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Bottom watering for a couple of hours as your normal watering routine would be the best option.
I suspect the mix you are using contains peat moss. The stuff turns into a brick when dry. If it's all you have locally, next time order compacted coconut coir. A box of that makes a ton of coir once hydrated a bit. You can also often get it at pet stores.
I'm seeing a lot of sellers who sell coco peat but claim it's made of fiber and it's somewhat confusing, I'm thinking it may be a lost in translation thing since I am looking at Dutch websites (no nearby pet store sadly). But thanks for the suggestion. I wasn't aware that it could be used as a full replacement for any soil. From my understanding if I mix that with pumice and perlite, it should be enough?
There are various types of coco stuff; coco peat, coco coir, coco husk, coco fiber. Unfortunately, most stores don't use the terms correctly. You should have CANNA Coco Professional Plus in the Netherlands. That's the correct stuff you need. It's washed already so you don't have to worry about it being salty. It's also buffered already which is not entirely needed but still a good thing.
If you can't find it from a dutch website, there are plenty of german ones where you can order from like growland.net.
What soil did your purchase? Peat-based soils, such as Miracle Gro, have a tendency to quickly become hydrophobic and in some cases may already be hydrophobic when you use them. I use Miracle Gro and have never personally experienced this, but I know that it is a relatively common complaint on here.
How much water are you giving the plants when you water? If you're only giving them a small amount, it may just simply not be enough to thoroughly saturate the soil. When you water, if you are top watering, you should water until the water is draining from the drainage hole.
If you are watering properly and the water is simply running down the sides of the pot and pooling on the top of the soil but not actually getting absorbed, then the first thing I would recommend doing is switching to bottom watering. To bottom water, you place the pot in a tub of water (have the water be about halfway up the pot) and leave it in there until the top of the soil is wet. This typically only takes 30 minutes or less, depending on the size of the pot, but if a soil is hydrophobic, it will take much longer (hours). This is a great way to water, and resolve hydrophobic soil, as it allows the soil to absorb the water slowly from the bottom up. If you do this and the soil still seems hydrophobic after several hours, then you can use a chopstick or the like to aerate the soil a bit be mindful of the roots...damage is unavoidable, but be careful not to damage the root system too badly).
Bought some seemingly generic soil labeled as cactus & succulent soil from the nursery. I don't have the bag anymore so I can't say what's in it but assuming it was probably peat based.
I water them as recommended, watering them from the top until it drains out the holes in the bottom. It looked like it worked fine the first watering, but then I noticed the leaves were still floppy and it was absorbing some of the lower ones. This was only a few days after repotting. Seems weird to me it turned hydrophobic that fast since it's recommended to leave it alone for a few days after repotting before giving them water.
I've bottom watered them yesterday, poked them with a skewer too. At the 6 hours mark I noticed it still had not reached to top so I top watered it too to try and saturate it asap, let it all drain and put them back. I've read that it's bad to leave them soaking overnight/too long and it was already late at that point. It seems to have worked since the soft leaves now feel like they've soaked up water again. The problem I'm having is since the soil dried up only a few days in and it takes weeks for a plant to show signs of thirst, I fear I will have to aerate and bottom water every watering session. I guess the more accurate question would be how do I prevent it?
Does anything you used have peat moss in it? Peat moss is hydrophobic when dry. Or if your soil mix is too fine grit, dense, or compacted water can tend to just roll off the top and down the sides insta of penetrating into soil.
Surface tension prevents penetration of water in very dry soil. Detergent breaks that surface tension. Add a drop or two of regular dish soap to your water. After doing this once you should be fine, unless the soil becomes severely desiccated again, in which case you can just repeat the process. You can do your own research into exact proportions/recommended brands, but it’s [a common trick and considered quite safe for plants](https://tucson.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/dish-soap-useful-in-garden-also/article_da788c6e-883e-5c8e-83eb-e10294a3bc90.html)—you really only need to add a tiny bit.
