Peculiarities of succulent care

Temperature and light

Most succulents in nature grow in climatic zones with sharp temperature fluctuations, both annual and daily. In some cacti, in their historical homeland, for example, in the desert regions of northern Mexico, in summer the daytime temperature can rise to 40-50 ° C, and at night it can drop to 10-13 ° C. In winter, daytime air temperatures rise to 20 ° С, at night drop to + 7 ° С. Hence, many cacti come from, for example, prickly pears, telocacti, lophophora, pediocacti, echinocereus, etc. The average annual rainfall is approximately 250 mm.

The birthplace of fat women (crassula) is South Africa, in particular the Cape province of South Africa. They are characterized by hot and dry summers with daytime temperatures of 30-40 ° C, at night 16-17 ° C, and humid winters, when during the day 16-17 ° C, at night up to 8-9 ° C.

It is impossible to create such conditions in central Russia, in summer the daily temperature fluctuations are 5-10 ° C, for plants exposed to the balcony, and this is rather unstable, but still more natural than if the pots with flowers were in an enclosed space. That is why everything you can (pots with succulents), in the spring (in April-May) you need to transfer to fresh air, or, in extreme cases, ventilate the room more often.

With the onset of autumn, in a temperate climate there is a decrease in temperatures, an increase in air humidity and a sharp decrease in the amount of sunlight. We bring plants into the house, and try to achieve some balance between temperature, irrigation and light, in order to provide a period of rest, which some succulents simply need (many types of cacti), others are optional, but forced due to the reduction of daylight hours (fat women, milkweed).

Most succulents need a lot of light, usually sunlight. The need for light may differ among different families and genera, but one thing is absolutely certain - there are no shade-loving plants among succulents, there are some that can grow in light partial shade.

The relationship to the direct sun is similarly ambiguous. So, almost all cactus, hazel, agave, require as much sun as possible, they grow in nature in open areas under the scorching sun. They need to be placed in the apartment on the southern windowsill, a southeast or southwest window is also suitable, if it is not shaded by anything from the street.

There are succulents that need sun rays, but only in the morning or in the evening, at the hottest time of the day in the sun, they can get burns - they burn out, the color of the leaves or stems becomes reddish. These are plants such as cotyledon and crassula (thick), didierea (didierei), caralluma, duvalia and guernia (flipper), crosses (asteraceae), some types of aloe (asphodel), havortia and gasteria (asphodel), etc.

These plants are well placed on the east and west windows, or on the south window, with shading from the direct sun during the hottest part of the day, this is from about 11 to 15 hours. The shade can be a tulle curtain, a rare mesh, or a veil.

Lighting requirements in winter, many succulents are decreasing, with lower temperatures and reduced watering. However, there are plants, for example, some species of cactus, which in winter need good lighting for safe flowering, because at this time buds are born. In many euphorbia, flower buds are also laid in the first half of October, when a temperature of 20-22 ° C is needed to ensure the normal development of bracts, and at such a temperature very good lighting is needed.

Additional illumination of succulents can be effective, but not for all plants (as a rule, succulent seedlings require this, "living stones" grow well under artificial light, etc.). Additional lighting with daylight lamps (including energy-saving ones) will help to avoid stretching shoots for those plants that do not need direct sunlight, so when choosing a succulent, you need to familiarize yourself with the conditions for growing it in advance. In plants requiring full sunlight, and in winter, in warmth, the need for light is so great that to ensure it, they must be under lamps for many hours, and illuminated evenly from all sides (lighting both from above and from the side). This is technically difficult to implement.

It is much easier and more humane for flowers to survive the period from October to February in a cool place, and practically in a dry substrate. The lack of intense light, heat and moisture does not encourage plants to grow, they kind of fall asleep until spring, and you do not get stretched pale shoots and ugly trunks.

Watering succulents

Because of this, succulents are combined into a separate group, which has a special relationship with moisture. These plants accumulate water in separate parts - stems or leaves, and are able to do without watering for a long time. It would seem that in the dry period, cacti and other succulents should intensively consume moisture from juicy stems and leaves, but then they would quickly shrink and die, but this does not happen.

This is explained by the fact that there are special physiological devices for the strong evaporation of moisture from the surface, i.e. reducing transpiration. So in many succulents, the surface of leaves, stems or trunk is protected from excessive evaporation by wax coating or pubescence. In addition, during these periods, the intensity of physiological processes sharply decreases and the mode of extreme water saving is turned on.

Gas exchange and evaporation of water in all plants occurs through the stomata - these are pores, holes in the upper layer of the epidermis of a leaf or stem (in cacti). In succulents during the day at the hottest time, the stomata are closed, they begin to open in the evening, and are completely open at night, when the temperature drops sharply and, accordingly, the evaporation of moisture is several times lower than during the day.

The watering of succulents should be carried out depending on the humidity and temperature of the surrounding air, it depends on how quickly the substrate in the pot will dry out.

