What type of soil do I use for a pink Kalanchoe indoor plant

[elizabeth24]

Hi Everyone,

My DD bought me a pink kalanchoe indoor plant yesterday for Mothers Day. It is presently in a container with some ivy, but with no drainage at all, but I will transplant both plants so they have enough room fo drainage. Unfortunately I have watered the plant twice, only to find that I should not have done that. The indoor soil I have right now has a wetting agent in that, I am not sure what that is.

I am wondering what the best type of soil for this plant is. Is a soil ready made for cactus okay, as it is a succulent?

Please let me know.

Thanks so much.

elizabeth24

[Eeyore]

That would be my best guess Elizabeth. A cactus soil should do well for it.

[orchidguy]

Hello Elizabeth

There are about 130 different species of kalanchoe from just about every environment in the world, and all do best with specifics according to where they are from.
If you have the kalanchoe that comes in many colours and is often available, then it is probably a k. blossfeldiana cultivar, and they originally come from Madagascar.
The soil I find most suited for these is an all-purpose houseplant mix, with a handful of grit ( I usually use gravel sold for pet caged birds) and a couple of spoonfuls of sand(sold in bags for childrens sand boxes) added to the mix. This mix is also great for epiphyllums and some terrestrial orchids
When I mix a batch of soil for pots, I usually add some bone meal and a small amount of well rotted manure
I hope this has helped a bit, and wish you the best of luck with this beautiful plant

[elizabeth24]

Thank you Dan.

I did buy some potting soil, it has peat moss, humus, compost, and perlite. For some grit, should I add some vermiculite, as I do have a bag of it. Would this work?

Thanks so much for your info.

elizabeth24

[elizabeth24]

Lyn,

Thank you. That is the type of soil I thought I should be getting, but they talked me out of it at the garden centre, so I am going back in the morning to buy it. Thanks again.

elizabeth24

[angelinaottawa]

My Kalanchoe was bought from Loblaws, and it was very happy growing in my backyard for summer. About last week of August, I put it in a pot for indoors, and the soil mix has 3 parts: regular garden soil (added manure in summer), mixed with perlite and cedar mulch(some use pine barks). So far, this Kalanchoe is happy and growing well, so I reckon it did the trick for me. I was told drainage is important for this plant, hence the wood chips in mulch and perlite.

The soil mentioned earlier functions similar, probably i'm giving you other options that may work.
As long as you give the kalanchoe good drainage, then Kalanchoe is happy.

I really think it is hard to kill a Kalanchoe. Grandma never repots her Kalanchoe for her original gift pot, and they just flourish.