You should be able to use potting mix but just be careful when watering to allow the soil to dry between waterings. Potting mix tends to hold the moisture more than free draining mix and there is a chance or root rot if it stays moist for too long.
Sand would not help much if at all. Pumice or perlite mixed in would help but this may mean you would have to buy a bag of it, which would mean you may as well buy a bag of cactus potting mix anyway. HTH.

What is the right time of the year to transplant? When leaves fall off, can you just lay them on top of the soil or do you have to put the end down in the soil to start a new plant? Thanks. Janice

there is no telling how long it has been in that little pot so I would just leave it there until you are sure there is a good amount of roots...I am saying this because I got the same size plant (little plastic terracotta colored hanging pot, right?) and when I went to repot it, the whole thing fell apart because there was no real root system holding it together. It never recovered! I still have it, but it's pretty sad looking.

Leave it be for a while, let it grow a bit-it should do ok in a smaller pot!

You can repot anytime over spring or summer. They are quite tolerant plants.
Any broken leaves will sprout roots whatever their orientation on the soil but they root at the stem end so if you plant them in the soil, the roots can grow into the soil easiest. HTH.

No one seems to be saying it, but it's the nature of these plants to hang down, that's what they do.

I'd advise against repotting it. These plants drop leaves at a mere touch. Those leaves can be thrown right back in the pot & they'll sprout anew, but it makes handling these plants quite difficult.

These plants can live a long time tight in the pot: I have mine in a 3" pot for a while now, after some of it had dropped off from being handled roughly, I threw all the leaves back in the pot & it's filled back in nicely. I plan on leaving it there for some time to come.

You might as well buy some C&S Mix & then perlite or pumice (even if a whole bag, jkust look for a smaller one). This mix can be used w/ all things of succulents, ALoes, Jades, almost anything.

Pirate Girl, if you read the first poster's posting carefully, you will realise that she is aware of the nature of growth of this plant. The reason she wants to repot is so she can grow it undisturbed in a larger pot so damage won't occur later if it had to be repotted then. Better some damage as a small plant, which would grow and recover quickly, than as a larger plant which might be left with more obvious bare stems if damage occurred.

Yes, Sheila, I'm sorry I read too fast!

Thanks Steve, I seem to have gone too fast over her 2nd paragraph, thanks for catching that, I stand (sit) corrected!

Yes, Steve makes a good point that perhaps a bit of damage now, while it's relatively easily managed is probably preferable to trying to repot when it's got lots of long branches w/ loads more growth to knock off.

Thank you all for your replies - I appreciate the input.

Yes, Ines, it is a little plastic terracotta-colored hanging pot - which is part of the reason I want to repot it. :)
Did yours look like it was in regular potting soil? That's what mine looks like so I think I am going to go with that again.

The point that burro's tail doesn't get much of a root system is noted - I will be careful during the repotting. And I would think just one pot size up will be sufficient - forever.

Since spring/summer is the optimum time to repot I will do so now. Hopefully damage will be minimal.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply to my questions.

Sheila
>^..^.

Last summer I purchased my first burro's tail. I repotted it when I got it home because it was in a horrible pot.

Leaves fell off. That is what this plant does. I was as careful as I could be be but...leaves fall. I throw them back in the pot when they fall off and they root themselves.

Mine gets indirect sunlight never disturbed. Most of the leaves that fell off during transplant last summer have come back.

It is scary when all those leaves start to come off...the key is to move it as little as possible when transplanting (having an extra set of hands around helps).

Here is a pic of mine 1 year later.

Here is a link that might be useful: Burro's Tail

Was googling 'transplanting burro tail', great search engine on Garden Web, brought this right up...

A neighbor gave this to me recently and was wondering if it's best to just leave it as it is or 'risk' transplanting it. Ideally I would love to CAREFULLY replant this in some fresher soil but at the same time don't want see it fall apart in the process.

Trying to eat my cake without cutting it ----- do you think it would be a good idea to leave it alone and simply put some new soil on the top of the plant and let it get fed that way??? Any opinions/suggestions would be more than welcomed...

Or should I just cut the cake and hope to replant it without too much damage? Or just leave it be ;-) ?? Oh, the joys of walking the fence!

{{gwi:591258}}

^^^ for the above plant?!? U might be fine adding soil over the top but from what I'm seeing it doesn't seem to be full on the backside?? It if were me? I would take clean clippers...have your new pot ready with proper mix...cut each stalk....some have have arial roots which will help....then you can arrange it to root in and grow full all over. U would also lose less leaves this way. Find a nice soft spot in the lawn in the shade and give it a haircut to replant as cuttings. Let it stay shaded and after u water it in (not a lot at all just to get the Dirt sealed to the stalks you inserted....I would insert up to where the leaves begin. Some say to let the cuts sit for a few days inside I a napkin to harden over from the "cut" but I've never had issue potting right away. The choice would be yours if you have had experience with rooting.

