Are you planning on leaving your succulents for a couple of weeks, a month, or even more due to work, vacation or any other reason? In this post, you will learn about leaving your succulents without any care for longer periods such as a month, how long succulents can live without water, which self-watering systems you can use and ones to avoid.
Succulents are generally resistant to harsher conditions, such as high heat and low watering frequency. It is possible to leave succulents for a month, but you need to make sure to leave them in the correct spot.
Leaving succulents in winter
If you need to travel or leave your succulents alone in winter, it is much easier to do than in summer. Succulents enter a dormancy state in winter, and don’t need much watering through this season.
Leaving succulents for a month in winter should not be a problem at all. Generally, if you keep succulents indoors in winter, you can water them slightly around once a month. This will prevent the complete drying of roots. If keeping outdoors, water even less.
Whether you can keep your succulents indoors or outdoors in winter will depend on succulent species. Some are more resistant to frost, but generally temperatures of under 40 Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) can be bad for succulents.
If you are planning to leave your succulents for a month or so in winter, make sure to bring them indoors if temperatures are likely to be low. Check forecasts and resistance to frost in your succulent species.
If frost or temperature below freezing generally lasts only a few hours a day, you can keep your succulents outdoors. To keep outdoors, cover them with a horticultural frost cloth like this or similar. It will add around 5-10 F degrees’ protection and protect against rain.
Avoid frost cloths that are made of plastic, because they restrict air exchange. This can cause rotting. A cloth should also protect from rain, otherwise it will cause waterlogged soil.
Leaving succulents for a month in summer
If you are planning to leave your succulents for a month or so in summer, you should also prepare. In general, succulents with thicker leaves are more resistant to heat and lack of water than ones with thinner leaves.
If you are leaving for a short period, water your succulents normally before leaving. But don’t leave your succulents in a spot with lots of direct sunlight. That’s because it will lead to quicker water evaporation.
Also, don’t leave a saucer full of water under the pot. While there will be a supply of water, your succulents will constantly sit in water for long periods of time, and it can lead to rot and waterlogged soil.
If leaving for more than 4 weeks, don’t leave your succulent on the sunniest windowsill in your house. Instead, leave in a shaded area that gets some sun in a day (only 3-4 hours or so).
This way, they won’t need much water. To provide your succulents with some rest, place them in the cool place in your house and water your plants normally before leaving.
How long can succulents go without water?
Most succulents can go about 3-4 weeks without water without any problems. However, many succulents can survive for up to 6-7 weeks without water. They will often be fine with a deep soak after that period.
Cacti can often go longer without water than other succulents, and succulents with thicker leaves can also go longer without water.
Your succulents are very likely to be wrinkly and died up when you come back. But don’t worry – water them when you come back. Succulents are very hardy, and most will get back to normal quickly.
Automatic watering options for succulents
If you are going away on vacation or work, and leaving succulents without any care, you can look into automatic watering solutions for your succulents. But please remember that succulent soil needs to dry between waterings.
Making and leaving your succulent plants’ soil wet all the time will lead to plant rot. It also increases susceptibility to pests/disease.
Try to avoid any methods of automatic watering options that will make the soil very wet. Or, ones that will make you leave your plants in a direct water source. Instead, you would need water to be drawn from the water source when the soil is getting dry.
Let’s discuss a few best self-watering options that you can use for your succulents and cacti.
Self-watering option 1: Cotton/woven string drip system
Using a woolen/cotton string/cloth, you can provide your succulents (including cacti) with water while being away. For this method, fill a bucket with water and place it on a chair or another surface that is above your plants.
Place a string inside the bucket with water. Then, place the other end of the string around 2-4 cm (1-1.5 inches) into the soil. You can put as many strings as you have plants into the bucket, to water each of them.
String will soak in water and provide water to plants in pots, in small quantities. Because succulents don’t need much water, this can help them survive for some time when you are gone.
Self-watering option 2: Blumat watering stakes
Blumat watering stakes like this allow to water your plants automatically when you are away. Those are classics for automatic watering of your plants.
However, Blumat will only be suitable for larger pots, because they are quite large. It will not be suitable for mini succulents, in pots that are smaller than 6-7″ in diameter.
In general, most succulent growers are a bit reluctant to use automatic systems, because they are worried about overwatering. However, with some adjustments, you can definitely make it work.
To make your Blumat watering stakes water your succulents when the soil is medium to dry, you need to put the bowl with water below the actual plant.
This will prevent gravity from releasing more water into the soil. Lower the water bowl = less water it will siphon into the soil. If your succulent pot is quite large and dries out quickly (possibly in summer), you can place it on the same level as your succulent pot.
Self-watering option 3: Drip irrigation system with a timer
If you wish to build or invest a bit more into a more sophisticated self-watering system with a timer like this one, this might be an option for you. It allows to set up not only a frequency of watering, but also watering duration.
This system would be similar to Blumat, but would also have a timer. Most succulent keepers know approximately how often they need to water their succulents, so setting up a timer is very useful.
With this system, you must also read instructions to set it up correctly. Make sure to set timers, and not place the controller lower than the water bowl/bucket to avoid too much water dripping into your succulents.
Self-watering options to avoid for succulents, including cacti
Most self-watering options are not suitable for succulents and cacti because they wet the soil too much and cause issues.
For this reason, avoid all self-watering pots for your succulents, because they will keep your plants’ soil wet all the time.
Also, avoid using self-watering aqua globes or plastic/glass bottles placed upside down with a hole in a cap. All of this will just make your plants too wet.
You should also avoid placing a plastic bag over your succulents to create a greenhouse effect. This can easily kill your plants because humidity will increase inside the bag, which is bad for succulents.
On top of that, if you place your succulents in direct sunlight and sun rays hit the bag, your plants will dry out and burn. That’s because temperatures inside the bag will increase significantly.
Can you leave succulents in the rain?
If you have left your succulents outside in the rain, your plants are very likely to be fine. Cacti and other succulents like a deep soak when their soil is dry. If your succulents are potted in a well-draining soil mix, the excess water should be washed off with rain.
So, if your succulents got very wet, put them in a very sunny spot to dry properly. If you are likely to get rain again the next day or a few, take your succulents indoors to dry. Make sure to prevent the soil from getting wet again, until it properly dries.
However, if your succulents are potted in a poorly-draining mix (thick and dense soil), you might look into placing them under some heat to increase evaporation. If you have any stones on top of soil, you might remove them for the time being. That’s because rocks limit water evaporation.
Leaving succulents in a car
If you think about leaving succulents in a car, this might not be the best idea. Unfortunately, cars often get very hot in summer, and lack ventilation.
Temperatures over 86 F (30 C) are often too high for most succulents, and cars can get much hotter than this. But of course, it will depend on where you live and whether you leave your car in a sunny spot.
What is more, plants and other loose objects on your dash might become a hazard while driving. Same would be for hanging plants in the front of the car.
But generally, you should avoid keeping succulents in a hot car for too long, especially in the front with direct sunlight. Keeping your succulents in a car in winter however might work if it doesn’t get too cold (depends on cold sensitivity of your succulent species).
However, you might also consider getting fake succulents instead.
Thank you for reading this post on leaving succulents for a month. If you would like to learn more about succulent care, please see this page.