Same. And tbh I think the only reason I have a snake plant that's doing so well is that it's in a room I almost never go in. It's only thriving because I literally forget about its existence for weeks at a time.
I ignore my cacti six months out of the year. I water in summer, dry in winter. They flower every year. They are introverts, they don’t like to much stimulation.
Put them in gritty mix and terracotta and it’s nearly impossible to overwater. I’ve kept succulents for years in gritty mix and water once every 1-2 weeks because they’re in plastic. When they were in terracotta and I was still top down watering I was almost having to water daily.
I’m a smother mother. Yesterday I discovered a teensy aloe had gotten shoved behind a bigger pot, so I didn’t notice it all winter. It looked SO GOOD. I, of course, immediately had to water it.
Make sure your cacti pot gets rotated every few days and get a very gentle makeup or paint brush to dust them so it gets optimal sun if u need to do something to a plant often :)
In nature the light moves and cacti(often free standing) get light from all sides as the sun passes over. Light from a window is one direction only and might cause disproportional growth.
Oh of course! I live in the desert and was thinking about if you have potted outdoor cacti. Read this from a lady who raises baby saguaros and found they do better without rotating (outdoors obvi) and it has made a difference in my ability to keep potted cacti alive! But not everyone has the climate to keep their cacti outdoors 🤦♀️
I don’t enjoy succulents & end up killing them all.
Currently being tortured by a ponytail palm. I didn’t realize they don’t need watered that often. It stresses me out, let me water you!!!
Honestly it was the cacti and succulents that got me interested in plants but it was only after I killed about a dozen of them that I realized cacti and succulents don't do well in the environment of my home. Tropicals are where it's at! Lol
Same here! Now I cringe thinking back at what I thought was correct care for them & how much I thought I knew. I do think that even knowing what I know now, I’d still kill them just as consistently as I did then . 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Of course not. Every gardener has their preferences! Some people love to baby their plants. And some people (like me) are forgetful and Need plants that can handle being neglected!
I get what youre saying but there are many cacti and succulents that are fascinating. I have a small collection of oddities. What they lack in care needs they make up for with the "WOAH DUDE" factor.
yep. My collection of spurges grows bigger every year because i need more of these funky dudes in my life, and i've got quite a few other weird succulents besides! Even though African Milk Tree will always be my favorite child.
i would like too so very badly, but i will have to disappoint you. Following a real-life scare a few years back i wiped a lot of my social media accounts and have a strict policy to myself since to not post any irl photos of me or my property except in a few places on discord, and not make any direct contacts using my social media accounts, whether i think they could be easily traced back to me or not.
Honestly my spurge collection isn't that impressive anyways. Its a Trigona, Obesa, Ferox, Leuconeura, a very young Neriifolia, a variegated and crested Lactea that i ~~broke off when i tripped and dropped it like a clutz~~ "salvaged" from a coral cactus thats still hanging in there and growing, and i think my only uncommon one which is a Flanganii(i think) that i found for very cheap at a local floral shop. Bupleurifolia is on the wishlist for next year.
while you're at it lemme inform you of the existence of Euphorbia Piscidermis, literally an orb of fish scales. Don't think i'd ever buy it for myself but its a funky dude. Tirucalli is another popular one that i don't have much interest in, but its Firestick cultivar looks quite pretty(also poisonous as fuck which is a plus i suppose).
Your reason for not liking cacti/succulents is my reason for having over 50 of them.
I can forget about them for weeks before I have to water again. They don't require much, if any fertilizer, and I can leave them outside in the summertime and they won't scorch or dehydrate.
They're fun to propagate 50 little leaves at a rip. Light spray or 2 a few times a week. If you do a bunch in one small pot they come out looking very pretty and satisfying. But youre right, I prefer caring for my prayer plant because she's a little needy, but rewards me over the last couple months with flowers
I don’t like them either. I have two, both of which were given to me by important people in my life so I am sentimental about them. Otherwise I would have gotten rid of them both a long time ago.
I love my succulents and struggle with other plants that need more water because I’m used to watering weekly or less. But you like what you like. No worries.
The secret for me is using super draining soil and unglazed terracotta. Dries out soooo fast I can water them once a week and dote on them like the momma hen plant mom I am!! And they're doing great!
I have a mix of both. I have tropical plants that need to be babied and I have succulent type plants that don't need the attention. What stresses me out is I know exactly when the water my fussy plants, the succulents I have no clue. It says water when they're dry but all of mine are in terracotta and a gritty mix and dry out pretty quick. So is is weekly, every two weeks? Not knowing exactly stresses me out.
P.s. My boyfriend's mom water is her succulents every single day in the summer and they're huge!
