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.
Shawn Hamilton says
Hi there,
I live in Florida and get occasional rain. Would this mix work for rainy weather? Thank you
Amy Andrychowicz says
This succulent soil is fast draining, so it won’t hold water for too long. Occasional rain won’t saturate the soil, and will be perfect for your succulents. 🙂 Just be sure your pots have drainage holes.
sean says
i know its not the most organic stuff on the planet but woul crumbled Styrofoam do justice instead of perlite?
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes you’re right, it’s definitely not organic. But that aside, I still wouldn’t recommend replacing the perlite with styrofoam in your succulent soil. Styrofoam can become compacted over time, where perlite is hard and will not become compacted.
Gabriel says
I’ve been using a somewhat similar method yet with 50% potting soil and 50% coarse sand.
Recently, I’ve purchased a bag of perlite. I grow succulents, but the most notable ones are Aloes, Haworthias and Gasterias. Aloes are no big deal, but Haworthias and to some degree Gasterias have tendency for root rot, especially varieties of H. Truncata. They mostly do well, but I think my potting mix has to be improved somewhat.
My question is whether it is a good idea to replace more of the potting soil with perlite, or do another change for that. My climate is Mediterranean. It rains a lot in winter. I can get high rainfall for days in a row, but frequency, intensity and time are unpredictable and the average is not very high. I have no frost in winter, which is good, considering the size of my collection and no sheltering space available.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, I would try mixing more perlite into your succulent potting mix. That will definitely help with drainage for your more sensitive succulents.
Bryan Godfrey says
Hi, I live in Zone 9b. San Jose, Ca. My area I want to plant is about 15 square ft. outside. How deep do I need to have the soil mix and is the recipe the same as the one you gave?
Amy Andrychowicz says
This succulent soil recipe is for potted plants. For the garden, I would check your soil to see if it’s already sandy and fast draining. Since you live in CA, your soil might already be perfect for growing succulents. If your garden soil isn’t sandy, then I would amend it with coarse sand and perlite for your succulents.
ananth narayanan says
Hi, I live in Middle east where the climate is quite hot most of the year and it goes upto 47/48′ C in summer. I love succelents (Burro’s tail, Hens & chicks etc ). I dont get here succelent mix and so use the plant mix avaialble in stores for propogating. I tried many times and not successful yet. Can you advice me how to propogage keeping in mind that my place is a hot place unlike USA or Europe and I stay in 8th floor. I can keep the plants/baby one in open balcony, shaded balcony or indoor
Amy Andrychowicz says
Wow, that is hot! I have a whole different post about propagating succulents, so take a look at that for all the details and step-by-step instructions… How To Propagate Succulents From Cuttings
Lisa says
I can’t click on the recommended items to see what the title actually is.
Amy Andrychowicz says
I’m sorry, but I don’t understand your question. What are you trying to click on?
May says
Thanks for sharing your soil recipe. I just started planting succulent,since I have a greenhouse I decided to try planting it.i lived in Norhern California zone 8 so our winter is usually mild.
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome!
BARRY says
Very interesting reading. I live in South Australia where the climate is great for growing succulents. I have never seen turface or pumice for sale in any of our plant shops. i don’t like perlite because i reckon the white lumps do not look attractive. As far as sand goes, i have collected my own sand from the creek and used it in aquariums for years. This year I went to a sand and gravel merchant and bought ‘propagating ‘ sand, large amout for 5 Australian dollars. Pity your posts do not contain a date so I can see which ones are new or very old. 10 September 2018 i use a website called Pinterest for plant identification and ideas.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Thanks for your added tips for finding succulent soil ingredients in your area of the world. 🙂
Kenneth says
Can i just use 2 part potting soil and 2 part perlite? I do not have safe sand near me and in local shops.
Amy Andrychowicz says
You can buy coarse sand made for bonsai on Amazon, or substitute with poultry grit. I haven’t tried using perlite alone, so I can’t recommend it. But you could certainly experiment with making your own version of the succulent soil recipe using only those two ingredients. 🙂
Laurie Hughes says
I am brand new to planting succulents. i need an answer to a very basic question. i have mixed all the parts of the medium. i have a bucket of completely dry soil-correct? when i begin planting the succulents how much water do i put in the soil? do i plant them in the dry soil? this is such a basic question, but i need an answer
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, you can plant them in the dry succulent soil. If the soil of the succulents you’re repotting was already wet, then I wouldn’t water them right away. But, if they were already pretty dry, then I’d give them a good drink of water after repotting into the dry soil, then allow them to dry out completely before watering again.
