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Often when you look at a beautiful display of succulent plants, you will notice that they have a layer of rocks scattered over the top of their soil. This looks like a decorative touch – and it does look very attractive, but have you ever wondered if succulents really need these rocks on top or if this is just a decorative touch that some people like to add to their pots?
Succulents don’t need to have a layer of rocks on top of their soil. This layer of rocks, called a top dressing, is not necessary but can be beneficial to your plants by protecting the surface of the soil from being disturbed and granting protection from pests.
Your succulents may not need a layer of rocks on top of their soil as a top dressing, but there are several reasons you should consider having this layer. There are some benefits to having a top dressing, 5 of which we’ll list below as well as some recommendations for the types of top dressing you should and some that you should not use.
Why Do People Put Rocks on Tops of Succulents?
A top dressing for succulents is a layer of rocks, pebbles, decorative stones, or other decorative materials that is placed on top of the soil of your plant.
Sometimes, when you buy a succulent from a garden center, the plant comes with a top dressing already added, but I’ve noticed that they most often don’t come with one.
So in my experience, top dressings are usually added by people after purchasing their plants and it’s usually done as a decorative touch.
I don’t believe that you need to have a top dressing in order for your plant to be healthy but there are a few reasons why your plant would benefit from having one.
- Top Dressings Will Protect the Soil’s Surface
If your succulents don’t have a top dressing of rocks on top of their soil, the soil will likely get disturbed over time, especially when you water it from the top. Disturbed dirt like this doesn’t look very attractive and can even expose the roots. A top dressing of rocks or other suitable material will protect the soil from being disturbed and help keep it in its place.
- Top Dressings Add Stability to Your Young Succulents
Young or newly planted succulents sometimes need a little extra support until they have fully taken root in the soil. In cases like this, a top dressing will add stability to your succulents by keeping them upright.
- Regulates Temperature and Insulates Your Succulents
Top dressings will regulate and insulate your succulents from extreme temperature fluctuations.
Dark-colored rocks will absorb more heat and warm up the soil which is good for cooler climates, while light-colored rocks will reflect the heat, which is good for hotter climates.
- Prevents Insects From Laying Eggs
A good top dressing will create a barrier that prevents insects from laying eggs on damp soil. I’ve found this to be especially important for my indoor plants.
- The Aesthetic value – a Visual Benefit
This isn’t a health benefit for your plants, but a nice top dressing looks so much better than plain soil. It gives it a nice finished appearance.
What Are the Best Succulent Toppings?
You can use a variety of top dressings on your succulents. You can use anything from the usual dressings such as pebbles, gravel, pumice, small stones, and crushed granite to more decorative dressings such as colored rocks, seashells, crushed coral, and crushed semi-precious gems.
The best rocks you can use as a top dressing are rocks that promote good drainage. These are porous rocks that allow the soil to dry out completely between waterings. Pumice, gravel, coarse sand, small stones, turface, and Japanese akadama are some of these.
We talk about some of these porous rocks in this article called: What is a Good Cactus Soil Mix? (Guide to Cactus Soil Mixes) We have them listed under “Inorganic Materials”. If you are interested in learning more, you can find the article here, but we talk about them more specifically as it relates to top dressings in this article here.
You should avoid non-porous rocks or other materials that will prevent the evaporation of water. This may cause the soil to hold onto moisture for too long; something that is not good for your succulents.
You can, however, use some decorative non-porous rocks, or other dressings such as glass, marbles, and (non-porous) fish rocks, if you only use a few of them as a decorative touch and not as a complete layer over the soil. The rest of the top dressing should be made of porous rocks.
Another thing you can do if you really want to use one of these non-porous dressings is to make sure the layer isn’t very deep. If you keep the layer thin, it will allow the soil to breathe.
The only reason I’m not recommending the use of non-porous materials as a top dressing is because of the potential for them to hold moisture in the soil for too long, and causing problems. This may not be a problem in your situation, but I live in a more humid environment where we need to be more cautious.
You don’t want to use an organic top dressing such as moss since it would also hold in moisture.
Amazon has a nice selection of top dressings to choose from and you can see many different types and colors you can use to spruce up your succulent garden.
Top Dressing as a Decorative Touch
Since top dressings come in a wide variety of colors as well as sizes, you can choose colors (and sizes) that make your succulents look like they were planted by a professional decorator. You can choose coordinating or contrasting colors, depending on the look you are trying to achieve.
How do you add top dressing to succulents?
It’s easy to add a top dressing to your succulents; just add a thin layer of your dressing to the top of your soil. If you are using smaller rocks, gravel, or pebbles, a rule of thumb is to make the layer around ⅓ inch in depth.
Conclusion:
Using a layer of rocks on top of your succulent’s soil, also called a top dressing, isn’t really a necessity, but does come with enough benefits that I believe makes it something I would like to use on all of my succulents.
If you are interested in looking at some of the different types of top dressing, this Youtube video might interest you.
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