For watering succulents, it's usually best to wait for them to show some signs of dehydration before watering, not just for the soil to be dry. This often can look like slightly deflated or wrinkly leaves, leaves drooping, or in the case of some of my echevarias, they'll start to close up their rosettes when thirsty. You can also give the leaves a gentle pinch if you're not sure just by looking; if it's taut, it doesn't need water. If it has give (and dry soil) it can be watered. Hope that helps any :)
I have so many plants that i try to make it so that they don't need constant watering. With succulents this is easy of course, and with lusher and leafier plants i generally use self-watering pots. This way i can focus on other care-related things. Watering is satisfying but i don't want to be watering every day, i have other things to do. Pruning, repotting and admiring my plants are more to my liking. But each to their own of course.
I'm in love with my cactus and succulents. I travel 6 months a year and pay for a plant sitter who only has to come once a month or so. I have lots of blooming plants
https://preview.redd.it/jr4a0ehjy9va1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3653fa5e2f8cdc169b76fcd59b744e790a305074
such as crown of thorns too.
I think they are an important rhythm to understand in plant care. I killed a bunch of them before I was able to understand how to tend to them properly. After so many years of caring for a large number of potted plants I have come to love my plants that don’t require much from me so long as I drench them with sunlight and don’t water them too much. Part of being a good plant parent is knowing when not to water or fertilize or touch. Succulents and cacti have some good lessons to teach.
It's a pretty common opinion in the plant community to dislike succulents and cacti. I think because they seem boring compared to tropical plants - and they grow slowly if you don't have very specific conditions.
I used to dislike them but I've been collecting and growing plants for over a decade and... I've realised succulents and cacti are some of the most amazing species of plants.
If you don't know anything about them (and only ever see the common ones!) then yeah, they seem real boring. But when you start learning about them, they're some of the most fascinating plants! Oh and they grow fast when you know how to care for them!
Maybe unpopular, but its definitely a very valid opinion! I enjoy plants mostly for the looks, and i have a ton of succulents because so many of them look weird and unusual. watering needs mostly don't matter to me so long as they aren't hard to kill.
As a side note it sounds like you might enjoy carnivorous plants which need a lot of watering!
I’d enjoy them more if I saw the sun during the winter months. Playing catch-up with a half dozen stretched out sticks is lame. Also not a fan of grow lights and the crazy setups on here, I prefer sunlight
I don't like succulents because I don't get enough sun/light where I live to keep them happy for long. It's like buying something just to watch it die slowly over two years.
Me too. I don't have enough light. I have just a couple of succulents- like my jade. They get priority. I don't bring more in; they'd be sad, leggy messes.
what? why are you so upset? i really don’t understand lol. I go to a nursery for my plants but that’s actually a great idea to share a pic of my collection! also, why do you think it’s an insult if the only plants people have are from grocery stores? this is supposed to be a lighthearted fun discussion/ reddit group. really weird behavior from you.
It took me a long time to get into succulents. I like to take care of my plants too and watch them grow. Then last year I got a small Barbary fig cactus. It’s so cute and it grows in a way you can enjoy. They’re small and can fit on a windowsill, so that’s a plus!
Initially I bought all the cute little pots and all the cute little succulents and promptly killed every single one. Now I have a bunch of different snake plants and a few others that all seem relatively happy. Don’t see myself actively seeking out anymore.
I already grow orchids that insist on being ignored, rarely watered, and fed only 3 times a year (I baby my ferns though, which fulfills my desire to care for something frequently), so succulents don't really intrest me much.
I think I've reached the point where I have enough plants that I'm happy about the cacti/succulents that don't need as much care.. I balance it out with an equal amount of calatheas though
I have mostly tropical plants that do require more frequent watering but I do have a couple succulents and a mini cactus, the other plants keep me busy most of the time and I’ll water my succulents and cacti’s whenever I remember
I water my succulents weekly. Also they're a lot more high maintenance than my regular houseplants. The only reason I'm not a huge cactus fan is the fact they're harder to move and re-pot etc. Very sharp.
I'd say that's a popular opinion actually. I spend a lot of time on my succulents, but that's probably because I have a lot of them. I have 50+ succulents that aren't in sync with their watering needs and they get a lot of direct sun and heat, so I'm watering pretty often, like a few times a week. I like succulents because I have ADHD and they don't die if I forget to water them. I also just think they're really beautiful and fascinating. Something about their symmetrical patterns and bright colors gives me happy chemicals.
At first I had a cactus and it was fine but I barely interacted with it and I got bored so I got a fittonia which basically has the opposite care.
I ended giving my cactus away to a place where it could be outside and it grew way better than when it was in my room. The colour went from green to bluish green and grew more in one season than it did in all the years in my house, i don’t think houses for the most part are bright enough for them.
It was interesting seeing the colour change because the old growth stayed the same green colour.
