How Often Should you Water Succulents and Cacti?

A common question many succulent owners have in the beginning is “how often should you water succulents?” Even though it seems like it should be easy to water a plant, watering succulents can be tricky since they do not need as much water as a typical houseplant. To learn more about how to water your succulents, read below.

This post is specifically about how often you should water succulents. For a general succulent guide, see our complete succulent care guide

One of the most common problems beginners run into is overwatering their succulents. It’s important to remember that succulents are different from other types of houseplants. Many succulents and cacti are native to arid, desert-like environments and enjoy hot, dry climates — though "succulent" spans many plant families, and a few, like Christmas cactus and other jungle/epiphytic cacti, come from tropical forests and want more moisture and humidity instead. This guide focuses on the more common desert-type succulents and cacti; if you have a Christmas cactus, see our dedicated care guide instead. Thick, chubby leaves let desert succulents store water so they can survive extended drought.

I thought that watering plants was easy, until I killed my first few succulents from overwatering them. I was watering them every 2 to 3 days and had them planted in a glass container- this is way too often, AND the worst container you can plant succulents in (even though it does look cute…)! Overwatering succulents will lead to root rot and is a common cause of succulent death. Root rot will cause your beautiful succulent to transform into a brown, mushy mess.

How often you water your succulents will have a huge role in determining if they live or die (no pressure). LUCKILY, once you realize overwatering is a problem, it is easy to fix… just water less often to keep your succulents happy. With practice, you will be able to identify signs of your succulent needing more or less water, and learn what factors affect how often you should water.

So how often should you water succulents?

Unfortunately, there is no single best watering schedule for succulents because each succulent’s water needs depend on many factors:

This is pretty overwhelming, and in reality, it is pretty hard to keep track of all these factors, especially if you have a lot of plants.

The point of that table was to show you that the question “how often should you water succulents and cacti” can not have one single answer, because it depends on so many factors.

As a rule of thumb, follow the following schedule and adjust it as needed based on your climate and the signs you see in your succulent:

Succulent Watering Schedule

In general, it is good to start off with the following schedule and then adjust as you see needed: Succulents should be watered once every 1 to 2 weeks in the summer. During the winter, they should be watered once every 3 to 4 weeks.

Remember that the factors listed before all contribute to how much water your succulent needs, so you may need to adjust your frequency as needed for your specific area. Pay attention to signs your succulent shows you to get a good idea of if you are watering appropriately (keep reading below for what to look out for).

Temperature and humidity

Remember, your plants are able to sense the temperatures and notice the seasons changing.

As the seasons change, so should your watering habits. As you would expect, a succulent out in the sun in a hot, dry climate (like the Southwest USA) during the summer is going to need to be watered much more often than a succulent in the colder Northeast region.

In the winter, when it is much colder, your succulents will need less water.

If your succulents are indoors, they will not be as exposed to temperature changes and can be watered less often than succulents outside in the summer.

Humidity plays a role in watering frequency as well. Drier climates allow the water to evaporate from the soil faster, meaning your soil stays wet for a shorter period of time)- that is why you need to water more often. On the other hand, if there is high humidity, water will stay in the soil for a longer period of time (your soil is staying wet for longer). If this is the case, water your succulents less frequently. Avoid keeping succulents in rooms in your house with high humidity, such as bathrooms.

Again, the baseline is 1 to 2 weeks in summer months and every 3 to 4 weeks in winter, which you should modify based on if your succulent is indoors or outdoors, the temperature, and the humidity of your area.

Dormancy

When your plant becomes dormant, it becomes minimally active: they are conserving their energy and stop growing until they sense there are better growing conditions. Basically, think of a bear going into hibernation- your plant is doing the same thing.

Many common houseplant succulents slow down in fall and winter and should be watered less frequently then to avoid root rot. But dormancy isn't universally winter-based — UC Agriculture and Natural Resources notes that succulents can be either summer- or winter-dormant depending on species, with many cacti, agaves, and sempervivums actually resting in summer and growing in spring and fall instead. The safest approach is to water based on how actively your specific plant is growing, not the calendar. It is nice to know when your plant is dormant, so you can water accordingly, and is important to know this if your succulents are planted outside.

However, if you are keeping your succulents indoors, dormancy does not play as big a role because your plant is not experiencing the large temperature differences and its conditions are pretty similar year-round. So if your plants are indoors, I would not worry too much about this.

