Tried bottom watering my succulents for 3 months and they got weird

Everyone in my local plant group swears bottom watering is the only way to go, so I gave it a shot with my 12 echeverias on the kitchen counter. But after 3 months, half of them got these mushy lower leaves and one even started rotting at the base even though I only filled the tray an inch deep. I think the water wicks up unevenly and traps moisture in the soil longer than top watering does for my gritty mix. Has anyone else had this happen with chunky succulent soil?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagen3624d ago

Did you let the soil dry out completely between waterings? I had a similar issue with my echeverias until I started using a grittier mix with more perlite and only bottom watering when the leaves looked a little wrinkled.

patricia_rodriguez24d ago

Oh come on, bottom watering isn't the problem here. @sagen36 is right that your soil mix is probably the real issue since chunky gritty blends can actually hold moisture unevenly when they soak from below. If your leaves were getting mushy, you were likely leaving them in the water too long or your soil already had too much fine stuff trapping water near the base.