bringing them back indoors for the winter. I haven’t had a major pest outbreak since (knock on wood). Here’s how I do it…
Debugging and Cleaning Potted Plants You don’t need to wash them if you haven’t had any issues with bugs. Our winters are much, much longer than yours and houseplant pests are a major problem.
I just bought some succulents and I’m curious about soil:
I have some succulent/cactus mix soil from the store, which I guess has sand already mixed in. Would mixing this soil with some pebbles or gravel have the same effect as the perlite, since the goal is to prevent compacting?
Thanks!
For sure you could do that. The only thing is that pebbles or gravel will add weight to the pot, where perlite will not. It depends on the size of your pot. It wouldn’t be a big deal for small pots, but if you have a large pot, it will get very heavy.
is that by weight or volume? thank you!
by volume.
I live in New Mexico – I leave my succulents and cactus outdoors all year long. When we have very cold/freezing weather, (and we DO have sub-zero temps occasionally) I invert a plastic pot with holes drilled in the bottom, over my succulents at night and uncover them during the day. Has worked for several years, even through the weeks of sub-zero weather in 2011. Our biggest problem down here in winter is wind-chill.
Sounds like a great, easy way to protect your plants. Thanks for sharing your tips!
I use a similar recipe that someone gave me:
4 parts potting soil (I use cactus mix)
1 part coarse gravel (think chicken grit or pea gravel)
1/2 part perlite.
Works great, drains fast.
Awesome, thanks for sharing your recipe!
I’m new to the succulent world. Always had a green thumb. But I thought I could just buy them, replant them in cute containers in potting soil. It worked for awhile. After about a month all of them started to either and the leaves started taking off. You really have to read and know how to care for them. Trying to save them all. I think they’ll be OK.
Sorry to hear your succulents are suffering! 🙁 Good luck bringing them back to health, I hope they will all survive for you!
I am definitely going to try your recipe for succulent soil. I have been using palm and cactus mix and not having good results with my semps. I always get confused when people say 1 part this and 2 parts that. Does one 1 part equal 1 scoop or handful? I really want to get this correct.
Thank you,
Steve H.
You can use anything you want, as long as you use the same type of measure for each “part”. So, if you use a scoop measure for 1 part, then use the same scoop twice for 2 parts. Does that make sense? So, for example if you use a 1 cup measure, then this recipe would convert to 3 cups potting soil, 2 cups sand and 1 cup perlite. If you use a scoop, it would be 3 scoops potting soil, 2 scoops sand and 1 scoop perlite. A handful would be 3 handfuls potting soil, 2 handfuls sand and 1 handful perlite.
Thank you for clarifying the instructions for the succulent soil recipe. I made it and planted twenty- five sempervivum chicks in 2″ containers about two weeks ago. Not only are they doing great I would say they are thriving…
Awesome, that’s GREAT to hear! 🙂
Pumice is used in quality potting mixes. Perlite contains nothing relative to plants diet, completely inert.
Great, thanks for the suggestion. Yes, perlite is purely added to help with drainage.
Pumice is extremely hard to find in Michigan, tried looking for it, no such luck…
Here’s a great source for high quality pumice… Pumice
Are you sure it should be the kind used in sandboxes? I bought that and it seems really water-retaining. How long should it take for the surface of the soil to dry in this mixture?
It should be porous sand, not the fine stuff. It shouldn’t take more than a week or so for the surface to start to dry out, depending on how saturated it was. If it’s holding too much water, then I would add more perlite or find a more porous sand. Also, don’t water the plant as often.
My question is I started succulents a few months ago ,I have a fish tank with the ultra violet light, at first they to seemed to be doing just fine and then the leaves starting falling off. What did I do wrong ? Oh not all suffered the leaf loss, I also spray them lightly ,misty is that ok for them ?
My guess is they are getting too much moisture. Succulents like dry conditions, and keeping them in a fish tank provides too much humidity for them. I would pull them out of the tank, and put them in a sunny window. Allow the soil to dry out between waterings. You can continue to mist them if you want, they like that… but don’t do it every day. Here’s more information about caring for succulents… Growing Succulents As Houseplants
Making a succulent section surrounded by rock. Got rid of grass. We put plastic sheeting on ground before rock. My question is: can I plant on sheeting to help keep weed from growing or do I need to cut sheeting and plant on soil.
You’ll definitely need to cut the sheeting and plant them in the soil.
Great advice however if you have clay in your soul like we do in CA, adding sand will decrease drainage adding to your compact soil problem. Go with more perlite and even a small amount of compose which can break up overall soil to help drainage. Lastly in ground succulents require half the amount of water you probably give them once established
Thanks for the great tips for growing succulents in the ground Nick!
Thank you for the post. Im making over 100 succulent mason jar terrariums and started tge propagation last night. Its for a friends wedding who is on a tight budget and soil was going to be our main expense but no longer with your recipe. I already have the sand so a bag of soil and perlite and we will be set.