How to water succulents and cacti

Now that you know that succulents need less water than typical houseplants, actually watering them should be easy right? Turns out there is a specific way they like to be watered: soaked infrequently.

What exactly does this mean? When watering, the succulent’s soil should be soaked enough that you see water begin to seep out of the drainage hole (if your pot has one). You should pour the water on the soil at the base of the plant. Do this about once a week, allowing the soil to dry out in that time. Do not water in between the week. Remember: Infrequent soaking!

This method works well for succulents because it mimics their native climate. Succulents are found in areas with quick-draining soil and infrequent rains. When it does rain, it rains A LOT, which is what we are trying to go for by soaking it every week.

You want to make sure that water does not sit in the rosette because if left for too long, it could lead to rot as well. I like using a squeeze bottle while watering so I can ensure the water goes right at the soil at the base of the plant and does not sit on the leaves.

Water with room-temperature water. Ordinary tap water is fine for most succulents — rainwater is excellent if you have it, and distilled water works fine too, since succulents get the nutrients they need from the potting mix and any fertilizer, not from minerals dissolved in water. If your tap water is unusually hard or salty, occasionally flushing the soil helps prevent buildup. If your succulent pot is sitting in a saucer, empty out any water in the saucer. Do not leave water sitting in there.

Don't rely on a spray bottle as your regular watering method for established succulents — misting only wets the surface of the soil rather than reaching the roots, so it doesn't hydrate the plant the way a thorough soak does. (Misting is a different story during leaf propagation, where a light spray is often recommended to keep cuttings from drying out while they root.)

The bottom line: succulents need to be soaked infrequently.

What are some important signs to pay attention to when watering succulents?

I keep mentioning that you have to look at your plant for signs it needs more or less water, but what exactly does that mean? Here are the signs I use:

Dry soil

Succulents should be watered when the soil is completely dry. To test if your soil is dry, stick your finger a few inches down rather than just checking the surface — in a deeper pot, the top can feel dry while the root zone below is still wet. If it feels moist down there, wait a few more days before watering. If it's dry at that depth, go ahead and water.

On the other hand, if you do not like getting your hands dirty, you can get a good soil moisture meter and use that to get an estimate of how dry your soil is.

Wrinkled leaves

When succulents grow, they use nutrients from the bottom leaves to grow from the center.

You can tell if your succulent is thirsty is looking at the bottom leaves- if its normally chubby leaves are slightly wrinkled, your succulent needs a drink. Water the succulents when you notice these wrinkles. Within a day or two of a thorough watering, the wrinkles often relax and the leaves “re-inflate” closer to normal, though recovery time varies by plant and how dehydrated it got. Wrinkling isn't always about thirst, either — older lower leaves naturally shrivel as the plant reabsorbs them, and a plant with rotted roots can look dehydrated even in wet soil — so pair this sign with an actual soil check rather than relying on it alone. Brief underwatering is usually easier to recover from than keeping a succulent continuously wet — but that's not license to ignore watering for too long, since repeated or severe drought can still damage the roots.

Obviously, this method only works if your plant has thick leaves you can see. Many cacti don't have obvious fleshy leaves, so instead watch for the stem or ribs looking shriveled, wrinkled, or sunken as a similar thirst signal.

Signs of overwatered succulents:

Overwatering succulents is one of the most common causes of root rot in succulents.

Rot will start in the roots, and as the rot spreads, more and more roots get infected and die, eventually killing the entire plant.

One of the most common causes of root rot is overwatering. If the soil stays wet for a long time from watering too frequently, or the plant is not in a well-draining mix, this can kick start the root rot process because your plant’s roots are “drowning” in the extra water.

Signs of root rot and an overwatered succulent include:

• Wilting or mushy stems
• Yellowing, translucent leaves
• Leaves that easily fall off just by bumping the plant
• Brown or black spots on the stem

These are signs of overwatering in succulents. It may still be possible to save your plant if you notice this early on. Remove the plant from the pot. Cut off any roots that are dark or discolored, soft, or mushy — healthy roots are typically firmer and lighter in color. Fill a new, clean pot with soil and repot the healthy parts of the plant in clean soil. Water the new cuttings in a week (for a complete guide, see this article about handling root rot in succulents).

