I bought four little succulent plants at Home Depot yesterday. Directions say to plant them

[raccoon]

in porous soil. Is potting soil OK?

[WhiteTara]

1. it should be more sandy than that

think desert.

[XemaSab]

3. Straight sand can sometimes pond water

especially in a small pot.

Counterintuitive, but true.

[WhiteTara]

4. I don't mean just sand, but sandy

[Blue Gardener]

2. I use cactus potting soil

For my succulents.

[raccoon]

5. Do places like Home Depot, Lowe's, big box stores usually have this? nt

[Blue Gardener]

6. I know Lowe's does

That's where I bought mine. The bags aren't very big though. If you need a lot I would mix it myself.

[kurtzapril4]

7. get yourself a bag of soil-less potting mix

and a small bag of sand. Mix them together. Plant your cacti. In the greenhouse I work at, we have cactus in straight soil-less mix, with extra perlite added. They do fine.

[MajorChode]

8. Here's the problem you could potentially run into

If your soil is clay and you dig a big hole, fill it with potting soil, sand, or whatever, you have effectively planted it inside a bucket with no effective drainage. So if your soil doesn't drain well, just make sure that all excess water has a place to go rather than just staying there and keeping the roots soaking.

If this is your situation, and you want to plant them in the ground rather than leaving them in a pot, consider planting them in some type of raised bed filled with soil that drains well.

[raccoon]

9. Do you ever need to water succulents? It's been dry around here lately.

Update, some time ago I replanted them in cactus potting soil.