Question: Hello, I am looking to buy cactus and succulents for our home and office. I
would like to know which plants are better indoor and which survive well
outdoors. We have had a large succulent collection before moving to Florida
but unfortunately many died when changing climate and moving indoor to
outdoor. I hope to keep healthy plants going in our new house and office. We
are in Tampa Florida. I am also looking for large aloe plants. I hope to
hear back from you and I appreciate your time. Thank you! -Carlos
Answer: The Echeveria’s, adeniums and other succulents are great for your purpose and so are many cactus plants. I need to know a more details about what happed. Rot root? Bugs? Etc. AdeniumRose Company has clients in just about all states except for Alaska. As long as you take proper care including using the right soil and fertilizers they will grow anywhere. Here in South Florida adn yoru area (Mid-west Florida) our main concern is too much water when growing succulents outside which is 100% controllable using the right soil. Off the shelf cactus soil contains too much moss which retains water which is bad for Florida tropical climate. You need a coir based soil (see our blog www.adeniumrose.com/blog for proper mix). Yes we offer soil on our site which is the exact soil we use on our succulents and cactus.
Since you are moving plants from indoors to outdoors (rotating them) I suggest that you keep three sets of cactus/succulent pants unless you are using grow lights in-doors. Cactus and succulents need good light. They will survive indoors with low light for a couple months before they start having problems. First the cactus and succulents plants will go dormant and then start losing their leaves if they have leave
s. If you can replace regular light bulbs with grow light bulbs so when they are in your office they still get some of the proper light they need woudl help.
Once you have three sets of cactus and succulent plants rotate them in 3 month cycles so no plant is left in low light for more than 3 months out of 9. When in-doors reduce watering make sure the soil is dry between watering. Remember the cactus and succulents plants will assume that winter is coming. so they will start to go dormant if kept in-doors too long with not enough light. The problem is that cactus plants here are use to hot and wet and them you are taking them into a dry cool climate. Also you may want get Dyan-Grow Tekt to help strengthen the plants against disease and help the plant to take in nutrients. Also use a a good time release fertilizer 6-6-10 or liquid Dyna-Gro Grow.