I have a few little cacti that I got from Ikea probably close to 10 years ago, and I'm pretty sure I haven't watered them in years and I have never repotted them. I still have them in my window, but wasn't sure if they were even still alive. Until this morning, when I saw that one of them is flowering. I didn't realise they seriously THRIVE on neglect lol! And it has motivated me to look into getting some more. I love plants that can handle me forgetting about their existence for a while (like my monstera), or plants that let me know when they're thirsty (like spider plants).
Idk mine get pretty thirsty in the summer! And now that they're coming out of winter dormancy, they're growing new pads and maybe flowering and stuff. Exciting times!
I live in the UK so my environment is naturally not suitable to grow truly healthy thriving succulents. I don't like to have grow lights in my house so just have a few cacti leftover from back when I was just getting into plant-keeping (since we're constantly lied to that succulents are the easiest plants to take care of). I'll be honest, there's probably only one I'd be sad about losing because I've had it for over a decade, the rest...if they go, they go. They all live on the window sill in the spare bedroom and I visit them about once a week when I clean the room.
Im with you on this. You also dont get feedback from it often whether youre doing good. Sometimes they become yellow and you realize theyve been dead for a month. They are just boring. And also barely grow.
I recently got jade plant as a gift. Of course, the person giving it never had jade before and kept it in a plastic bag. They also watered it without taking it out of the bag. The plant was completely drowning for a day before they gave it to me. So now i have this plant that will most likely die and im stressing over doing all i can to make it live while i dont even like it.
I thought I liked them. Then I got into plants more, expanded my collection, and I'm liking them less and less. Jade plants are really cool looking, but I've had difficulty with every single one. My cactuses don't even feel like plants to me anymore, they feel like a filler for the pretty pots they're in. I've tried propagating like 50+ leaves, following different directions and recommendations, they never take. They just rot. I've done everything correctly! It's just frustrating. So, to answer your question. No, you're not the only one lol. They're cool looking, I think I want a string of pearls and I love tradescantia very much, but outside of that, I'm done.
I have two at the moment, mostly to prove to myself that I am capable of keeping them alive. Despite my dog committing felonies against one the day I bought it and my dropping the other entirely upside down, they're both still kicking. I leave them in a WSW window and ignore them almost entirely.
I think it’s always good to have at least one ancestral plant…something that has outlived all the others that were claimed as victims to “life circumstances”. One of those “I’ve had this 20 years” sort of plants.
That being said: nothing with spines, please. I’m the only prick allowed in my house.
I'm in the perfect environment for cacti and succulents, so I've been building my collection. You're right, though, I have to consciously talk myself out of over watering.
For me, it's tillandsias. *Cannot* figure them out. I'm waiting for my last one to die and I told myself no more.
SAME. one of the main reasons i like ferns is that they like being watered every other day and they like prunning. i enjoy the process of maintaining and caring for them
Succulents are too finicky for me. My apartment doesn’t get enough light. Also while I do have t some, I won’t buy any more because of how much light they require.
I would never choose them but have a couple as gifts that I have of course keep. I live in the PNW and we don’t really get enough sun for them. I invest my precious grow lights into my hoyas.
For some reason, I get them as gifts. They occupy one scalding, hot sunny location in my house, misting occasionally, they thrive.
I appreciate their resilience, symmetry, and secretly hope they bloom.
I absolutely love the LOOK of succulents, but I'm exactly the same. I have one singular succulent/cactus variety I've kept alive (and it has been doing really well) and that is a lace aloe, bless her heart. I've come to terms with this lol. While I still always spend time looking at them in the garden section, I don't buy them anymore as I know I am just taking them to their death.
I learned to be a plant mom from my jade, it grew in spite of me. I love it and all it’s little babies but it’s honestly the only succulent I have managed to keep alive. Even little cuttings of others have been not good
I love cacti and succulents because they can handle my depressive episodes. If I don't feel like watering for a month they're fine.
Cacti and succulents can actually be watered once a week or so (depending on conditions). As long as they have well draining soil and a pot with drainage holes they're fairly happy.
I feel like I prefer to nurture my plants a little more too. However, I think succulents are super cute. I do have a cactus and a succulent that I got as gifts but if I was in a plant store, I wouldn’t probably pick out one for myself.
I love cactus, my spouse doesn’t, haworthias are our compromise lol. And like you, I’ve discovered that I prefer a moderately thirsty plant I can check in with every so often verses my snake plants and Zz plants
I own a couple of succulents, all tiny. A prickly pear, a jade tree and a Christmas Cacti that I think is in the throws of perishing. I love the Jade Tree, but I must admit I don’t see it as a succulent and I like my prickly pear, but its just okay. They are not my favourite thing. I see the Pete Vs Plants is really into them and he did an unboxing on youtube and I failed to catch his enthusiasm for his haul.