Ordinary indoor plants, in summer we water abundantly, i.e. as soon as the top layer of the earth dries - it's time to water, and if the earth is dry, then the plant begins to lose its turgor (leaf elasticity) and wither. We should water succulents moderately in summer - the soil should dry out completely, and is in this state for several days, it is quite possible that completely dry soil can remain for a week or more. In many plants, when strongly overdried, the stems and/or leaves shrivel. If the weather is very hot, the time between watering is reduced, and still the soil should be dry for 2-3 days.

In winter, watering succulent plants also depends on temperature. So, at a temperature of about 6-8 ° C (some types of cacti require this), they are stored in a completely dry state, and for 2-3 months they can do without watering. At a temperature of 12-14 ° C, watering can be carried out about once a month, or even less often .

However, there are cases when the hosts are able to dry succulent plants. Afraid to pour, watering is reduced so much that the plant begins to suffer from a lack of moisture - the roots dry out.

Some succulents, for example, havortia and gasteria, tolerate winter well and in warm conditions at 20-22 ° C, if they have enough light. In this case, they are watered more often, about once every 1-2 weeks.

All these figures are very conditional, since the evaporation of water from the ground depends on the composition of the substrate, and on the volume of the pot and the materials from which it is made. Therefore, only the appearance, condition of the plant and accumulated experience can suggest the correctness of the selected care.

Soil for succulents

All succulents prefer loose, easily breathable and well-drained soil. In nature, some grow in rock crevices, on bare sand, or a mixture of sand and rubble.

The main condition for substrates is, first of all, not nutrition, and not even acidity, but so that it wicks well and evenly, but dries quickly, does not retain water. Take, for example, peat - in its pure form it is not suitable for cultivation, because has a tendency to stick together, and very dry is very poorly wetted, passes water. After watering, water lingers on the surface, strives to seep through the voids near the walls of the pot and flow into the drainage hole. The concept of garden land is very inaccurate - in gardens the land can be peat, sandy, clay or chernozem, its difference is only that garden crops grew on it, under which fertilizers were introduced and which changed its chemical indicators, but not mechanical ones. Garden land can also stick and cake, chernozem is not suitable for pure succulents at all - these are humus soils that are not at all characteristic of the natural habitat of succulents.

There are a lot of recipes for soil mixtures for succulents, including those on sale. If you look at the mixture in the store, then, as a rule, there is peat land, expanded clay and sand. But the requirements for soils are very individual not only among different families, but even among different species of the same genus, so store mixtures are not suitable for everyone, and experienced growers always prefer to compose the soil themselves.

The need for a certain type of soil, nutritional content, the proportion of constituent elements (sand, clay, gravel, crushed stone, lime, brick crumb) also depends on the shape of the root system: succulents with thin surface roots are planted in the soil with a greater proportion of sand and crushed stone, the substrate is light and loose. Succulents, with a more powerful root system, with a thick and deep water-storing (redcovid) root (for example, euphorbia), plant heavier clay soil in the soil.

So, the composition of any soil mixtures for all succulents should include baking powder: coarse river sand, fine gravel or expanded clay (particle size 1-5 mm), well washed. It is permissible to add perlite or vermiculite (they have a high water absorption coefficient) - they can, and even need to be added for soil mixtures consisting mainly of sand and crushed stone, because they very quickly pass water without trapping it or absorbing it, and the added vermiculite is able to absorb moisture and gradually evaporate it, while there is no direct contact with water, no rot of the roots .

Also, activated carbon is used in soil mixtures for succulents. Not in tablets, medical, but in granules, it can be obtained in filters for kitchen exhaust or filters for water, but crushed charcoal can be used (birch burnt log, crushed into pieces up to 5 mm in size). Coal adds looseness to the soil, to some extent absorbs water and eliminates impurities from water (for example, chlorine). It is added about 1/10 of the total soil volume.

The main components of the soil-mixture are sod land, leaf, heather, greenhouse, in various proportions.
For example, the soil mixture for yucca can consist of the 1 part of turf, the 1 part of humus (well-rotted compost), the 1 part of sand and the 1 part of expanded clay (perlite).

And for euphorbia, the soil mixture is lighter: the 1 part of the turf, the 1 part of the leaf, the 2 part of the sand.

Turf land can be found in meadows, or in a summer cottage, it is quite easy to collect it after moles - they leave entrances to minks - low mounds of worked, loose land. Leafy land is a half-ripened leaf litter that accumulates and burns for years under deciduous trees. It can be harvested in birch groves, but only in the spring, as soon as the snow melts, before the grass starts to grow. However, the attitude to organic matter in succulents is also different, some types of cacti do not tolerate the presence of non-devoid particles in the ground at all, then they choose deeper layers of leaf earth, where the litter has completely cracked and decomposed (there are no fragments of leaves or twigs).

Sand can be collected on the river, but it will have to be washed and sifted long and hard, from silt and salts, it is much easier to buy it in a shop for aquarists, as well as small gravel.

About pots: The choice of pot depends more on the size of the plant. It is better for large heavy yuccas, fatties, milkweeds to take wide clay pots, and if the pot seems too voluminous to you, compensate with a high layer of drainage to the bottom.

Small havortyas, gasteria, aloe, cacti, small plastic pots are suitable.

General information on succulents

Propagation of succulents