Thank you! Luckily my tiny plants are kept out of reach of my pets, although they have taken a few spills anyway. I will go ahead and repot them again today :)

I use gritty mix and terracotta pots, and I actually switched some of my baby plants back into cactus soil + perlite. They were struggling because they would dry out too fast compared to the rest, and I am not dedicated enough to water the babys more than the rest. However, they are in 1.5in pots - even the jump to 2in is usually enough to switch back to gritty with my (weekly) watering habits. Alternatively, plastic + gritty works about the same (I'm just low on plastic pot size variety). Some of the plants you mentioned will need to be watered more frequently than the succulents, but they will be happy in a well draining mix. Don't forget to fertilize, as it's required with gritty mix!

I would still not water immediately after a repot, wait a day or two at least. There will be small amounts of damage, and even gritty mix doesn't immediately dry. 2 weeks is awhile unless you're creating giant gaping wounds (i.e. beheading a succulent). Some root damage can heal faster than that.

Thank you hookilau and organelle! I just finished repotting all my plants into the gritty mix I made. I ended up soaking it first and in addition using warm water to wash the roots of some of my more rootbound plants. I imagine that will be plenty of water for at least the next few days. I will check regularly to make sure they don't get too dry. I like to baby my plants so watering the little ones extra will be no problem :)

I will make a separate post with pictures of the finished job!

For my seedlings/very young plants, I customize the mix with either more Turface or use smaller particles to increase the water retention.

For watering, if the root conditions are good and plant needs water I just wait a couple days. If the roots are in poor condition and plant has no water issues, I'll wait a week and go from there.

cactusmama_pacnw congrats on assembling the mix. Have fun with it!

The dangers of repotting so many plants at once is you need to assure yourself you are able to track all their progress individually. From a beginners perspective, the gritty mix requires adequate attention and constant tending to the plants, specifically Cacti and Succulents of more thirsty species. Cacti can do fine with neglect, but not all succulents are 100% drought plants. Even more so when they are seedlings or rescue plants. The trick is, understanding how much to water in variation to how much roots the plant has.

So my advice is, if this is your first time playing with this mix, start by re-potting the healthier ones first, track their progress. Give time for the weaker plants to heal, then more on when you think they are ready to be repotted.

To answer your question about soaking the mix - I am particularly lazy, let's put it this way and I know it's bad. But the lesser I fuss, the better and stronger my plants do. I tried it all, sift out finer soils, soaked them - microwaved, cooked to kill any bacteria, but miraculously mealys will always find their way to make some of my plants their home.

So now, I estimate my portions with a spade, toss it all in a zip lock bag, a spoonful of food grade diatomaceous earth for prevention for pest, shake it up, pot the plants - trim any dead or soggy roots, clean up the lower leaves if necessary. Set the plant aside for a day or overnight, water the mix thorough until the water comes out pretty clear from the drainage hole. And for plants with lesser roots, I don't water for a while now. Say maybe a week, and I occasionally water in sips because of my dry (my heat is on like almost 24/7) environment with high light. For plants with more roots, I stretch it out longer, but also water in sips.

Lower leaves will fall to show signs of stress, but if there are new growth from the tip of the meristem, you are doing something right. Another indicator is also gently nudging the stem of your plant. If it stiffens, you will know new roots are at play!

To perfectly establish plants, they take many months to even years depending on species.

Lastly what direction is your window facing? Echeverias need long duration of light, not all enjoy strong direct sunlight. So perhaps you can adjust accordingly to your plant's needs.

Thank you for all the great advice!! My window is facing west. My whole house is surrounded by trees, but I believe this one does get the most sun out of any. I still don't think they are getting quite enough light. I have a few spotlight grow lights that I use to supplement the natural light, but I can only leave them on when someone is home. I'd love any light related suggestions as it is something I've been struggling with!

I have repotted most of my plants, but my instinct said to hold off on my rescues. I have a family of cactuses that are severely etoliated and brown near the base which I rescued from a friend. They are still putting out new growth and seem to be recovering. I will probably repot them in a few weeks. As for the rest, I love constantly tending to my plants, so that will be no problem!

For lighting, is it possible to get a timer for the grow lights? That's what I use even in my southern facing window; I'm in Ohio and my succulents stretch without a light, no matter how close I get them to my window...

It is! My worry is that they will be a fire hazard, since the lights get pretty warm. I may just have to save up and invest in better grow lights. I have doggies that I leave at home sometimes too. They can't get into the room where my plants are, but I am extra concerned about fire safety with them in the house!

It sounds like you have all the precautions in place already. I have cats in the house but am not worried; they get hot but unless you have cloth touching them it should not be a problem. I have the lights clipped so that they aren't touching anything, and up quite high so that even when the cats are in my room (pretty much always!) they can't reach any of my window shelves.

I'm also extra paranoid about fires. Always find myself unplugging things when I leave the apt, so I totally understand

What kind of lights-bulbs are you using?

When buying lights and fixtures, always check that they have regulatory certifications: UL, CUL, ETL, CE, CSA, RoHS, etc. This ensures that they meet safety requirements (aka are not a fire hazard).

It's illegal to sell non-certified items, at least in Canada, but they are on the market and people buy/import them anyway.

If are worried about high temperatures, you can pick up an infrared thermometer ($20 at the hardware store) and do spot-checks on your lighting equipment on a day you are at home.

Fans for additional airflow/cooling will also help plants stay cooler/grow better, along with extending the lifespan of your bulbs/ballasts/grow light electronics.

Fire prevention : Although heat from bulbs aren't the best fire starting culprits ( they don't flash enough heat fast enough) the heat from them is better controlled with the use of a low speed fan. I follow a simple idea of if the lights are on the fan is on it allows no worries for as long as 16 hours of burning time from bulbs home or not (and no house fire to date) fan(s), timer(s), three plug to one plug divider(s), one or more surge protecting power strips are things to have on hand) Also note that for the amount of time(s) bulbs need to burn for most succulents such constant heat would result in nothing more than burnt plants and show false watering tells with out any fan at all. No air plus all heat = rotted burnt plant over at the very least dried shriveled leaves

Pet idea ( not that I have any pets to help me with my plants but) If your using shelving & inside you can also rig up a form of a pet guide to help keep pets from being the kind helpers that they are. IE Secure a mesh sun screen with solid wire to hold it in place or a more solid chicken wire (or something of that nature) to the outer sides of racking to provide a small barrier / deterrent.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions everyone, I really appreciate it!!

Rina - I'm using the Dayspot 60 watt spotlight. I know it's not a lot, but they do get fairly bright light from my window already and the lights seem to help as a light supplement on cloudy days.

If the bulb you are using is CFL or LED (or fluorescent bulbs), they don't get too hot (not like 'regular' incandescent bulbs). Many of us have lights, and on timers as already mentioned, leaving them on when no one is at home. If everything is set up correctly, it shouldn't be really much different than leaving furnace on, or AC - but your concern is understandable.