The best types of pots for succulents:

First, it is important to make sure the plant is in a well-draining pot with a drainage hole. Plain terracotta pots work best because they do not retain extra water- succulents hate staying wet for too long. These pots help the succulent’s soil dry out faster.

Avoid glass containers or terrariums: these will retain moisture for a long time, which can contribute to rot.

If you just NEED to plant your succulent in that cute glass terrarium you keep seeing online, you will need to water less often than you would normally. Rather than guessing at a water amount, the more reliable fix — recommended by Iowa State Extension — is to place a smaller nursery pot with drainage holes inside the decorative glass container. That way you can still water thoroughly and let it drain properly; you just empty the outer glass container afterward.

Even though it is not an ideal container, it is possible to grow succulents in glass terrariums, as long as you water less. If you notice that your succulents keep dying however, it may be time to make the switch to terracotta pots.

Use a well-draining, porous soil mix

Use a well-draining, porous soil mix. Regular potting soil for houseplants can be too dense and hold onto moisture for a long period of time. Using a 70:30 mix of succulent potting soil to perlite will give you a good, porous soil mix that does not retain water for too long.

Should you water after repotting your succulent?

If you had to cut away damaged or rotted roots before repotting, let those wounds callus over for several days to a week before watering, the same way you'd treat a fresh cutting. If you're simply moving an otherwise healthy, intact root ball into a new pot, watering right away or within a few days is generally fine — extension guidance varies here, so when in doubt, especially after significant root work, err on the side of waiting a bit longer.

How often should you water new succulent babies (pups)?

If the pup already had roots when you separated it, treat it like a small, quicker-drying plant — its small root mass in a small pot will likely need checking more often than the parent plant. If you removed an unrooted offset instead, let it callus over for a few days first, the same way you would a leaf or stem cutting, before watering it at all.

In summary of how often should you water succulents and cacti:

So there you have it, that is how often you should water succulents. As you can see, there are MANY factors that affect how much water your succulent needs.

The main things to remember are:

• Use once every 1 to 2 weeks in active growth and once every 3 to 4 weeks in dormancy as a rough starting point, then adjust based on your plant and conditions
• Check for signs of underwatering (dry soil, wrinkled bottom leaves) to know when to water your plant
• Check for signs of overwatering (translucent, yellow leaves, black spots on the stem) to see if you have root rot.
• When you water- water infrequently, soaking the plant at once
• Use a well-draining, porous soil mixture
• Plant in a terracotta pot

And if you lose one or two plants to overwatering- do not get too down! It is a common mistake that a lot of people make. Watering succulents is really a trial and error process. If in doubt, remember it is much easier to fix an underwatered succulent than an overwatered one.

Want to learn more about taking care of succulents and cacti? Check out our general cactus or succulent guides:

Succulent watering: frequently asked questions

How often should I water succulents?

There's no single schedule that fits every succulent — even university extension sources give different rough numbers, with some suggesting closer to once a week during active growth and others every 2 to 3 weeks. Use every 1 to 2 weeks in active growth and every 3 to 4 weeks during dormancy as a rough starting point, but let the soil and the plant's own signals, not the calendar, make the final call.

What's the best water to use for succulents?

Ordinary tap water is fine for most succulents. Rainwater is excellent if you have it, and distilled water works fine too, since succulents get the nutrients they need from the potting mix and fertilizer, not from minerals dissolved in water. If your tap water is unusually hard or salty, flushing the soil occasionally helps prevent buildup — there's no need to avoid distilled water, despite what you may have read.

What's the best pot for succulents?

A terracotta or unglazed clay pot with a drainage hole is ideal. Because terracotta is porous, it lets soil dry out considerably faster than plastic or glazed ceramic — which matters for a plant that hates sitting in wet soil. Glass containers and terrariums look nice but hold moisture much longer, so they need a lighter, less frequent watering routine.

How do I know if my succulent needs water?

Check the soil first — stick a finger into the top 1 to 2 inches, and if it's still moist, wait. The plant itself will also tell you: slightly wrinkled, deflated lower leaves are a sign of thirst, while mushy, translucent, or yellowing leaves point to overwatering instead.

Written from a very crowded windowsill

Every guide here comes from things I've actually tried on my own plants. Got a plant doing something weird? Send me a photo — I answer every one.

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