Succulents arrived but not planted - help!!

melweeks73

Hi,

Can anyone advise? My daughter decided to kindly order me some succulents (an aeonium and aloe) online after a conversation we had. However they have turned up today but are not planted ( she didn’t realise)just literally the plant and exposed roots. I am on 13 hour days now until Tuesday morning and have nothing to plant them in and will not be able to visit anywhere for pots and soil. How can I preserve them as she’s been so thoughtful and I don’t want to lose them. Many thanks for any help.

DaftyDuck

They will be absolutely fine. Don't panic. Keep them wrapped as they are, keep them cool, but not frosty (porch, garage better), out of sun, and don't water them. I reckon they need planting by Christmas....

Seriously, you have a couple of weeks to plant them, with no realistic likelihood of loss.

melweeks73

Thank you, that’s really put my mind at rest. Let’s just say I don’t have a great history with plants as a rule!

BargainGalore

Often plants come wrapped up in wet newspaper that helps them from drying out too much

balustrada

I grow succulents and agree with the advice above. It's true that they'll survive bare-rooted for a long time in a cool place during the winter because the plants will be dormant.

I suggest that you pot them in well-draining compost. I usually use a mixture of multipurpose compost and Perlite although it is possible to buy commercially-produced cactus compost, which I've never tried.

Only water the plants during the winter if they're being kept indoors in a warm room and in a sunny position like a south-facing window sill. Don't water them if they're kept in a cold place because wet compost and cold conditions will kill them. After watering them, don't do so again until the compost has dried out completely. Your Aeonium, especially, needs bright growing conditions otherwise it'll become stretched (etiolated) and won't develop its colours to best effect if it's a coloured type.

Finally, here's a YouTube video of some of my collection, which may be of interest to you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_neWQ25qVP4