Jerri says
Thanks for the good advice. I was losing my succulents by using “cactus Mix” which as you explained does not have enough sand. I wasn’t watering too much – my soil was holding too much water. Thank you again!
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome!
Phyllis fred says
I have just started my small succulents and cacti collections.
And i notice that nursery here use gardening soil or compos, coarse sand with small pebbles, cocopeat. Now i dont think that cocopeat drain water..right? so now i know what to prepare when repotting my collections. I have all ingredients ready. Am just waiting for new babies to immerge
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, coco coir and peat moss would hold too much moisture for succulents. Have fun potting up your new babies!
viv says
hi amy…hope u r in good health…recently i am seeing white webby spots on my succulents….black spots on a plant where the leaf seems to be melting from the inside(exactly same like when u put a fleshy fruit in the freezer and as u unfreeze the fruits fleshy seems to have melted). along with the leaf the stem seems to be rotting too…one of the plant recovered back on its own and i am seeing the same with 5 diffrent succulents…one of them has dried completely although i have sprayed all of them with a neem based insecticide.mixed with hand soap too.hope i am doing it correctly.can u please help..
Amy Andrychowicz says
Are your succulents infested with some kind of a bug? If not, then you don’t need to spray them with anything. It sounds to me like your succulents are being overwatered. Here’s my comprehensive guide for succulent plant care for more information on how to care for your succulents.
viv says
thanks amy….no maam not being overwatered. it seems to be a bug as the leaves melts and the stem too melts and breaks off. (i can notice a number of black spots near the stem)the process can be seen on all leaves and and stem. one of the succulent was able to survive after being exposed to sun for 3-4 days along with a hebal insectiside spray. but the present one doesnt seem to be healing back.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Whenever I’ve had problems with the stems rotting and the leaves dropping off like that, it’s been due to either overwatering or too much humidity. If your succulents aren’t in the sun, and you live somewhere humid and/or rainy, then that’s likely the issue. Succulents like a dry location, and most of them require lots of light/sun. But when you said there was white webbing, that makes me think of spider mites, so you could check for those. If you want, you can post a few photos on my Facebook page so I can take a look.
viv says
amy one thing i wanted to add and confirm one of my succulent is loosing it leaves rit from the middle…today i noticed 2 small white non-hairy caterpillars. they were eating the leaves and have seen the same in other plants. was surprised as the succulents has been with me for more then 2 years but saw the caterpillar pest for the first time on it..
Amy Andrychowicz says
Ok, then maybe you’ve found the culprit. I would watch the caterpillars to see if they’re eating the leaves. If they are, then hand pick the ones you see, and continue treating the plants with neem oil. That will eventually get rid of the caterpillars.
viv says
thanks a lot amy.. ur help is greatly appreciated. thanks for ur selfless service and advice.take care
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome. 🙂
viv says
hi amy….thanks for all the help and tips….regarding succulents… i am using egg shells(being economical) as perlite.and using dried leaves ratio to soil as 3:1 is that ok.
eggs shells information i found on the web. leaves recipe was conveyed by my local nursery and my gardener.
* could u please provide me ur mail id so i can share some succulent pictures regarding some pest issues.
Amy Andrychowicz says
You can share your photos on my Facebook page.
viv says
sure amy….what would u advise on egg shells as perlite and the leaves soil mixture..
Amy Andrychowicz says
Oops, sorry I missed that you were asking for advice about your mix. I would not advise substituting those ingredients for making succulent soil. I’ve never tried either of those ingredients in any of my soil mixes, so I can’t speak from experience. But I would think the leaves would hold too much moisture as they decompose, and the eggshells wouldn’t prevent soil compaction. If you have extra succulents then you can sure experiment with it to see if it works for you though.
Len cole says
just started growing suculants,find your advice very helpfully Ma my thanks
Amy Andrychowicz says
Great! You’re welcome, hope your new succulents will grow well for you!
Sharon Davenport says
Hi Amy, I rooted a succulent that was part of a Valentine’s arrangement 2 years ago and it is thriving ! However, it is outgrowing the container (in the house) and I need to re-pot it. At this time, it is growing 2 shoots with buds / blossoms on the ends. I had no idea a succulent would bloom so now I’m concerned about when to re-pot it. Any suggestions ? Also, I live in Wisconsin, just across the Mississippi from MN so not sure if weather conditions play a factor, but the plant is in the house. Appreciate your help !
Amy Andrychowicz says
The best time to repot succulents is in the spring. Most types of succulent plants will flower in the right conditions, and some even flower year round. Congrats on your success! 🙂