It’s likely that if you’ve been caring for succulents as part of your gardening tasks for a while, and you’ve heard that the nutrients in fertilizer can burn your houseplants. Using a fertilizer can seem a little frightening because no one wants to burn their prized collection of succulents!
Be at ease, though! As long as you apply the fertilizer correctly, using it on your succulents is entirely safe. If you don’t have many other succulents, you may not require too much additional fertilizer, so what to do with the excess?
You may ask, can I use succulent food for other plants, and how often to use succulent plant food when feeding other plants? In our guide, you can learn more about water-soluble fertilizer, organic materials, and the right potting soil mixes for all your plants’ needs. (Read Why Is My Aloe Plant Turning Brown)
Can I Use Succulent Plant Food For Other Plants?
Succulent plants need a particular combination of macro- and
micro-nutrients in their plant fertilizer.
These nutrients can be found in plant fertilizers and identified by their NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium).
Check the label of the product you’re contemplating to be sure it specifies the precise ratio. If unsure, attempt a balanced blend combining these three nutrient categories.
These are frequently useful to help indoor and outdoor plants thrive. To lessen the possibility of overfeeding the plant, dilute the product by half the suggested amount before applying it.
Over-watering is another issue with succulents. However, rather than the plants themselves, the soil is usually to blame for this.
Is Cactus Fertilizer Suitable For My Other Plants?
Succulents and cacti can be fertilized with either an organic or a synthetic fertilizer with low nitrogen and organic composition.
Organic fertilizers are preferable since they enhance the soil by adding beneficial soil microbes.
Cacti fertilizers need diluting and applied consistently at 1/2 strength of the fertilizer mix.
Cacti and succulents only require half the standard dose, and being fed once per month is enough. In addition, fertilizers intended for use with other plants should be diluted to prevent any chance of burning them when fertilizing.
You may not have heard of cactus fertilizer or not an expert on feeding a succulent plant.
Smaller applications of balanced fertilizer are suitable; for example, an all-purpose fertilizer with an 8-8-8 ratio is suitable.
A natural alternative to chemical fertilizers is compost. Compost improves soil health by feeding beneficial nutrients that live there.
Manure tea bags are an excellent soil amendment; offer your cactus or succulent lots of regular water when using them. (Learn How To Get Rid Of Mushroom In Mulch)
Can I Use Succulent Food For Other Plants?
Succulents need plant specifics when fertilizing. You’ll find professional-grade succulent plant food works for indoor and outdoor gardening.
This fine food feeds roots and promotes healthy stem soil. In addition, well-balanced nutrients can fertilize many plants.
Most organic plant meals enhance plants’ soil, while inorganic fertilizers injure plants and leave behind byproducts from fertilizing.
Depending on your plant growing demands, choose the right fertilizer, or you can revert to composting for your cactus or other plants. Compost is a balanced mix of rich nutrients; you can see why many call it black gold.
Compost complements synthetic fertilizers as it helps to enhance soil quality and encourage microorganisms, among others.
Compost is good to plant food for any succulent or another plant you are growing as it doesn’t contain harmful chemicals.
Rich compost helps succulents grow and look better when applying compost to the soil, alternate layers of greens and browns, and add enough water to keep the soil moist.
Is Succulent Fertilizer Safe to Use?
Here are a few fertilizer tips that are fine to use on your cactus as quickly as possible on your other plants or veggies without harming their roots or growth.
Chemical Fertilizer
Unfortunately, fertilizers can burn and damage succulents and other plants if misused.
Using these tips, you won’t harm your succulents, and you will help them grow healthy.
The best chemical fertilizer for succulents is a water-soluble, balanced fertilizer.
To make fertilizer, fill a huge watering can with a gallon of water and then add your plant food at half strength to what it says on the box of your plant food.
Water your succulents with the diluted fertilizer. Other watering tips include ensuring you water the soil and avoiding fertilizing any cactus or succulent leaves, or they can scorch.
Only fertilize succulents a few times in the active growing season (in the summer).
Fertilizing succulent plants once or twice a year provides them with all the nutrients they need to grow healthy.
Manure or Compost Tea
Natural alternatives to chemical fertilizers include compost and manure tea.
