Spines, lumps and thicc stems - just some of the beloved characteristics of our arid beauties. You love the chunkier plants? Well, they’ll love this mix! Using a blend of: coco coir, horticultural sand, grit, pumice, zeolite, worm castings, activated charcoal. Soil ninja developed this mix to meet all your succulent and cactus needs. Components that work together are vital to a successful substrate and boy, do these guys like holding hands- the aggregate based blend makes sure no residue humidity sticks around for too long on the very sensitive and tender roots of xeric species. But in the event, you do over water a little or mistakenly water during their dormancy period- the added support of activated charcoal doesn’t just improve drainage but also fends off impurities and bad micro fauna and flora that will lead to rot. All xeric, arid species exist naturally with little access to nutrients the majority of the time, with this in mind, we added a small portion of worm castings to ensure the most natural and gentle presence of nutrients that their extremely delicate roots will not be offended by. It's recommended to pot any of your common varieties of cacti and succulents in this mix but it’s also a fantastic candidate for other plants such as: snake plants, jade plant and xeric bromeliads like dyckia will thrive in this extremely well-draining blend as well as begonia venosa! This soil contains a range of non-porous materials to create a fast draining mix that does not stay wet for long. The high portion of sand and grit in the mixture means the majority of water flows right through the pot to through the holes at the bottom. However our coco coir, pumice and zeolite in the mixture will hold onto just enough water for the plant to absorb in the short time that the blend stays wet for. These types of plant generally want one thing – for the majority of the time to be in completely dry substrate. However, when it comes to your watering we recommend you properly drench them. In the wild these plants are used to huge downpours of rain, followed by the land becoming dry quickly after a few days. We have formulated this mix to simulate this wet-dry cycle. In general we recommend water every 2/3 weeks only in the summer months. Spring and autumn should be about once a month, and not at all in winter.