Succulents do best when you soak the soil and let it dry out completely before watering again, meaning the soil is dry from the top of the pot to bottom.

There are a few reasons this is important.

First, succulent roots need time to dry between watering in order to grow strong and healthy.

Second, is to prevent gnats from making an appearance. Gnats thrive in a wet and warm environment. If your soil stays wet too long, you’ll soon notice gnats starting to hover around your succulents. They don’t do damage but they are quite obnoxious.

Third, soil that stays damp for a long time can cause the roots of your succulents to rot and may also create an environment for fungus or algae to grow, which isn't ideal for your plants.

So how can you tell if the soil is completely dry?

Feel the weight of the pot

Shortly after watering, feel how heavy your planter is (if you’re able – obviously there's going to be some pots that are too big for this method). Wait a few days and lift the planter again. It should be quite a bit lighter than after you watered it.

Wait another day or two and then feel it again. If it doesn’t seem lighter than a day or two before, you’re good to water again! The soil should be completely dry. If it does feel lighter, wait another day or two and check the weight again. Keep doing this until the pot no longer feels lighter.

This method works really well for smaller pots, especially if you’re growing indoors.

If you want to be really precise, you can actually weight the pots and record the weight as a note on your phone or in the Cheerful Plants app (Apple | Android). Then water again when the weight has been the same for a few days.

Use a skewer or water meter

You probably have some pots that are too big to lift or would be tricky to use the weight method for. I definitely do! 

For these pots, you can use a wood skewer. Put the skewer all the way into the soil (touching the bottom of the pot if possible), leave it for several minutes and then pull it out. If it’s cool to the touch or wet, the soil is still wet.

You can also use a moisture meter, though I haven’t found these to be reliable if you’re using a gritty soil mix like Bonsai Jack's succulent soil. With the gritty mix, the soil doesn't make enough surface contact with the meter to get an accurate reading.

A lot of our Succulent Lovers Club members who use a more organic soil mix really like using skewer method or a water meter and have great results.

The Paper Towel Test

This is my personal favorite approach! Take a dry paper towel (or a dry rag can work too) and place it underneath the drainage hole of your pot of succulents. Let the pot sit on top of the paper towel for a few minutes.

Remove the paper towel from under the pot. If the paper towel is damp, there is still water in the soil and you should wait to water.

If you have a pot that isn't drying out as quickly as you'd like, placing a towel under the drainage hole for several hours is a great way to pull out some of the excess water.

Pay attention to your succulents

You can also wait for your succulents to "tell" you that they need more water. Most succulents can go a significant time in between watering, so I always recommend erring on the side of too little water.

A solution for this is to use the "Taco Test".

For this approach, you gently squeeze a leaf on your succulent, as if you were folding it in half like a taco shell. If the leaf is rigid and firm, you should wait to water. If the leaf easily bends, your succulent is likely ready for water again.

Keep in mind, with the Taco Test, each succulent naturally has a different amount of stiffness in their leaves. "Wavy Jade" leaves will bend more easily than Gasteria "Little Warty". For this reason, it's helpful to know what kind of succulent you have and what the leaves typically feel like when well watered.

I've put together a free cheat sheet that will show you signs your succulent needs more water or less. Click here to get the guide. It'll be super helpful.