These won’t burn your succulents or other plants but also provide nutrients.
Choosing natural, organic items to chemical ones is a terrific way to fertilize your plants.
- Put a tea bag in a five-gallon bucket to make manure or compost tea.
- Fill the bucket with 1 – 5 gallons of water, depending on how strong you want the fertilizer. Succulents don’t need strong fertilizers, so make them weaker. Even other plants can live with half-strength fertilizer.
- Put the lid back on the bucket after filling it with water and leave it outside for two or three days.
- Once the tea is done steeping, remove the tea bag and use the tea to water the succulents.
- You can water your succulents with this fertilizer once a month during their growing season.
Brewed Coffee
If manure tea grosses or worries you, try brewing coffee
instead. Coffee grounds provide nutrients succulents need, like nitrogen, potassium, and magnesium.
By brewing them, you’ll make the coffee grounds’ essential nutrients easier for plants to absorb.
To make coffee fertilizer, brew it and then dilute it with water.
Equal parts coffee and water work best. After diluting coffee, water succulents as usual.
This fertilizer can be used on succulents during their active growing season.
Worm Castings
Like manure tea, worm castings are a natural fertilizer made from worm droppings.
They supply potassium, iron, copper, and zinc to plants when mixed with soil, and besides this, they can help repel aphids and mealybugs from plants and your outdoor succulents.
Outdoor succulents love worm castings. They break down slowly like a slow-release fertilizer. However, worm castings used indoors can be messy to use according to your pot.
Luckily, the easy way to treat your indoor succulents is vermicompost tea. These are worm castings made into manure tea.
Vermicompost tea is easy to apply to indoor or outdoor plants during the active growth season. Spraying it on the soil surfaces is enough to add goodness.
Is Epsom salt beneficial to succulent plants?
If you want your other popular succulents to stay healthy besides your Aloe or cacti, adding Epsom salts to their routine care is a great idea.
When watering, use 1 teaspoon per gallon of water as any higher, and the succulents’ roots will suffer damage.
Is it okay to use eggshells for succulents?
For your succulent garden, it is acceptable to use eggshells to give your succulents’ soil a calcium boost and help them thrive.
You can make some eggshell tea and pour this into the soil or scatter broken eggshells around the top of your pot’s soil. (Learn How To Tell If Zucchini Is Bad)
What is the best fertilizer for cacti and succulents?
- Natural
- Cactus and other succulents do best in soil low in NPK, especially nitrogen.
- The third step in establishing beneficial soil bacteria is to include helpful microorganisms like probiotics and mycorrhizae in your soil practices.
- They contain a lot of humic acids.
- Finally, a combination with a delayed release is recommended.
What is the finest fertilizer to use on cactus flowers?
In this situation, a low-balanced soluble fertilizer like 8-8-8 (8 percent nitrogen, 8 percent phosphorous, 8 percent potassium) or 10-10-10 (10 percent nitrogen, 10 percent phosphorous, 10 percent potassium) would be used.
You can also use a phosphorus-rich houseplant nutrient (5-10-5 solution) for your succulent plants.
What to feed my cactus and plants?
Fertilizers are when plants grow primarily in spring, summer, and early fall.
Use 15-15-30 cactus/succulent fertilizer during these seasons. It is possible to use tomato fertilizers 1/2 strength than what is advised as the recommended strength.
Is it OK to use Miracle Grow on cactus plants?
Plant your potted cactus with Miracle-Gro Cactus, Palm & Citrus Potting Mix.
Alternatives include using Miracle-Gro Succulent Plant Food for indoor cactus and Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food for outdoor plants.
What is causing my cactus and succulents to be wrinkled?
Not enough water causes dry, dark spots to appear on the leaves of plants that are succulents frequently. If the leaves appear wrinkling, try giving them a gentle stroke.
You can use it to determine whether they are over or under-watered. On the other hand, overwatered leaves are softer and softer than underwatered leaves.
What is the best growing medium for succulents?
A mix of potting soil, coarse sand, and perlite/pumice that drains effectively is the ideal potting media for succulents. It also works well for cacti and other ephemeral plants.
