5 Organic Succulent Fertilizers For Naturally Feeding Your Garden

So, you’ve been bitten by the succulent bug, and now you have one or five of your own. It might have been the unique shape that attracted you to it or that these no-mess-no-fuss plants are great for those trying out their green thumbs. Either way, you are ready to watch your succulent growth take off.

Fertilizer is the confidence boost that your succulent needs to assure the plant that it is in a safe place to grow. Fertilizers for succulents provide nutritional support for your succulent, helping it grow the perfect forms, fully bloom, and even better respond to environmental stresses.

Chemical Fertilizers and Succulents – Good or Bad?

Chemical fertilizers are also known as artificial fertilizers and are made from unnatural elements and procedures. These fertilizers feed the plant directly with high concentrations of supplements and provide rapid nutrition for the plant. Because of this, chemical fertilizers can easily shock or overwhelm your succulents. They may burn the roots of the plant and can cause misshapen or scarred leaves.

Diluting the chemical fertilizers is essential before giving the liquid to succulents. The dilution ratio will differ depending on the size of the plant and the type of succulent, which makes using chemical fertilizers a little tricky. Most growers will agree that chemical fertilizers are often too harsh and too fast-acting for succulents.

Organic fertilizers – Your safest bet for succulents

1. Compost manure – As natural as mother nature gets

If you live on or near a farm and have outdoor succulents, well-composted manure from grazing animals like cows, sheep, and chickens has been recognized as priceless because it provides an array of minerals and nutrients critical to the health of your plant. We emphasize outdoor succulents because some composted manure can have a somewhat lingering solid scent at first that may not be very pleasant indoors.

Compost manure revitalizes the soil, increases soil aeration, and releases the carbon content making it easier for the plant to absorb nutrients.

2. Worm castings – wiggly worms that feed plants and keep off pests

The worm castings are technically worm manure – the waste products of earthworms. Worm castings are rich in humus, which improves soil aeration and can also balance out high or low pH levels in the soil.

Worm castings are rich with over 60 micro-nutrients essential for healthy succulents. In addition to nitrogen, phosphate, and potash, worm castings are abundant in magnesium, calcium, carbon, potassium, iron, zinc, and copper. They also remedy heavy metals in soils, preventing your succulent from absorbing toxic amounts of these compounds.

A great advantage of using worm castings to fertilize your succulents is they are rich in enzyme chitinase. Chitinase breaks down chitin in an insect’s exoskeleton. When the chitinase absorption happens in the succulent’s roots, distribution follows to the leaves and other plant sections. Mealybugs, aphids, and whiteflies can sense the chitinase in your succulents and will be less likely to feed on your plant. Pests will walk away from their death!

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3. Teabags – Succulents can have a cup of tea! 

Looking for organic manure without the hassle of cow dung or rotting vegetables from garden compost? Look no further than the Authentic Haven Brand Manure Tea. The Authentic Haven Brand owners have created little manure tea bags to soak in water and feed your plants.

The manure comes from organically raised cows pasture-fed with no antibiotics or hormones and packed in 100% biodegradable cotton bags. A tea bag should be soaked in about 5 gallons of water for 24 – 36 hours until the liquid turns a golden-brown color. This water can replace tap water when your succulent is dry and needs a drink.

The Authentic Haven Brand Manure Teabags can confidently take on two 36-hour soaks each and are available in a packet of three for $12.95.

Also, try our pick for organic tea bag manure!

4. Spray it with Miracle-Gro

When looking for the benefits and nutrients of organic fertilizer without the work of composting or preparing tea, you should invest in a bottle of Succulent Super Food from Miracle-Gro.

This easy-to-use spray bottle contains liquid fertilizer from all-natural worm-casting tea and works well on indoor and outdoor succulents. You can spray it straight on the soil around your succulents or directly onto the leaves to dissuade whiteflies or mealybugs. 

5. Slow-release fertilizer for outdoor succulents

The Grow Better Organic Cactus and Succulent Fertilizer have been acclaimed as the ultimate fertilizer for outdoor succulents. This organic, slow-release fertilizer is made from composted chicken manure and can be pre-mixed into potting soil when planting or as a top dress. The plant should be watered after applying the fertilizer for the granules to dissolve.

This low-odor fertilizer slowly releases the micro-nutrients into the soil, with each application lasting for up to two months. The GrowBetter Organic Cactus and fertilizers for succulents are nutritious for both ornamental and edible succulents and cacti.

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Final Words

Thank you for reading with us today on the safest fertilizers for succulents. Check out similar content to keep your succulent knowledge growing like “Why Are My Succulent Leaves Falling Off?” or even “7 Mini Garden Hand Tools For Your Succulents“.

If you’d like this read, you’ll love our total in-depth ebooks! With so many succulent lovers asking for more, we listened and can’t wait to share it here! You’ll get more information from our detailed ebooks than these short articles. Some ebooks are 30+ pages, perfect for a weekend read. 

Happy Planting!

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