What should I do if succulents are kept indoors without ventilation?

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Images: Curator

Today our topic is ventilation. We often mention the word ventilation, and we actually have a clear consensus on ventilation. One is to open the windows often, and the other is to create air movement as much as possible.

This seems beyond doubt. If we fail to open the windows in time for ventilation, or if we do not use an electric fan to blow air over our succulents after watering them thoroughly, we ourselves will feel guilty, or a little worried: is this not ventilated enough? Will black rot be more likely to occur?

Actually, most of the time, we only vaguely know that as long as there is ventilation, the chance of black rot can be effectively reduced. But what exactly counts as ventilation often has no definite standard.

Since we are creating a ventilated environment for our succulents, what exactly counts as ventilation? Is fresh air ventilation? Or is fast-moving air ventilation? Or is air with a high oxygen content ventilation? Or do all of them count?

There was a succulent enthusiast who was going out to play with her child during the holiday. She was very torn about whether to leave the windows open or closed. If she left them open, she felt it was unsafe when no one was home; if she closed them, she worried that without ventilation the succulents would die of black rot.

This is obviously setting the standard for ventilation based on people's subjective feelings. After all, our fundamental goal is to reduce the possibility of black rot in succulents, so our starting point should be the succulents, not people. People use their lungs to breathe air directly, while the main breathing organ of a succulent is its root system. A succulent's root system is not exposed to the air, and do not forget that it grows in a flowerpot.

Speaking of this, many succulent enthusiasts will certainly say happily: I use a red clay pot, or: I use a root-control pot. I think you are happy too soon. Do not forget that a succulent's root system is not placed directly in the flowerpot; the soil is their immediate environment.

Let us use an example to explain the importance of ventilation in the soil, the flowerpot, and the growing environment.

Suppose you were put in a thick plastic bag, and the plastic bag was put in the large wardrobe in your bedroom. You find that the remote control for the bedroom air conditioner is in your jacket pocket. You feel very stifled and are about to gasp for breath. At this time you can do several things: first, press the air conditioner remote control and set the air conditioner to the ventilation mode; second, find a way to push open the wardrobe door; third, tear the plastic bag.

Is there anyone who would choose one or two? I estimate there is no one. This does not even need to go through the brain; just thinking about it with your toes tells you that tearing the plastic bag is the right answer. If the plastic bag is not torn, even if the room outside is filled with pure oxygen, you will still suffocate to death.

Everyone should have understood my analogy: the plastic bag represents the soil, which is the layer closest to the root system; the large wardrobe represents the flowerpot, which is the second layer; and the room represents the external environment, which is the third layer.

To solve the ventilation problem, we must always start from the innermost layer. If the inner-layer problem is not solved well, then no matter how ventilated the outer layer is, the impact it brings is negligible.

Some succulent root systems grow out from the drainage holes. I never cut them off, because keeping these roots that are not wrapped in soil allows them to breathe well. When the soil is thoroughly soaked - I do not mean the water running out of the pot during watering, but the supersaturation after several hours of rain - even in fully granular soil there is almost no air. All the gaps are occupied by water. In this situation, it is no different from soaking the succulent in water. At this time, if some roots are not wrapped in soil, that is very helpful, because no matter how wet the soil is, it will not affect the succulent's breathing.

Some succulent enthusiasts like to bring succulents that have been soaked by rain indoors and blow an electric fan on them. I think this is not necessarily good. Because the wind brought by an electric fan can only promote the evaporation of water in the surface soil, and in a short time it does not help the roots in the deep soil much. On the contrary, the outdoor environment with a higher oxygen content will allow more oxygen to dissolve into the water in the soil, which is more beneficial to the succulent's breathing.

The ventilation level of an indoor environment has a relatively large impact on open bowl-shaped containers, but has very little impact on bottle-type containers. Therefore, the smaller the mouth and the larger the belly of the pot, the higher the requirements for the soil, because these pot shapes themselves are not conducive to ventilation.

Some succulent enthusiasts also think that often keeping the soil dry is good for ventilation. After all, dry soil has more gaps in the middle to hold air. This is a great misunderstanding of the ventilation issue.

The gaps in the soil are very small, so even if an electric fan is blowing outside, no effective air convection will form inside the soil. The only effect of blowing air is to speed up the drying of the surface soil.

The only way to make the air in the soil flow is watering. Water will occupy the positions originally occupied by air and squeeze out the harmful gases discharged by the roots. Evaporation of water will let water vapor leave the soil from the surface of the flowerpot, thereby drawing fresh air into the interior of the soil.

In summer, many succulent enthusiasts are also thinking about how to cut off water. Cutting off water will not only cause succulents to dry out and die from lack of water, but also cause excessive fungal reproduction due to the lack of air circulation in the soil, ultimately causing black rot.

Ventilation is a matter from the inside to the outside. Do not be anxious about forgetting to open the windows, and do not feel smug because you used an electric fan. You have to think about whether, deep in the soil, there is ventilation or not.

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