I have a few hens & chicks and was wondering about the soil depth for these. How shallow is too shallow?

Hello, Betsy you can plant semps in very shallow containers and they will do fine. They won't grow as large as ones in deeper containers would, and you will have to water them more often, but you can really grow them in pots/containers of any depth, even very shallow trays. Their root systems can grow to quite an impressive size for such small plants but they can grow in the smallest of spaces.

Hi Betsy.
I see you live in zone 9 Texas. I agree with Paul, you would probably have to monitor the semps closely to make sure they didn't dehydrate. Can you show us a photo of the container you want to use?
I've seem semps grow in very tiny containers and do very well with proper care. They do need a winter dormancy. But you can mimic that in winter months by watering them with ice cubes.

Lynn & Paul,
I found this 'zen' garden - among my many white elephant gifts and wondering what to do with it. Was offered a free pot of hen & chicks that was left over from spring sale. So I put them together but now wondering about the depth - only about an inch...


So just make sure they are watered.

Hi Betsy - what a great tray! You do want to be real careful about not over watering - can't tell what the drainage is like for this, but if it holds the water on the bottom of the tray, then only water a little bit right near each rosette - most people will say you shouldn't use it for succulents, but I think you can, you just need to under water them a bit.

An inch is enough depth for them, Betsy. Instead of sending roots straight down, they will hit the bottom before growing out to the side, and they won't grow as large but they will still look quite nice in that container! Spacing them out evenly will give them some stretch room for their roots. Are there drainage holes in the bottom? If not you could drill some. Otherwise too much water and they will be in a swamp

Use a spray bottle to help water close to rosette and definitely need to monitor amount of water if there's no drainage.
Not sure if those semps are small because they are babies of larger type semps or if they are already at adult size, but if they grow too much bigger the scale of plant to garden may be off. I guess you'll see as time goes by and when they get too big you may want to trade them for ones that do indeed stay small because of their cultivar background.

Bev, Paul and Greg...
There are no drainage holes and don't know if these are babies or adults. So this will be real learning experience...hopefully they will live to tell their story.

Betsy - you are setting yourself up to have a challenge here...doesn't mean it isn't doable but it is challenging...they don't like their roots damp all the time, so having some way to keep that from happening is important. Bev suggested spraying them lightly with a water bottle, that is a good idea, in this way the soil won't get too wet, but it means doing this every day or every other day, so it isn't an easy thing to keep up, but if it is all somewhere convenient it can be a meditative moment
Keep us updated! Another thing you could do would be to place the semps in a square pot that raises them above the tray...even using a plastic container which you could spray paint, and poke lots of holes in the bottom.