After years of trial and error, I finally came up with the perfect succulent potting mix recipe. This is the best soil for succulents, and it’s super easy to make too! In this post, I will share my recipe and show you exactly how to make your own succulent soil.
I don’t buy succulent soil, I make my own. It’s much cheaper than buying a commercial succulent potting mix.
Plus, I think the commercial soil mix for succulents (at least the stuff I’ve purchased in the past) are light on sand, and hold more water than I like.
Making your own succulent soil is not only cheaper than buying the commercial stuff, it’s super easy. In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to do it, step by step.
The Best Soil For Succulents
Choosing the right potting soil for planting succulents in containers is crucial! When readers reach out to me about problems with succulents, most of the issues they have are caused by overwatering.
Overwatering is the number one cause of death for succulent plants, and that is why it is super important to make sure you use the right type of soil to plant succulents.
The best potting soil for succulents is a well draining mix. Using a good potting mix of porous soil for succulents is super important to prevent overwatering.
Related Post: How & When To Water A Succulent Plant
Benefits Of Making Your Own DIY Succulent Soil Mix
The main benefits of making your own DIY succulent soil mix are that it’s cheaper, and you control the ingredients.
Making your own bulk mix is cheaper than buying a pre-made commercial succulent soil.
Plus, since you control the ingredients, you can modify this succulent soil recipe to get the perfect mix that both you and your plants will love.
How To Make Succulent Soil
Like I said, I find that many commercial succulent soil mixes aren’t coarse enough for my liking.
So, over the years I’ve played around with making my own succulent mix, until I figured out an easy, inexpensive recipe that I love the best.
I wanted to make sure the ingredients were all easy to find in your local garden center, or online. Plus, I use these ingredients to make my other homemade potting soils too, so they are all very reusable.
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 that has potting soil for sale:
- Potting soil
- Coarse sand (turface or poultry grit also work great)
- Perlite or Pumice
Related Post: How To Make Your Own Cactus Soil Mix (With Recipe!)
All Purpose Potting Soil
Any type of all regular potting soil will work as the base to make your own succulent soil. Use whatever you have on hand (as long as it’s fresh and sterile).
The specific brand I use varies depending on what’s on sale at the time I need to buy potting soil. When making potting mix for succulents, it’s best to use a light, porous one as your base.
Don’t use heavy garden soils, mixes that contain vermiculite, or any type that says it has added moisture control or retains water. Succulents need a well draining potting soil, not one that holds moisture.
Related Post: Succulent Plant Care & Ultimate Growing Guide
Coarse Sand
Succulents grow best in a porous sandy potting soil, so amending your potting soil with sand is super important.
You could use any type of sand, but to ensure fast drainage for succulents, 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 there).
If you prefer, you could use turface or poultry grit as a substitute instead. Either of those would make excellent alternatives to sand in this recipe.
Perlite or Pumice
Perlite is a very lightweight organic soil amendment. It’s the white pieces that look like Styrofoam that you see in many commercial potting mixes.
Perlite retains very little moisture, prevents soil compaction, and helps add better drainage for succulents. 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. But sometimes it’s hard to find, so I usually buy it online.
Related Post: Propagating Succulents From Stem Cuttings Or Leaves
Supplies Needed:
Along with your succulent potting mix ingredients, you’ll need a few other supplies to help you measure and mix your ingredients. So grab these items before getting started…
- Measuring container
- Trowel
- Container for mixing (I use a bucket or my table top potting tray to mix mine)
DIY Succulent Soil Recipe
The succulent potting soil recipe I use is:
- 3 parts potting soil
- 2 parts coarse sand (turface or poultry grit)
- 1 part perlite (or pumice)
What is a “part”? – A “part” is just a generic unit of measure to use for your potting mix ratio. You can use anything you want to measure your ingredients, as long as you use the same type of measure for each “part”.
If you use a scoop measure for 1 part, then use the same scoop twice for 2 parts, and three times for 3 parts.
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.
Related Post: How To Care For A Jade Plant (Crassula)
How To Mix Potting Soil For Succulent Plants
Mixing your DIY potting soil for succulents is super easy. All you need to do is dump everything into your mixing container (bucket, potting tray, wheelbarrow… whatever) and stir it all together.
Use a trowel, or your hands to mix it. Just make sure the ingredients are evenly mixed once you’re done.
That’s it. Told you it was easy to make your own potting soil for succulents.
Related Post: How To Grow & Care For Aloe Vera Plants
Storing Your Leftover Succulent Soil Mix
One of the things I love the most about making my own DIY succulent potting soil is that I can mix up a big batch, and store the leftovers for later. Succulent soil can be stored on a shelf in your basement, garage or garden shed.
You could make a bunch ahead of time and store it for later use, or just mix it as you need it for repotting.
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.
If you don’t have an air-tight container you can use, I recommend you buy one of these bucket sealing lids, which work with a five gallon bucket.
Related Post: How To Make An Indoor Succulent Garden
FAQs
In this section, I’ll answer some of the most frequently asked questions about succulent soil. If you can’t find your answer here, ask it in the comments below.
Can you use regular potting soil for succulents?
You certainly could use regular potting soil for succulents. It might work just fine, especially if you tend to forget to water for long periods of time, or your plants are very small. However, make sure the soil dries out completely between waterings, or they will rot.
What happens if you plant succulents in regular potting soil?