Now the fun part. Leave the "nubs" in the pot after you do your haircut...clean the debris and add a little layer of soil (backtrack...leave enough of a nub so they DO stick up...we want them to grow again)

then watch as your new full pot of cuttings takes to it's new home...and the trimmed plant will habe resources to put out new growth :) you get a 2 for one.

I just repotted mine this past weekend. It was growing just fine, and probably would've been fine to stay in the previous pot another year or two, but it was getting crowded and I wanted to get it into gritty mix. The mix it was previously in was about 1/3 C&S soil, 1/3 perlite, and 1/3 lava rock. It was just fine in that too, but I recognize that repotting is so much easier in gritty mix, and wanted that advantage as this plant continues to grow. And I put it in a slightly larger pot.

Here it is in May - you can see if was fine, but starting to get a little crowded...

and here is a nice side by side I just found of it - must be from last year...

and the rpot from last weekend - the pot is the same style, just a few inches bigger...

I was hesitant on repotting, and recieved advise on this fourm not to - for the same reasons states above - its so fragile, just leave it, blah blah...

My reasoning - if you just leave it in that (assumingly) crappy store bought soil its going to get hard as a rock, crowded, and even harder to repot. - and not grow as well! I wanted to get mine into gritty mix to save myself future possible frustration. I couldn't remember what kind of soil it was in, so I was worried it would get compact. I was pleased when everything came out relatively easy and I hardly broke any leaves. One stem broke off, and a few leaves (less than ten in all).

So, my two cents - repot it. But only if you are going to ammend that soil with at least 50% perlite. Even if you get C&S soil - still ammend it with perlite (50%). Get it into a pot just slightly larger than what its in currently. Any leaves break, just set them on top. They will root and sned up new little plantlets for you. This plant is easy to propagate, and not too picky on too much sun versus too little. I can keep it in bright shade up to full sun for hours and it responds well.

For GrowforIt - I would absolutely repot that one. That would turn into a nice little project for me. repot, break of some in the middle of all that bare area. The rooted bare stems will likely put out new growth. And stick the broken off stems in some potting media - they'll root. And just watch the slow moving show of growth.

If you wanted to be cautious and not put too much stress on the plant do it in two parts. First repot, let it recover from that, then break some stems off after it recovers. Either way, have fun!

Also - I have to disagree about watering immediately after repotting. That can lead to rot. Not necessarily a definite - but why risk it. Even with a rooted plant. If any roots are damaged in the process and you get them in damp soil they may rot. Also, for cuttings, do NOT water until there are roots. There is no way for the cuttings to take up the water until they produce roots. Basic rule - NO ROOTS NO WATER! Some users have time based rules for when to water. For me, It depends on the plant. For repots, I base that on how hard the repot is. Is there lots of damage to the roots? Did I have to really untangle them? If so I might wait a month or so. Easy transplant, with no root damage, like with gritty mix, or an otherwise very loose potting media, water like normal after a day or two. For cuttings, I wait until I can see some roots, or until I feel a little resistance when I gently give the plant a little tug.

Deva

Just in case you guys didn't notice - original thread started in 2006 and the last post by growforit was in 2012...hope he/she re-potted that plant :)

Deva

In case of Burro's tail, I found that it likes little more water than other succulents.

I stuck few broken branches into soil and it got rained on a lot - they really took off. It wasn't immediately after potting, but within maybe a week and it rained for almost 3days. None of them rotted.

I repotted mine last month for a couple of reasons,one it was getting rootbound and needed more soil,and the pot would crack and break everytime i touched it,so it needed a new pot.It looks good right now.As for the pieces that broke off,i just stuck them back into the pot.

Kathi

Rina, I did not look at the date. Guess it was a pointless response. As far as your experience. I said "That can lead to rot. Not necessarily a definite - but why risk it." Not guaranteed its going to happen, but increased chances. Also, a week usually gives it time to callous over, so you decrease the chance.

I too bought a small burro's tail. I made a small basket with hardware cloth and attached four wires to the top. I put the base of the plant in that and then put in the pot. When I was ready to re pot all I had to do was pull the plant out (gently) by the wires, and put in a bigger pot. It did not disturb the roots or the leaves!

dogpatch

Great idea!

I just bought one from Amazon and when it came in the mail it had fell apart. I put it in regular potting soil for now. Do you think it will be ok like this?

No. no succulent should ever go in regular potting soil. At least mix it with perlite. 50-70% of the mix should be perlite (or pumice, whichever is accessible to you)

My burro tails seem to have an upward curving growth on the long stems. Any ideas as to why. They are on a covered but sunny screened porch

photo please?

From the original post, just a bit of gold:

"From what I've read I gather adding sand-box sand to regular soil based potting mix would be of no benefit?"

It is really good for people to know the difference size makes.

perrjojo,

The only reason I can see right now would be lack of light. I think we would all appreciate a picture, as it will help to correctly identify your problem (or lack thereof).

For future reference, it is a bit more polite to start your own thread if you have a question that needs answering.

~palmsandsnow