FAIL: Terrariums with Succulents or How To Plant Succulents

via Design*Sponge

FAIL
DO NOT grow your succulents in containers without drainage and putting rocks and charcoal in it does not count!

This isn't so much a fail because I have finally decided that I'm not going to listen to the blogs that are misleading people to plant succulents improperly. Design*Sponge is one of those offenders. They have showcased a couple posts about succulents being planted in containers without proper drainage; glass and wood. Apartment Therapy is also on this train with their post about a book planter. I'm not here to knock websites though (and I happen to enjoy both sites very much) but today I just had enough. I had succumbed to this trend and lately I've been keeping my eye on my succulents that I had planted in these lovely low glass cyclinders you see below:

BEFORE

I've done terrariums before with appropriate plants. And for my succulents I had used the same drainage techniques by adding rocks and charcoal but alas my poor succulents became dry and/or colorless. Dry meant that it wasn't getting enough water. I would try to hold back between watering because my previous time trying succulent terrariums I had over watered and they died. The colorless was due to over water. I'm sure you are asking how is it possible to under water and over water at the same time? Well I'm guessing when I did water them, it would not drain properly and portions would get too much water. In between waterings, some parts would get too dry and fall off. So enough was enough, today I re-potted them into their original containers that had appropriate drain holes. I always save containers, you never know when you will need them. Below is the final result:

AFTER


Luckily the conatiners were black and I still kept them in the glass containers for aesthetics. I just sat them on top of the charcoal and rocks. My routine now will be to take the plastic conatiners to the sink, water them, let them drain in the sink, then set them back in the glass containers.

Succulents need good drainage. It says it right on their labels. Don't get caught up in this trend because you will end up with dead plants. I've been growing houseplants for a year or so and I've learned a lot. I believe even for a master of houseplants (which I'm still not one) it would be very difficult to take care of a terrarium of succulents. These glass prisons, as I call them now, are not good for them. What these sites need to do is dedicate their time on finding containers that are beautiful in design but are also good for the plants.

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This was my own experience and I got pretty heated because I like to see plants thrive. There is a very good chance that I'm doing a lot wrong or even misreading these sources in regards to succulent terrariums. I'd love to hear other folks experiences on the matter.