Cactus and succulents Garden Myths Gardening Pots

Garden Myth: You Don’t Need to Water Succulents

Succulents may store water in their leaves and stems, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to be watered! Photo: amazon.com

Question: I bought three succulent plants last July. The guy at Ikea told me they didn’t need any watering. Just to put them on my windowsill and they’d do fine. But they’re not growing at all. They’re even shrinking and I actually think one might be dead. A friend tells me they’re dying of thirst. Who’s right?

Brown Thumb

Answer: Your friend! 

The idea that any living plant needs no watering at all is ridiculous. All plants need water. Yet I too keep hearing that strange bit of bad advice that succulents (and cactus, which are a kind of succulent) don’t need watering.

True enough, by definition, succulents store water in their tissues (stems or leaves): that’s what makes them so thick! They can then use that water during times of drought. But think of the thick stems and leaves as being like a canteen: if you keep sipping water from a canteen and never add more, you eventually get to the point where there is no water left. So it goes for succulent stems and leaves. They can go for long periods without water, but do need watering eventually. 

Little Dab Won’t Do It!

Watering can pouring water into pot of succulents.
When you water a succulent, always water thoroughly. Photo: plantinstructions.com

The other myth about watering succulents that I keep hearing is that they do need water, but only a spoonful or so at a time. That is a step up from no water at all, but is still no way to treat a living plant. 

The proper way to water a succulent or cactus is to pour on water abundantly, totally soaking the root ball. This replicates the conditions found in nature: even arid climates get a soaking every now and then. You can even let the roots of houseplant succulents soak in water for a while: say, 10 to 30 minutes, even overnight, but then empty any excess water from the saucer underneath and wait until the soil is thoroughly dry before you water again. (You can test dryness by touching the soil.) 

That can still take quite a while, depending on the conditions in your home: perhaps 10 to 14 days in the summer when your plants are growing actively (succulents grow slowly, but they do grow), maybe after a month or so in the winter. Even 3 or 4 months if the plant is kept very cool. 

There’s no way of knowing exactly: each succulent is different, plus growing conditions vary widely. Let your finger will tell you when!

No Drainage Hole?

Succulents planted in teacups with no drainage hole. A red X points out the error.
Never plant succulents in a container without a drainage hole. Photo: Albert & Moo

If you’re presently feeling a bit confused, because your succulents are growing in a pot without a drainage hole and therefore don’t have a saucer to catch excess water, you have a worse problem. Never grow a plant, succulent or otherwise, in a pot without a drainage hole: it just makes no sense. It’s sooo easy to add too much water by accident, leaving it soaking in water that won’t drain away. 

Drill and pot with hole drilled into it.
You can simply drill a hole in containers that don’t have a drainage hole. Photo: audreyslittlefarm.com

If your succulents are growing in a pot without a drainage hole, it’s more logical to either unpot them and replant them into a true plant pot or take the plant out of its container, turn the latter upside down and drill a hole in the bottom. (Use a ceramic drill bit if it’s a terra cotta or ceramic container.)  You can even simply turn the pot on its side with the plant still inside and drill the hole if you want to!

Succulents in grow pots ready to be inserted into a cachepot.
If you don’t want to drill, simply insert the “grow pot” into an ornamental cachepot. Photo: etsy.com & vhv.rs

If you don’t want to drill, you can use the container as a cachepot: an ornamental receptacle used to conceal a flowerpot. Plant the succulent in a regular pot small enough to fit into the container, then slip the pot into the container. That way, after watering, you can take the pot out and empty the cachepot of any excess water. Problem solved!

Drainage layer at bottom of a Mason jardin, succulent nearby.
Adding a drainage layer to a container with no drainage hole changes nothing: water will simply move up from the drainage layer to the plant’s roots, leading to rot. Photo: magnolia.com

Some ill-advised people justify planting succulents in containers with no drainage hole by claiming that as long you put a drainage layer of gravel or pebbles at the bottom, no drain hole is really necessary. That’s ridiculous! Drainage layers simply don’t work. If excess water ends up in a drainage layer at the bottom of a pot, the water will simply move up into the potting soil by capillary action, leaving the soil soggy and leading to rot. 

Growing succulents in containers with no possibility of drainage is a sure way to kill them. Just don’t do it!


Succulents and cactus are indeed low maintenance plants, but they do need watering—thorough watering!—occasionally.

Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

13 comments on “Garden Myth: You Don’t Need to Water Succulents

  1. Pingback: Summer Succulent Care: How to Care For Succulents in the Summer

  2. dianara96

    I love succulents! a debt of gratitude is in order for
    sharing a lot of Information.

  3. dianara96

    I truly love developing succulents! An obligation of appreciation is all together for sharing a great deal of Information.

  4. Humans can be so… stupid!

  5. I should know better than to read your posts. They can make me angry. I remember when the Beautification Committee decided to plant succulents in the planter boxed downtown to save water, which could have worked if we had used succulents that do not need much water, and actually changed the irrigation after planting them. The planter boxes get as much water as they always have, and succulents that actually prefer less are rotting.

  6. Toby Leppicello

    Hi Laidback Gardener,

    A couple of my succulents have started growing aerial roots and I am wondering if this might mean that I am giving them to LITTLE water?

    • I’ve never heard of that idea, but it might make sense. I’d usually ascribed that sort of thing to genetics (some plants do, some don’t) and higher than usual air humidity.

  7. Good post! I am always amazed by how ignorant people are of simple plant needs. If it can’t drain it will die! Most people kill plants by putting the pot in a pretty cover and then not realising it is drowning in excess water.

  8. And don’t buy cacti whose bracts or tips have been dipped in paint. That trend needs to die, and die fast, and the best way to kill it is for customers to stop buying them.

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