These days, horticulture seems to have taken a huge step backward. Garden centers now currently sell plants in “designer pots*,” really cute ones, but without drainage holes, something they would never have considered even 10 years ago. Cacti and succulents bear the brunt of this mistreatment: the very plants that can’t take soaking in water even for short periods are now sold in pots that don’t allow excess water to drain away. What a horror!

*Who designs these designer pots? Certainly not horticulturists! A good gardener would never consider growing plants under such perilous conditions!

Often these plants are already rotting when you buy them. And usually when rot sets in, it ends up killing the plant … but that can take months (succulents do everything slowly, even dying). That’s why I recommend sniffing the potting soil of any plant growing in a pot with no drainage hole before you buy it. Yes, putting your nose right down near the soil and inhaling deeply. Rot has a quite particular odor: sort of sour, like a rotting potato. You’ll recognize it when you sniff it.

Don’t buy plants that are suffering from rot. Yes, sometimes you can save them by taking cuttings and staring anew, but only if the rot is not too advanced. You’d do much better to buy a plant that “smells fine.”

Once you get home, do repot any poor plant growing in a pot with no drainage hole into one that does have a drainage hole. Or drill a hole in the bottom of the pot. For more information on that, read The Delicate Art of Watering Pots With No Drainage Hole.