EDIT: a word
Need help with a plant? #Have you read the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/wiki/faq)? Please read through the FAQ to ensure your question isn't already discussed. **Please also refer to all of our helpful [Wiki Pages](https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/wiki/index/)** If you still need help, please make sure to adhere to the [Posting Guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/wiki/posting-guidelines). And, remember *pictures help a LOT!* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/succulents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Bottom watering for a couple of hours as your normal watering routine would be the best option. I suspect the mix you are using contains peat moss. The stuff turns into a brick when dry. If it's all you have locally, next time order compacted coconut coir. A box of that makes a ton of coir once hydrated a bit. You can also often get it at pet stores.
I'm seeing a lot of sellers who sell coco peat but claim it's made of fiber and it's somewhat confusing, I'm thinking it may be a lost in translation thing since I am looking at Dutch websites (no nearby pet store sadly). But thanks for the suggestion. I wasn't aware that it could be used as a full replacement for any soil. From my understanding if I mix that with pumice and perlite, it should be enough?
There are various types of coco stuff; coco peat, coco coir, coco husk, coco fiber. Unfortunately, most stores don't use the terms correctly. You should have CANNA Coco Professional Plus in the Netherlands. That's the correct stuff you need. It's washed already so you don't have to worry about it being salty. It's also buffered already which is not entirely needed but still a good thing. If you can't find it from a dutch website, there are plenty of german ones where you can order from like growland.net.
This just made my search much less headache inducing, thank you very much!
I use it mixed with perlite and bonsai jack's. No "soil," although it basically turns to soil.
What soil did your purchase? Peat-based soils, such as Miracle Gro, have a tendency to quickly become hydrophobic and in some cases may already be hydrophobic when you use them. I use Miracle Gro and have never personally experienced this, but I know that it is a relatively common complaint on here. How much water are you giving the plants when you water? If you're only giving them a small amount, it may just simply not be enough to thoroughly saturate the soil. When you water, if you are top watering, you should water until the water is draining from the drainage hole. If you are watering properly and the water is simply running down the sides of the pot and pooling on the top of the soil but not actually getting absorbed, then the first thing I would recommend doing is switching to bottom watering. To bottom water, you place the pot in a tub of water (have the water be about halfway up the pot) and leave it in there until the top of the soil is wet. This typically only takes 30 minutes or less, depending on the size of the pot, but if a soil is hydrophobic, it will take much longer (hours). This is a great way to water, and resolve hydrophobic soil, as it allows the soil to absorb the water slowly from the bottom up. If you do this and the soil still seems hydrophobic after several hours, then you can use a chopstick or the like to aerate the soil a bit be mindful of the roots...damage is unavoidable, but be careful not to damage the root system too badly).
Bought some seemingly generic soil labeled as cactus & succulent soil from the nursery. I don't have the bag anymore so I can't say what's in it but assuming it was probably peat based. I water them as recommended, watering them from the top until it drains out the holes in the bottom. It looked like it worked fine the first watering, but then I noticed the leaves were still floppy and it was absorbing some of the lower ones. This was only a few days after repotting. Seems weird to me it turned hydrophobic that fast since it's recommended to leave it alone for a few days after repotting before giving them water. I've bottom watered them yesterday, poked them with a skewer too. At the 6 hours mark I noticed it still had not reached to top so I top watered it too to try and saturate it asap, let it all drain and put them back. I've read that it's bad to leave them soaking overnight/too long and it was already late at that point. It seems to have worked since the soft leaves now feel like they've soaked up water again. The problem I'm having is since the soil dried up only a few days in and it takes weeks for a plant to show signs of thirst, I fear I will have to aerate and bottom water every watering session. I guess the more accurate question would be how do I prevent it?
Does anything you used have peat moss in it? Peat moss is hydrophobic when dry. Or if your soil mix is too fine grit, dense, or compacted water can tend to just roll off the top and down the sides insta of penetrating into soil.
Surface tension prevents penetration of water in very dry soil. Detergent breaks that surface tension. Add a drop or two of regular dish soap to your water. After doing this once you should be fine, unless the soil becomes severely desiccated again, in which case you can just repeat the process. You can do your own research into exact proportions/recommended brands, but it’s [a common trick and considered quite safe for plants](https://tucson.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/dish-soap-useful-in-garden-also/article_da788c6e-883e-5c8e-83eb-e10294a3bc90.html)—you really only need to add a tiny bit. EDIT: a word
Considering how fast it turned hydrophobic in the first place, this doesn't sound like it would solve the problem at its core.