Three things to do for succulent care in early summer, beautiful even without makeup

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Thanks to the author [Tian Tian Zhu Zhu] for theoriginal submissionshare

Edited and compiled by: Baike Jun

Location: Shanghai

Entering the Start of Summer, it already counts as early summer! Since the Awakening of Insects in March, when I started pest prevention and spraying, I, with two balconies of succulents, have had no rest on weekends. Every rest day I start busying myself, earnestly doing "the three things every succulent slave must do - pest prevention + disease resistance + leaf cleaning," and by the Start of Summer in May it was all completed! Today, taking advantage of a Sunday without sunlight, I give the May succulents a bare-faced photo shoot. At this time, the balcony succulent garden in the free-shipping region, though without bright sun for makeup, proclaims the truest self - light and pale colors, yet exquisitely refined in their own way!

Furong Xuelian (Echeveria 'Furong Xuelian'), Orange Dream Dew, Snow Angel - first a group of these, and only when I wasn't paying attention did I discover there are so many pots, single-headed, double-headed, clustered together... The longest ones have been at my home for 3 years, the shortest 10 months, anyway I can no longer tell them apart. Though they have faded now, I just ask everyone - are they fat? Are they fat! From this group we can conclude that with just-right sunlight and suitable temperatures at this time, the succulents gradually shed their pretty protective coloring, with sufficient chlorophyll, and begin fully absorbing nature's gifts, growing bigger and fatter in this very season!

[Black Prince]

[Three Fairies Mini Cluster - Afterglow, Guanghan Palace, Hera]

[Amecida]

[Amber]

[Rosima Hybrid - Lilina]

[Cat's Eye Crown]

The group above, I wonder if it's because of the red pots setting them off, but their colors still seem to remain. This group leans toward darker leaf colors. Four years of succulent-growing experience tells me these are all "succulents prone to sooty mold"! And so, today, taking advantage of the cloudy day, I watered all the dark-colored ones with "mancozeb"! Once a succulent gets sooty mold, it's a stubborn disease, not easily reversed, and there's only control, control, and more control!

Pictured above, guess what it is? - The second bag of leaves cleaned today, about 10 jin of leaves over two days. Hehe, my beloved plants sure can grow! This weekend I spent two days plucking leaves, all to create good "internal small ventilation" for the succulents. When a plant has too many dense leaves, with the coming humid-hot season it's prone to pests and disease, so cleaning leaves early is the calm way to handle it!

[Halloween - the overall shape was already quite good to begin with, the rosette compact and the leaves not prone to "wearing a skirt", but it's fuzzy and easily catches dust and fluff. After clearing several thick layers of leaves, a fairly long stretch of pale stem is revealed, thinner now, but fresher!]

[Shaoxiu - the strongest-smelling one of them all, now the ugliest plant after being stripped of leaves. The dense, large, drooping leaves covered the small buds bursting inside, like forcing chives to yellow! Now, after carefully cleaning away the large leaves of the central main head, I've liberated a ring of tender, green little pups below that had never seen daylight. They'll need a period of growing to mature!]

[Black Mage - the tallest Mage, planted in a pickled-vegetable basin beside the sink on the large balcony. A while ago I broke off the lower 5 or 6 fork branches and planted them, and they've already rooted and settled in. The clear green stem is the newly added height, quite the grower!]

[Two fasciated Mages - too dense! Cleaning them made me dizzy and blurry-eyed!]

[The Mages after leaf cleaning and slimming down, with that instant look of long legs!]

After all the Mages had their leaves cleaned, I discovered they really do grow fast - the green stems are the newly added height. Hehe, two days of plucking yielded two big bags of leaves as spoils! Mages are at their most beautiful from May to June. Right now, just after being stripped and reshaped, they're quite ugly, so I won't photograph them one by one. When they regain their looks I'll post a dedicated thread to show them off! Continuing with the bare-faced portraits, below I'll take the "Moon Shadow series" as an example. Prepare yourselves mentally, we start mild!

[Single-headed Moon Shadows --- I'm a lazy patient, so comparison posts and such are skipped... If curious, please look up "New Year's warm sun, Moon Shadows in full bloom!" 2018-01-04 Tian Tian Zhu Zhu, the post from the Succulent Plant Encyclopedia!]

Just taking 10 single-headed Moon Shadows as representatives - though they've taken off their finery, their elegant bearing remains! But what worries me most is getting through summer. Last summer quite a few of our Moon Shadows caught powdery mildew (to learn details, please ask Baidu). So just last week, I gave all the succulents full-coverage treatment - "triadimefon powder rust-remover" for leaf drenching and root watering, in hopes of prevention! Currently the main thing I observe across the whole garden is signs of powdery mildew on leaves. Once found, if leaves can be cleaned, cut them immediately; for mild cases, smear the above-mentioned medicinal powder, and for some, coat the entire stem. Recently I've found the roses have been hit, and I'm on strict alert!

