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Hi, letsgobird! Here in SW Florida we are starting our 'rain every afternoon' season. I've already had 3 inches of rain this month - that's about an inch a day. Hoping for a little respite, soon.

I started my journey with succulents by using MG cactus soil and found summers to be way too wet for that soil. Moving the plants in and out of the heavy rain was a full time job. It was do-able when I just had a few plants.

So I added the 50% perlite to everything and repotted. Out in the sun, the soil mix still stayed too wet and my plants were losing roots. I put plants under the roof of the lanai for the summer and they became etiolated.

Finally, I wised up and use full gritty mix. I used 1-1-1 of bark, perlite and NAPA oil dry. This mix would break down after about 2 years with our heat and moisture. And now, the NAPA product does not seem to hold up long at all. Maybe it's a QC thing or maybe they've changed the product. But I no long use it.

I finally found a Farm Store that carries granite chicken grit. SiteOne, formerly John Deere landscaping, carries Turface. So my plants are now resting comfortably in a mix of bark-turface-grit. They stay outside in all weather and handle the rain just fine. Good drainage made all the difference for me.

I now have some pots with a mix that Rina had mentioned - turface, grit, and perlite. So far all is good. I do have to water more often during my dry winters, but I have high hopes for the summers.

I hope this helps.

Wow, I thought it was my imagination that my 50/50 perlite/MG was staying too wet also. Yesterday I repotted an echeveria and as I pushed down to seat the plant, water was squeezed out of the hole! I though, well that can't be good!

in your new mix, are the plants getting proper nutrition? Do you feed more often?

thanks for the insight, I'm looking into turface!

I do feed with a dilute fertilizer, usually every other watering. I use MG fertilizer diluted about 1/4 the recommended 'dose.' In the summer I don't often get to fertilize. It's always wet and they don't need extra water with the fertilizer. I really should look into a granular slow release fert, but I still have a ton of MG to use up.

Just about same as Crenda; mix I use is grit+perlite+turface. Typically, I don't worry about plants - that's how they get watered most of the summer.

But if there is a big storm or too many days of heavy rain, I just pull a sheet of plastic over them. No way I can keep taking over 200 pots in & out...:)

I'm in south Louisiana and it's been raining for about 2 hours and it's already flooding. Definitely try to move them to higher ground!

I don't have an answer, but hopefully it won't flood there like it has been here in Texas

Well - soon-to-be-named TS Colin is expected to dump 3-6 inches of rain on us tomorrow. Echies will be coming under cover of the lanai for sure. I think my newly rooted Agave pups will come in, too. I'll keep an eye on the sky to see how to handle any other plants. But I feel confident in the gritty mix helping me out. I had a surprise 7 inches of rain one day in January. Didn't have time to move plants, but they all fared well.

As a side note - we average 10 inches of rain in June. I've already had 3 inches of rain, so if I get the 6 inches we'll be pretty near the total average. That doesn't bode well for the summer, does it?

Uggh. And I'm travelling and all my babies are out in elements. How do y'all handle vacations away from your babies??? (And yes, I just bought 4 new cactus babies that will be traveling with me for the summer. They do liven up a hotel windowsill...

well it's raining again today(3rd day like they predicted) so I moved wettest looking into garage.

Foes anyone have a list of those that hate to be wet the most? Crenda, I noticed you moved echeveriaa inside. I know the true cacti would probably hate it the most but would love the succulents in a range wettest to dryness preferred

I don't have a great track record with Echeveria, so I figured it would be good to bring them under roof. They will still be outside, just not getting rained on heavily. My new plants are E. shaviana and E. 'Neon Breakers'. I have them in gritty mix and am hoping to get them through the summer. It will be a change for me! LOL

shapirolh - when I spent 9 months with my mother during her illness the plants were pretty much on their own. My husband got home every other weekend and he would water them during the dry season. During the rainy summer he moved most of the plants under the roof.

I'll be back in 4 weeks. Hopefully, they'll survive until then, and I'll move them under slight cover for the remaining weeks. :( That is, if they survive this tropical storm tomorrow!