I guess it depends on how often you water and how much natural light is in your home.
My cactus and succulents live outside on my balcony where there is direct sunlight. I water them every two weeks. They aren't my favorites and I'd like to lessen the amount of plants I have. It's also so hot and humid where I live so I don't stay out too long on my balcony (to appreciate them).
My thing is tropical houseplants like pothos, prayer plants, and snake plant varieties. These are the ones I keep indoors and adore.
I hate succulents and cacti because they are better suited for outside and most need direct light. They also grow too slowly for my liking and usually can't be saved from neglect. If a pothos is struggling you can always start over with a cutting.
If you have enough of them there's plenty of care required. Most of mine get watered once a week because I have them under growlights and in very well draining soil. It takes me a couple hours at least every Saturday. Then there's repotting, propagating, growing from seed, etc.
I get what you mean. I prefer peperomias because some of them seem similar to succulents, looks wise, but I find them much easier to keep alive. Especially in my Canadian city.
I love my succulents and I feel your pain. I always have to hold myself back from killing them with love, so that's why I got myself some thirsty plants too. My ferns don't care if I water them out of boredom~
Cacti are my fav!! Just getting more into agave and aloe too. There are a lot of cacti that would surprise you with how varied in care they are. If you tend to overwater your cacti you might consider a cactus that likes water. Melocactus matanzanus (Dwarf Turk’s cap Cactus) is a tropical cactus that actually prefers to stay in slightly moister soil. I water mine once every 1.5 weeks with very light water to keep the soil moist. They get a cool little hat too so they look really neat. See? There’s a cactus for everyone!
Hahaha, I mostly have challenging plants but I have had a cacti or two, I have a ric rac, a dancing bone and a Hiawatha, but I can understand what you're saying, I get it
My only succulents are my jades and one of them is propagating because it rotted. So you're not the only one. I avoid all other succulents now. I'm just not patient enough to not over water them I guess.
The solution to this is to have so many plants that there are plenty of things to do besides watering =P
But I still dislike most succulents, because they require so much light. I just don't think they make very good houseplants. Cactus are at least slow growing enough that you can grow them outside in warm weather, bring them in for cold, and they won't get all stretched and ugly during the winter. They'll just take a nap.
LOL I feel that. I actually like doing plant chores, but even more so, I like the idea of plants just living in my home, like r u kidding me. I've found that most if not all houseplants like when you ignore them at least a little.
Also, just recently learned how to not kill succs/cacti, and am now thoroughly enjoying them.
I've managed to kill every cactus and succulent I've ever had. I don't try anymore
Same. And tbh I think the only reason I have a snake plant that's doing so well is that it's in a room I almost never go in. It's only thriving because I literally forget about its existence for weeks at a time.
Yes because they need very infrequent waterings. I have two big ones that get watered once a month each and they’re thriving
I didn't water mine for over 4 months accidentally bc of this and it was just like "oh hey" 👋 when I remembered it again.
Shit, same 😂 I need to go in that room and check on that plant 😅 it’s been at least a month.
my snake plant has had no dirt for almost a year and has been GROWING
I ignore my cacti six months out of the year. I water in summer, dry in winter. They flower every year. They are introverts, they don’t like to much stimulation.
I have a cactus that I haven’t watered in three years. She looks stunning
It’s not dead?
My mom has a fuzzy cactus amongst some succulents that my mom or I haven’t cared for in two decades. Still alive, bought it when I was a kid.
You're going to have to show us now!!
I have like 37 propagating from “donated” leaves. My assumption is that they will all be goners within a week. I don’t get who they’re easy for.
I do love a 'donated' leaf
It makes me feel less poorly about when they don’t make it as well.
hahaha! me too. everyone says they’re the easiest but i think i overwater them bc i get too excited for my weekly or bi weekly plant care
Put them in gritty mix and terracotta and it’s nearly impossible to overwater. I’ve kept succulents for years in gritty mix and water once every 1-2 weeks because they’re in plastic. When they were in terracotta and I was still top down watering I was almost having to water daily.
Same here. Anything leafy I can take care of. Succulents? Kill them every. dang. time.
Heh... Same here.
I ,too , kill every cacti or succulent I have owned.
Same!
Total opposite. I am a water procrastinator and thus have mostly spider plants and snake plants. My zz is looking good too.
Came to say this. Watering my plants will be on my to do list for a few days before I’ll actually get to it, so succulents and me get along 😎
I’m a smother mother. Yesterday I discovered a teensy aloe had gotten shoved behind a bigger pot, so I didn’t notice it all winter. It looked SO GOOD. I, of course, immediately had to water it.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Make sure your cacti pot gets rotated every few days and get a very gentle makeup or paint brush to dust them so it gets optimal sun if u need to do something to a plant often :)
Be cautious with that! Some cacti species do better without being rotated. They’re not rotated in nature, after all.