Awesome, so glad I could help! I did the same thing for my wedding! Propagated a bunch of my plants into 4″ pots and grouped them on each of the tables as the centerpieces, and they were also the gift for people to take home. People LOVED them, and I still have friends giving me updates on how their plants are doing (almost 7 years later!!). Love it, what a wonderful idea for a wedding on a budget!!
I just bought a blue candle cactus and I’m wondering what will be the soil to use when I repot it.
You could use this recipe, and add a little extra perlite for extra drainage.
Hello Amy , how do i mixes the 3 ingredients in planting my vegetables . is it the same ratio of 3/2/1,thanks.
No, I would only recommend this mixture for cactus and succulent plants. For potted vegetable plants I use a mix of potting soil and compost, about 1/2 and 1/2. If you’re growing them indoors, then I would say just use regular potting soil.
What do you suggest for pots with no drainage holes?
I always use pots with drainage holes for my succulents. Otherwise, if I have a decorative pot that doesn’t have holes, I will plant the succulent in a pot that has drainage holes, and then just drop the pot into a decorative one that doesn’t have holes (like this). That way, I can pull the plant out to water it, let the water drain out the bottom, then put it back in the decorative pot. Definitely use pots with drainage holes if you put your plants outside though.
Great advice, and thanks for sharing your formula with us at Merry Monday.
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
A common problem I always had was getting soil wet again if it completely dries out. Water would find its way past soil and drain out, leaving behind mostly dry soil. I fixed that by mixing in cheap clay based cat litter. But as little as possible since the cat litter can clog up loose soil.
If it’s draining too much, then don’t add as much sand and perlite to the mix. But keep in mind that for succulents, you want the soil to dry out between waterings.
I used your recipe to make my first succulent potting mix, with rocks in the bottom of the standard plastic pots to aid drainage. 2 days since any rain, around 20C in a relatively exposed spot, and my moisture meter is still reading moist-to-wet in the soil, so drainage is obviously not working too well with this mix. I don’t know why you are having good results and I’m not? I used coarse sand, medium-to-large perlite, and regular composted pine bark potting mix with no water crystals or vermiculite. What a waste!
Does your pot having drainage holes? If not, that is the problem. I recommend using a pot with drainage holes for all pots outside, or any that are used for potting succulents.
Hi! I can’t find perlite in my area and shipping will be expensive. Is there any alternative for it? Rice hull perhaps? Thank you so much! 🙂
You could use styrofoam as an alternative to perlite, but it’s not compostable. You could also use small pebbles, but those would add more weight than perlite. I’ve never heard of using rice hulls, so I’m not sure about that.
I watched some videos on propagating succulents….I’m trying to have them ready by the end of August for wedding favors…how long does it take for new ones to form from the leaves that I twisted off, I let them dry a little on ends 2 days and then planted in a tray to root…any help or tips…should I have babies before Aug 27
Yes, you should definitely have babies by then. If you put them outside for the summer, they will grow way faster than if you have them inside. Just make sure to slowly introduce them to the sun so they don’t burn, and protect them from any late frost if you live in a cold climate. Also, make sure the pots have holes in the bottom so the rainwater can drain out if you do end up putting them outside. Otherwise, a sunny window should work great too. Here’s a related post that might help you out… How to Propagate Succulents
Thanks so much for your response, I do have them in my enclosed garage, it can get hot on 80 90 degree days…..in a window…I am scared to put out in sun completely…I have Ferrell cats and afraid they will mess with them…should I put them on my front porch…it’s covered but may get more sun on the leaves..that i am propagating…I do have holes in the containers…how often should I water the leaves…I’ve been misting them 2 times a week….I am so scared they are gonna die..I’ve invested a lot of money and need them for wedding favors…my soil is good I believe…just not sure…what I’m doing…I’ve watched the you tube videos…tons of them…just don’t really know how to identify ones I have ..thanks again for response and would love any other suggestions
Sounds like you’re doing all the right things. Just be sure not to overwater them. You want the soil to dry out completely between waterings.
Regarding where to get perlite if you can’t find any in your location. Try Amazon.com if you haven’t already. They have raised the minimum order to $50 to get free shipping I find it’s not hard to make the minimum, I keep an Amazon list and order when I need other stuff.
Thanks for pointing that out! 🙂 I do have a link above to purchase organic perlite on Amazon. Here it is again if anyone needs it… Organic Perlite
I was wondering is this succulent mix good for growing a rhipsalis too?..
Yes.
Thank you so much for the great post! I do have one question. As far as the soil part goes… Exactly what kind of potting soil is it that I am looking for? Do you have a specific brand that you prefer? There are so many different kinds of potting soils and I’m not sure which one exactly it is that I should be using to create my own mix. There are just so many different brands, with different types of potting mixes it’s hard to decide which one is the correct one
Any general purpose indoor potting soil will work, but I recommend getting high quality soil. Here’s a great brand I like to recommend… Espoma Potting Soil
Just curious, what’s wrong with vermiculite?