If you plant succulents in regular potting soil it increases the risk of overwatering. When the soil retains too much moisture, it can quickly cause your succulents to rot.
What is the difference between potting soil and succulent soil?
The differences between general potting soil and succulent soil are the ingredients and the consistency. Regular potting soils are made of organic materials that retain moisture, while succulent soil is porous, and designed to drain very quickly.
My succulents do very well in my homemade potting mix, and making my own saves me tons of money. Now that you know the best soil to use, and have my recipe to make your own, your succulents will thrive too. Learn more by watching my web story.
More Posts About Potting Soils
- How To Make Your Own Gritty Mix Potting Soil
- How To Choose The Best Jade Plant Soil
- How To Make Potting Soil For Indoor Plants
- How To Choose The Best Snake Plant Soil
- 7 Easy DIY Potting Soil Recipes To Mix Your Own
Do you make your own succulent soil? Share your succulent potting soil mix recipe in the comments section below.
Nick says
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
Amy Andrychowicz says
Thanks for the great tips for growing succulents in the ground Nick!
Gail says
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.
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’ll definitely need to cut the sheeting and plant them in the soil.
Kathy Thompson says
You can use layers of newspaper. Roots will go through it, but grass will not. Once your plants have established themselves they’ll pretty much crowd out grass. The newspaper will degrade into the soil.
viv says
thansk kathy for the information…hope the dyes used in newspaper for printing wont harm the soil and the plants as have read these synthetic dyes contain metals and poisinous metals like mercury and lead.please advise.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Newspaper ink is soy based these days, and non-toxic. They don’t use chemicals anymore, so you don’t have to worry about that. 🙂
Brigitte says
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 ?
Amy Andrychowicz says
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
Ranon says
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?
Amy Andrychowicz says
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.
Dod Jobson says
Pumice is used in quality potting mixes. Perlite contains nothing relative to plants diet, completely inert.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Great, thanks for the suggestion. Yes, perlite is purely added to help with drainage.
cheryl mc says
Pumice is extremely hard to find in Michigan, tried looking for it, no such luck…
Amy Andrychowicz says
Here’s a great source for high quality pumice… Pumice
Steve says
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.
Amy Andrychowicz says
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.
Steve says
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…
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome, that’s GREAT to hear! 🙂
Suchika says
My indoor jade plant leaves are falling pls. suggest the maintenance and also the causes of this . I bought it just two days back.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Could you describe the problem you’re having with the plants? I’m guessing that if you just bought them, then they were already struggling before you even brought them home. Read my detailed jade plant care guide to help you out.
Debbra Gore says
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.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Sorry to hear your succulents are suffering! 🙁 Good luck bringing them back to health, I hope they will all survive for you!
Deb Murray says
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.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome, thanks for sharing your recipe!
Barbara Barrett says
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.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Sounds like a great, easy way to protect your plants. Thanks for sharing your tips!
Erika Boutin says
is that by weight or volume? thank you!
Amy Andrychowicz says
by volume.
Rebecca says
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!
Amy Andrychowicz says
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.
Suze says
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?
Amy Andrychowicz says
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.
Peggy says
Oh how I wish I had found this site and read it all before spending lots of time and a nice chunk of change on succulents and planters lol
Suz says
How do you wash your succulents?
Amy Andrychowicz says
You can find details here… How To Debug Plants Before Bringing Them Indoors
Janet QueenofSeaford says
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. 🙂
Amy Andrychowicz says
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
Amy Andrychowicz says
This is great Sheila! Thanks for sharing this, it's really fun to see my post translated in Portuguese!
Sheila Zanella says
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.!!
Amy Andrychowicz says
Great, so glad I could help! 🙂
El Gaucho says
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.
Amy Andrychowicz says
I love succulents too!
gwynne carosella says
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
Amy Andrychowicz says
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. 🙂
dan dore says
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…
Amy Andrychowicz says
Awesome, thanks for the tip!
Nikki.Ro says
good to know!
Bessie says
Thanks
Bridgette says
Great advice. Want to start growing some succulents. Appreciate the tips.
Lori Faulk says
Hi,
Where did you find bank sand. I was only able to find play sand.
Thanks,
Lori
Tina Reddu says
When growing succulents what it the best place to move them when it’s cold
Amy Andrychowicz says
I move my succulent plants indoors and grow them as houseplants during the winter here in MN. But, if you’re in a warmer climate and only need to protect them from short cold spells, then you can just move them into a porch or garage overnight (or even up to a few days if the cold spell will last a few days). But, if you’re in a colder climate like me, then you’ll need to bring them indoors for the winter. Here’s a detailed post about how to care for succulents indoors… Succulent Plant Care.
SJL says
Any builders merchant will sell it in bags for very little. In England we call it sharp sand, just look for the the little rocks in it!
Peggy says
lol wish I had read this before I went out and bought 8 different succulents and made up a batch of “soil”… I used play sand… did I just kill all the babies I just bought ?
Amy Andrychowicz says
If the sand you used wasn’t coarse, then you may want to amend the soil in your containers with more coarse sand. But if you make sure to allow the soil to dry out completely between waterings, your succulents should grow just fine.
Kate says
Could cat litter be used as it absorbs excess liquid? ? I’m new to growing these plants.
Amy Andrychowicz says
I would not recommend using cat litter in your succulent soil mix. Though it does absorb moisture, it also retains the moisture. Which means your soil would stay way too wet for succulents.