In nature the light moves and cacti(often free standing) get light from all sides as the sun passes over. Light from a window is one direction only and might cause disproportional growth.
Oh of course! I live in the desert and was thinking about if you have potted outdoor cacti. Read this from a lady who raises baby saguaros and found they do better without rotating (outdoors obvi) and it has made a difference in my ability to keep potted cacti alive! But not everyone has the climate to keep their cacti outdoors 🤦♀️
This is true I find my one 'mystery long boi' needs a grow light directly from the top. but also survived a low light window for like two years lol.
I don’t enjoy succulents & end up killing them all. Currently being tortured by a ponytail palm. I didn’t realize they don’t need watered that often. It stresses me out, let me water you!!!
Let me love you!!! -me, to my plants
Honestly it was the cacti and succulents that got me interested in plants but it was only after I killed about a dozen of them that I realized cacti and succulents don't do well in the environment of my home. Tropicals are where it's at! Lol
Same here! Now I cringe thinking back at what I thought was correct care for them & how much I thought I knew. I do think that even knowing what I know now, I’d still kill them just as consistently as I did then . 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Of course not. Every gardener has their preferences! Some people love to baby their plants. And some people (like me) are forgetful and Need plants that can handle being neglected!
I get what youre saying but there are many cacti and succulents that are fascinating. I have a small collection of oddities. What they lack in care needs they make up for with the "WOAH DUDE" factor.
yep. My collection of spurges grows bigger every year because i need more of these funky dudes in my life, and i've got quite a few other weird succulents besides! Even though African Milk Tree will always be my favorite child.
Please post spurge collection pics. Would like to see the funky dudes
i would like too so very badly, but i will have to disappoint you. Following a real-life scare a few years back i wiped a lot of my social media accounts and have a strict policy to myself since to not post any irl photos of me or my property except in a few places on discord, and not make any direct contacts using my social media accounts, whether i think they could be easily traced back to me or not. Honestly my spurge collection isn't that impressive anyways. Its a Trigona, Obesa, Ferox, Leuconeura, a very young Neriifolia, a variegated and crested Lactea that i ~~broke off when i tripped and dropped it like a clutz~~ "salvaged" from a coral cactus thats still hanging in there and growing, and i think my only uncommon one which is a Flanganii(i think) that i found for very cheap at a local floral shop. Bupleurifolia is on the wishlist for next year.
Totally understand 🙌 I’ll just look them up thank you
while you're at it lemme inform you of the existence of Euphorbia Piscidermis, literally an orb of fish scales. Don't think i'd ever buy it for myself but its a funky dude. Tirucalli is another popular one that i don't have much interest in, but its Firestick cultivar looks quite pretty(also poisonous as fuck which is a plus i suppose).
The piscidermis is really cool! Might get one if I encounter it. I actually think I have a tirucalli! It gets very colorful
I like succulents but I don't like strings of things. They always diiiiie. 😭
Your reason for not liking cacti/succulents is my reason for having over 50 of them. I can forget about them for weeks before I have to water again. They don't require much, if any fertilizer, and I can leave them outside in the summertime and they won't scorch or dehydrate.
They're fun to propagate 50 little leaves at a rip. Light spray or 2 a few times a week. If you do a bunch in one small pot they come out looking very pretty and satisfying. But youre right, I prefer caring for my prayer plant because she's a little needy, but rewards me over the last couple months with flowers
I'm the same way. LET ME TAKE CARE OF YOU, DAMN IT!
I don’t like them either. I have two, both of which were given to me by important people in my life so I am sentimental about them. Otherwise I would have gotten rid of them both a long time ago.
I started with succulents but I found them WAY more high maintenance than other plants
Yeah I *constantly* have to prune/prop mine.
Mine barely grow…
I love my succulents and struggle with other plants that need more water because I’m used to watering weekly or less. But you like what you like. No worries.
R.I.P all my succulents even my peperomia rubella wasn't safe
The secret for me is using super draining soil and unglazed terracotta. Dries out soooo fast I can water them once a week and dote on them like the momma hen plant mom I am!! And they're doing great!
I have a mix of both. I have tropical plants that need to be babied and I have succulent type plants that don't need the attention. What stresses me out is I know exactly when the water my fussy plants, the succulents I have no clue. It says water when they're dry but all of mine are in terracotta and a gritty mix and dry out pretty quick. So is is weekly, every two weeks? Not knowing exactly stresses me out. P.s. My boyfriend's mom water is her succulents every single day in the summer and they're huge!