Great question Brenda! Vermiculite retains water, and you don’t want that for succulents. Succulent soil mixes should be fast draining, and not hold on to moisture. Vermiculite is great to use in potting soil mixes for plants that don’t like their soil to dry out, and it’s also great for using in soil mixes to start seeds (here’s my seed starting mix recipe) and for plant propagation.
Hello,
You mentioned that you could use any soil for this mixture and ratio. I already have the succulent/cactus soil that I brought from the store… I’m wondering, could I use this premade succulent/cactus mix along with the course sand and perlite? Or would I have to use a different ratio if I already have this soil mix?
Thank you!
Yes, you can use the soil you already have. If your succulent potting soil is already coarse, then you shouldn’t need to add anything else into it. Depending on the brand of succulent soil you bought, you may find that you need to add more perlite/sand to it. If the soil looks more like regular potting soil, then you could add a bit more perlite/sand to the mix to make it more coarse.
Hello, I simply LOVE your blogs about succulents, as I have recently began collecting succulents & trading out cuttings with my boyfriend’s mom. Being almost 40 yrs old, I’ve never really been able to successfully grow ANYTHING, let alone propagate. When I moved from mew Orleans Louisiana,back to the Mohave dessert of Indian wells valley california to live with my boyfriend, he introduced me to succulents. I instantly fell immediately in love. As with any passion, having researched succulents online, I learned that mostly all of my potted succulent cuttings are not planted in correct soil. Having read your blog, I am pretty certain that I have everything required for making succulent soil. I do have some lightweight, organic potting soil, and all I need to do is literally walk outside to my driveway & scoop up plenty of coarse sand from the dessert. And finally, to my question. I have lots and lots and LOTS of dark reddish colored lava rocks all over my yard, of which the previous occupants used in their landscaping plan. Now, when I take a hammer to those lava rocks, it is very easy to bust them down to approximately marble sized with little to no real effort. Would crushed up lava rocks work instead of pumice in your succulent recipe? I’m DYING to repot these, but I don’t want to make any moves until I get some confirmation. I’ve searched the internet, and so far haven’t really seen anything for or against crushed up red lava rocks….? I’d just, love your opinion. THANKS IN ADVANCE!
SINCERELY,
Leann Doke
From the Indian Wells Valley in the Mojave dessert
Thanks so much! I’m so happy to hear that you love all the posts, and that you’re addicted to succulents now! Aren’t they fun!? 🙂 I have never used rock in my potting soil before, so I can’t say if it would work or not. Sorry!
hello! thank you for the helpful tips on making our own soil mixture for succulents. however, perlite and pumice are hard to find,will it be alright to use aquarium gravel? i washed it about 15x before i mixed it with the soil/sand.
Perlite and pumice are located in the same area as the potting soil at any garden center or big box store, but they may not carry both. I also have links above to where you can buy them online. I have never tried using aquarium gravel in my succulent soil mix, so I can’t say how well that would work. It will definitely add more weight to your containers than perlite or pumice would though, so keep that in mind.
I bought six succulents a while ago and one is dying fast, an echeveria. My aloe had a leaf die of rot, my jade is a little sunburnt, so I think the sun in Montana is too intense for my 1 part miracle grow cactus soil and 2ish part perlite mix, as it didn’t dry fast at all (I read blogs of people watering every week or so because their soil dries fast enough). Although potted recently, is it smart for me to redo the soil with sand now, or should I wait since they were just potted three weeks ago?? (I move them in and out of direct sun depending on weather)
If the leaves on your succulents are getting sunburn, that means they haven’t been hardened properly. They can be very sensitive to sunburn if they aren’t used to growing in the sun, and need to be moved to a full sun location slowly over time to avoid sunburn. If your succulent soil isn’t drying out fast enough, then yes I would mix up a new batch of soil and repot them again.
i have an aloe that planted itself in the sandbox sand and she is thriving, its actually building sand and i have no heart to actually replant her to another area
Nice! I love volunteers like that. 🙂
You said to use a light soil for succulents. How will I know if the potting soil I buy is light? I know not to get the one with moisture retaining qualities. Thanks
If you’re buying potting soil to create the mix in my recipe, then you can just get a general purpose potting soil w/o any moisture retention (like you mentioned). But, if you just want to buy soil to use without mixing your own, then buy something that’s specifically says it’s made for growing succulents and/or cactus plants.
Lolita Kovalainen
The succulents I bought six pcs all died. I don’t know where to buy these perlite and pumice. I can’t find it here in North Finland. I need to propagate succulents for my terrarium but I can’t even survive them.
I would recommend checking with a local garden center and see what they recommend using as an alternative to perlite/pumice if you can’t buy either of those where you live. Also, I wouldn’t recommend using succulents to grow in a terrarium. Succulent plants grow their best in a dry environment, and terrariums are built to hold in lots of humidity and moisture. An environment which can quickly kill succulents.