Succulents are a new norm for small green indoor plants. To successfully have mature plants at the end of the season, you must have the best gardening tools for succulents to help as you propagate, grow, and care for the plant.
As a gardener, you know how important it is to have the right tools. As cheesy as it may sound, the wrong gardening tool might give you a hard time, resulting in neglecting the plant.
In this guide, we will look at the basic gardening tools for succulents that are essential to have in store.
Essential gardening tools for succulents
You may wonder why we are discussing a set of tools for a specific plant. It’s because some tools can work well for a specific plant and destroy another. Also, you can use different tools to avoid contamination.
Succulent garden tools are essential to ensure the tools don’t harm the plant, to avoid cutting the part incorrectly, and to prevent the transfer of bacteria and fungi from other plants. These succulent garden tools include;
- Pruning shears
- Thorn-proof gardening gloves
- Long hand scissors
- Tweezers
- Kitchen tongs
- Shovel
- Brushes
- Moisture meter
- Squeeze bottle
- Bow rake
Pruning shears
The ideal garden tool to have for succulents is a pruning shear. If you cut or break unwanted growth without a tool, there is a high chance of damaging the plant. A slight wrong cut can affect the plant because it is sensitive.
However, if you use a proper pruning shear, the chances of damaging your plant are small because the tool is sharp and can trim the part smoothly. You can also use it to cut off rotting pods on cacti and dry leaves on other succulents without damaging the plant.
Pruning shears are the go-to gardening tools for succulents because the plant is small and delicate and requires routine maintenance to remove dead parts.
Thorn-proof gardening gloves
If you don’t want to hurt your hand, then, by all means, don’t work on succulents without protective gear on your hands. Gloves are the best gardening tools for succulents to help you grow the plant.
Since most succulents have thorns, you will likely injure your hand if you work on them without gloves. That’s why it’s necessary to find thorn-proof gloves. You can also find gloves that can protect your arms to the elbows.
We have looked at the different thorn-proof gloves. You can read it here.
Never underestimate the tiny thorns on a succulent. They are prickly and can hurt your hand if you’re not careful when handling them. Gloves are succulent garden tools that ensure your hands and arms are safe.
Long hand scissors
Why go for long-hand scissors? It’s simple. Small succulent garden tools will make it hard to reach the plant’s stem, resulting in you taking your hand into the plant. As you know, the plant itself is small, so you’ll end up hurting it. A long-hand scissor will get through tightly packed parts of a succulent.
To attain maximum growth, ensure you don’t hurt or disturb the plant when caring for it. Sometimes the gardening tools for succulents are those you least expect to use. Find a long scissor that can penetrate tight areas and cut through a piece in one snip.
Tweezers
Tweezers are among the succulent tools you can use to hold large succulents when removing pests. At some stage in your growth stage, you might have found snails or mealybugs and wondered how to remove them in the tiny cracks of succulents. That’s where tweezers come into use.
You can use the succulent tool to hold and remove snails from a plant. Also, you can use it to loosen roots, separate root balls, and tuck roots in the soil when planting. So, instead of handling this without hands, use tweezers to make the work easy.
Kitchen tongs
Kitchen tongs work like tweezers, however, you can use them to hold the succulent when planting. It helps when the succulent has thorns that can hurt your hand. You can also use it to remove dead leaves from within the plant.
Mini Shovel
This succulent garden tool is associated with gardening activities such as digging, carrying, or turning soil. You can use these tools when digging around the succulent plant. At the same time, you can use it to repot the plant.
Brushes
Brushes are a part of the succulent garden tools. For instance, dust and other dirt particles get blown onto your plant during the dry season. You will use the brush to clean off dirt into the depth and cracks of a succulent plant.
You use brushes because they are soft and tiny and can reach the deeper parts of the plant without damaging the plant.
Besides cleaning, you can use the succulent garden tool to eliminate pests such as aphids and bugs that create nests in the plant.
Moisture meter
A moisture meter is a succulent garden tool you can use to check the moisture content in the soil. It prevents you from overwatering or under-watering the plant. But, if you don’t want to purchase a moisture meter, you can use your finger to check if the plant needs water.
The good thing about this gardening tool is that it can reach depths that water hides. That way, you don’t have to guess the right time to water plants.
Squeeze bottle
A squeeze bottle is not essential however, it is useful when you don’t want to spray other parts of a plant, especially the leaves. The water splashes and falls on the leaves when you use a sprayer. Water on leaves can lead to rotten leaves.
The squeeze bottle is a good succulent garden tool to facilitate watering the plant since it can produce water at the required pressure, and some of it can penetrate deeper into the soil than a standard watering system.
Bow rake
A rake is important when planting succulents. It serves many purposes, such as smoothening, levelling and removing soil from leaves or stems. Making sure the soil is flat can prevent water from creating a puddle in the soil, and as a result, the water will spread evenly in the soil.
Conclusion
Now that you have the list of the best gardening tools for succulents, start your journey of growing and maintaining succulents.