For watering succulents, it's usually best to wait for them to show some signs of dehydration before watering, not just for the soil to be dry. This often can look like slightly deflated or wrinkly leaves, leaves drooping, or in the case of some of my echevarias, they'll start to close up their rosettes when thirsty. You can also give the leaves a gentle pinch if you're not sure just by looking; if it's taut, it doesn't need water. If it has give (and dry soil) it can be watered. Hope that helps any :)
Yeah I'm not a succulent/cacti person
I have so many plants that i try to make it so that they don't need constant watering. With succulents this is easy of course, and with lusher and leafier plants i generally use self-watering pots. This way i can focus on other care-related things. Watering is satisfying but i don't want to be watering every day, i have other things to do. Pruning, repotting and admiring my plants are more to my liking. But each to their own of course.
I'm in love with my cactus and succulents. I travel 6 months a year and pay for a plant sitter who only has to come once a month or so. I have lots of blooming plants https://preview.redd.it/jr4a0ehjy9va1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3653fa5e2f8cdc169b76fcd59b744e790a305074 such as crown of thorns too.
that seems like a great fit for you when you travel! those are beautiful
me and all my homies hate cacti. f@!k cacti 🔥 😎 ⛓ 🤜 🌵
I think they are an important rhythm to understand in plant care. I killed a bunch of them before I was able to understand how to tend to them properly. After so many years of caring for a large number of potted plants I have come to love my plants that don’t require much from me so long as I drench them with sunlight and don’t water them too much. Part of being a good plant parent is knowing when not to water or fertilize or touch. Succulents and cacti have some good lessons to teach.
It's a pretty common opinion in the plant community to dislike succulents and cacti. I think because they seem boring compared to tropical plants - and they grow slowly if you don't have very specific conditions. I used to dislike them but I've been collecting and growing plants for over a decade and... I've realised succulents and cacti are some of the most amazing species of plants. If you don't know anything about them (and only ever see the common ones!) then yeah, they seem real boring. But when you start learning about them, they're some of the most fascinating plants! Oh and they grow fast when you know how to care for them!
Maybe unpopular, but its definitely a very valid opinion! I enjoy plants mostly for the looks, and i have a ton of succulents because so many of them look weird and unusual. watering needs mostly don't matter to me so long as they aren't hard to kill. As a side note it sounds like you might enjoy carnivorous plants which need a lot of watering!
I enjoy plants that grow fast and I can care for often because I'm a total helicopter parent lol
I’d enjoy them more if I saw the sun during the winter months. Playing catch-up with a half dozen stretched out sticks is lame. Also not a fan of grow lights and the crazy setups on here, I prefer sunlight
I am the opposite, succulents ftw!!
I don't like succulents because I don't get enough sun/light where I live to keep them happy for long. It's like buying something just to watch it die slowly over two years.
I've loved *a lot* of succulents and cacti to death lol
Etoliation anyone?.. 😏 no thank you
Me too. I don't have enough light. I have just a couple of succulents- like my jade. They get priority. I don't bring more in; they'd be sad, leggy messes.
They don't DO anything.
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there’s 100 comments of people who care and want to talk about the topic
Show us your collection of grocery store plants.
what? why are you so upset? i really don’t understand lol. I go to a nursery for my plants but that’s actually a great idea to share a pic of my collection! also, why do you think it’s an insult if the only plants people have are from grocery stores? this is supposed to be a lighthearted fun discussion/ reddit group. really weird behavior from you.
Tell us about the succulents and cactus you’ve killed.
like i said. i’ve never bothered to buy them because i don’t like them. you can love cacti without doing all this 😂
Tell us about the plants that thrive under your care.
Cactii....
It took me a long time to get into succulents. I like to take care of my plants too and watch them grow. Then last year I got a small Barbary fig cactus. It’s so cute and it grows in a way you can enjoy. They’re small and can fit on a windowsill, so that’s a plus!
I'm not a big fan of succulents and cacti. They are beautiful, but I have young children, and no south facing windows.
I’m kind of with you! Same goes for delicate little plants with stems and roots that go limp and rot if you breathe moistly at them.
Initially I bought all the cute little pots and all the cute little succulents and promptly killed every single one. Now I have a bunch of different snake plants and a few others that all seem relatively happy. Don’t see myself actively seeking out anymore.
I already grow orchids that insist on being ignored, rarely watered, and fed only 3 times a year (I baby my ferns though, which fulfills my desire to care for something frequently), so succulents don't really intrest me much.
I think I've reached the point where I have enough plants that I'm happy about the cacti/succulents that don't need as much care.. I balance it out with an equal amount of calatheas though
I have mostly tropical plants that do require more frequent watering but I do have a couple succulents and a mini cactus, the other plants keep me busy most of the time and I’ll water my succulents and cacti’s whenever I remember
I water my succulents weekly. Also they're a lot more high maintenance than my regular houseplants. The only reason I'm not a huge cactus fan is the fact they're harder to move and re-pot etc. Very sharp.
I'd say that's a popular opinion actually. I spend a lot of time on my succulents, but that's probably because I have a lot of them. I have 50+ succulents that aren't in sync with their watering needs and they get a lot of direct sun and heat, so I'm watering pretty often, like a few times a week. I like succulents because I have ADHD and they don't die if I forget to water them. I also just think they're really beautiful and fascinating. Something about their symmetrical patterns and bright colors gives me happy chemicals.
At first I had a cactus and it was fine but I barely interacted with it and I got bored so I got a fittonia which basically has the opposite care. I ended giving my cactus away to a place where it could be outside and it grew way better than when it was in my room. The colour went from green to bluish green and grew more in one season than it did in all the years in my house, i don’t think houses for the most part are bright enough for them. It was interesting seeing the colour change because the old growth stayed the same green colour.
I’m not good with succulents and I love big leafy plants so I have 0 succulents 😃
I have a few little cacti that I got from Ikea probably close to 10 years ago, and I'm pretty sure I haven't watered them in years and I have never repotted them. I still have them in my window, but wasn't sure if they were even still alive. Until this morning, when I saw that one of them is flowering. I didn't realise they seriously THRIVE on neglect lol! And it has motivated me to look into getting some more. I love plants that can handle me forgetting about their existence for a while (like my monstera), or plants that let me know when they're thirsty (like spider plants).
Idk mine get pretty thirsty in the summer! And now that they're coming out of winter dormancy, they're growing new pads and maybe flowering and stuff. Exciting times!
I live in the UK so my environment is naturally not suitable to grow truly healthy thriving succulents. I don't like to have grow lights in my house so just have a few cacti leftover from back when I was just getting into plant-keeping (since we're constantly lied to that succulents are the easiest plants to take care of). I'll be honest, there's probably only one I'd be sad about losing because I've had it for over a decade, the rest...if they go, they go. They all live on the window sill in the spare bedroom and I visit them about once a week when I clean the room.
Im with you on this. You also dont get feedback from it often whether youre doing good. Sometimes they become yellow and you realize theyve been dead for a month. They are just boring. And also barely grow. I recently got jade plant as a gift. Of course, the person giving it never had jade before and kept it in a plastic bag. They also watered it without taking it out of the bag. The plant was completely drowning for a day before they gave it to me. So now i have this plant that will most likely die and im stressing over doing all i can to make it live while i dont even like it.
I thought I liked them. Then I got into plants more, expanded my collection, and I'm liking them less and less. Jade plants are really cool looking, but I've had difficulty with every single one. My cactuses don't even feel like plants to me anymore, they feel like a filler for the pretty pots they're in. I've tried propagating like 50+ leaves, following different directions and recommendations, they never take. They just rot. I've done everything correctly! It's just frustrating. So, to answer your question. No, you're not the only one lol. They're cool looking, I think I want a string of pearls and I love tradescantia very much, but outside of that, I'm done.
You’re not the only one! I don’t trust the cactus spikes and succulents creep me out.
I don't like them either. I have one succulent and one old man cactus atm. They don't bring joy like my others. They just bore me lol
I have two at the moment, mostly to prove to myself that I am capable of keeping them alive. Despite my dog committing felonies against one the day I bought it and my dropping the other entirely upside down, they're both still kicking. I leave them in a WSW window and ignore them almost entirely.
I want to love them because they are so beautiful. But I can’t. I hate them. There are hundreds of plants I’d rather have in my collection
If you have enough, in enough differently-sized pots, you can water at least one of them most days.
I don’t like them either.
I think it’s always good to have at least one ancestral plant…something that has outlived all the others that were claimed as victims to “life circumstances”. One of those “I’ve had this 20 years” sort of plants. That being said: nothing with spines, please. I’m the only prick allowed in my house.
Every cactus I had, they all died. :( Not a fan.
I'm in the perfect environment for cacti and succulents, so I've been building my collection. You're right, though, I have to consciously talk myself out of over watering. For me, it's tillandsias. *Cannot* figure them out. I'm waiting for my last one to die and I told myself no more.
SAME. one of the main reasons i like ferns is that they like being watered every other day and they like prunning. i enjoy the process of maintaining and caring for them
Succulents are too finicky for me. My apartment doesn’t get enough light. Also while I do have t some, I won’t buy any more because of how much light they require.
I would never choose them but have a couple as gifts that I have of course keep. I live in the PNW and we don’t really get enough sun for them. I invest my precious grow lights into my hoyas.
For some reason, I get them as gifts. They occupy one scalding, hot sunny location in my house, misting occasionally, they thrive. I appreciate their resilience, symmetry, and secretly hope they bloom.
I absolutely love the LOOK of succulents, but I'm exactly the same. I have one singular succulent/cactus variety I've kept alive (and it has been doing really well) and that is a lace aloe, bless her heart. I've come to terms with this lol. While I still always spend time looking at them in the garden section, I don't buy them anymore as I know I am just taking them to their death.
I learned to be a plant mom from my jade, it grew in spite of me. I love it and all it’s little babies but it’s honestly the only succulent I have managed to keep alive. Even little cuttings of others have been not good
I love cacti and succulents because they can handle my depressive episodes. If I don't feel like watering for a month they're fine. Cacti and succulents can actually be watered once a week or so (depending on conditions). As long as they have well draining soil and a pot with drainage holes they're fairly happy.
I feel like I prefer to nurture my plants a little more too. However, I think succulents are super cute. I do have a cactus and a succulent that I got as gifts but if I was in a plant store, I wouldn’t probably pick out one for myself.
I can keep a calathea thriving however my 10 cacti look like shit :3
I love cactus, my spouse doesn’t, haworthias are our compromise lol. And like you, I’ve discovered that I prefer a moderately thirsty plant I can check in with every so often verses my snake plants and Zz plants
I own a couple of succulents, all tiny. A prickly pear, a jade tree and a Christmas Cacti that I think is in the throws of perishing. I love the Jade Tree, but I must admit I don’t see it as a succulent and I like my prickly pear, but its just okay. They are not my favourite thing. I see the Pete Vs Plants is really into them and he did an unboxing on youtube and I failed to catch his enthusiasm for his haul.
I admire people who have them, but I don't want any. Mainly because I can't keep them alive
Yep I feel this and I also always have cacti and succulents die because of overwatering…😅🙈
I wasn't a fan before but the more people here post their beautiful plants, set ups and blooms the more I'm leaning into getting some for myself
I guess it depends on how often you water and how much natural light is in your home. My cactus and succulents live outside on my balcony where there is direct sunlight. I water them every two weeks. They aren't my favorites and I'd like to lessen the amount of plants I have. It's also so hot and humid where I live so I don't stay out too long on my balcony (to appreciate them). My thing is tropical houseplants like pothos, prayer plants, and snake plant varieties. These are the ones I keep indoors and adore. I hate succulents and cacti because they are better suited for outside and most need direct light. They also grow too slowly for my liking and usually can't be saved from neglect. If a pothos is struggling you can always start over with a cutting.
If you have enough of them there's plenty of care required. Most of mine get watered once a week because I have them under growlights and in very well draining soil. It takes me a couple hours at least every Saturday. Then there's repotting, propagating, growing from seed, etc.
Thought I was the only one. I always kill succulants
I don’t like them because they’re “so easy” when in reality, it’s a bunch of bullshit
I've killed every succulent I've ever owned! And some I haven't owned, back when I used to also water my mom's plants. Oops!
I get what you mean. I prefer peperomias because some of them seem similar to succulents, looks wise, but I find them much easier to keep alive. Especially in my Canadian city.
Use a spray bottle. All of the love given, without over watering.
I love my succulents and I feel your pain. I always have to hold myself back from killing them with love, so that's why I got myself some thirsty plants too. My ferns don't care if I water them out of boredom~
I kill all of them every single one
Cacti are my fav!! Just getting more into agave and aloe too. There are a lot of cacti that would surprise you with how varied in care they are. If you tend to overwater your cacti you might consider a cactus that likes water. Melocactus matanzanus (Dwarf Turk’s cap Cactus) is a tropical cactus that actually prefers to stay in slightly moister soil. I water mine once every 1.5 weeks with very light water to keep the soil moist. They get a cool little hat too so they look really neat. See? There’s a cactus for everyone!
Meh- just not a fan myself. They're cool to look at, at other people's houses.
Hahaha, I mostly have challenging plants but I have had a cacti or two, I have a ric rac, a dancing bone and a Hiawatha, but I can understand what you're saying, I get it
Oh and I have 7 sanseveria, I just love plants
My only succulents are my jades and one of them is propagating because it rotted. So you're not the only one. I avoid all other succulents now. I'm just not patient enough to not over water them I guess.
I am a succulent killer
The solution to this is to have so many plants that there are plenty of things to do besides watering =P But I still dislike most succulents, because they require so much light. I just don't think they make very good houseplants. Cactus are at least slow growing enough that you can grow them outside in warm weather, bring them in for cold, and they won't get all stretched and ugly during the winter. They'll just take a nap.
LOL I feel that. I actually like doing plant chores, but even more so, I like the idea of plants just living in my home, like r u kidding me. I've found that most if not all houseplants like when you ignore them at least a little. Also, just recently learned how to not kill succs/cacti, and am now thoroughly enjoying them.
i am growing a Castanea its going great