[Gomera Rose - I feel the outer large leaves have a few mold spots, suspected "powdery mildew" tendency, so I applied medicine immediately. The white marks on the leaves are powder residue!]

[Large Afterglow - old leaves have mold spots, handled as above! Observe a bit more, and if no good, pluck the leaves!]

[Yero Rose - a branched small head is infected with "powdery mildew", decisively picked off and thrown away, the rest under strict control!]

[Orca - a patch went moldy, so I smeared on thick "paste-like medicinal powder" hoping it works!]

[Nymphaea cups - can't escape the "powdery mildew" curse. Three years now, and I only knew this type is prone to leaf mold every year, not that it was a disease! Sigh, this year I've wised up - and so, the diseased leaves have all been cut bare, and any further and they'd become "bald commanders", with stems and leaves top to bottom all smeared with "medicinal ointment". Hehe, if it recurs there's nothing more I can do!]

I have a garden of succulents. Looking back I know them well, yet my heart is full of uncertainty - often lingering between "should" and "should not"! I think, since falling into this pit, it was destined that I'd advance and retreat together with succulents!

[Ping Pong Fu Niang - my bald commander tree, "recovering in autumn, just about to regain its looks, and here comes the hot summer again". This year, I'll bring it indoors early!]

[Fire Festival/Red Ghost City - one of the few pots hung outside, an easy victim of powdery mildew in past years, but this year it seems controlled!]

[Baby Fingers - last autumn's baldness and this time's plumpness move me. The name is so vivid!]

[Roses - the "collapsed vegetable" ones are starting to show color and wrapping up. It turns out the dormancy process of large roses is also a kind of dynamic beauty!]

[Rainbow - a hard-to-grow one, finally recovered a bit of vitality after much effort, now a key target for prevention and control. I hope it stays well!]

[Pink Blue Bird - single heads in a combined pot, three years now, the most heartwarming companion. Leaves tighter, stems longer, the changes through the cycle of four seasons are vivid before my eyes!]

[Pansy - though it can't produce three colors, it's still fresh green, and the key is its leaves have grown thick and plump, which delights me!]

[Chiyoda no Matsu - sigh, white spots on leaf tips, a puzzle I ultimately can't solve. Though its color is dull and lifeless all year round, it belongs to the tough, easy-to-grow type. A thumbs-up for you!]

[Hera + Shenxiu - this was originally Shenxiu's home. After three years the stem aged, the rosette tightened, and the space emptied, so I planted the long-legged Hera, and unexpectedly got a wonderful result!]

[Fasciated Pansy + Lawrence - half of the fasciated Pansy damaged by Jack was moved to a pot in time for recuperation and is now recovering... I filled the empty spot with the large-leaved Lawrence. Look at the shape and color together - absolutely no sense of mismatch!]

[Champagne - various types combined and inserted into pots. Hehe, sisters of the same family but different varieties, in the same free-shipping-region balcony-grower environment, ended up looking alike!]

[White Chrysanthemum - the upper part has a shriveled state. On a succulent friend's advice I raised the soil and buried it deeper, and it seems to be recovering. Thank you!]

[Anna Xavier + Wrinkled Blue Echeveria - seems like a variety of Shaviana. I like the little cabbage look, but now because of the medicinal water it's spread out like a flatbread. Speechless!]

[Blood Bing - always a big painted face, so it became the one bathed most often. Don't wash the color off, now!]

[Pishi Brocade - the large rosette gradually grows taller and shrivels. Sigh, I really can't be sure what direction it'll take in the future!]

[Pink Blue Bird - at its most beautiful in layer upon layer, so I can't bear to pluck the leaves. May it stay well!]

[Blue Princess - my oldest friend, a single head that cost a few tens of yuan, combined into 12 plants, yet still full of vitality!]

[Cabbage series - there's Dance Party Red Skirt, Blue Fox SP, Gaosha zhi Weng... In short, once they come to me they instantly become multiples!]

[Third-tier steps]

[Center position]

[The corner]

Large balcony panorama

The small balcony in sunlight

"Summer Mood"

Deep in the side courtyard, the summer mat is cool,

Pomegranate blossoms all around, bright through the curtain.

Tree shade covers the ground at noon,

Waking from a dream, an oriole sings now and then.

Three things for bright May, "pest prevention + disease resistance + leaf cleaning". Balcony-grower succulent slaves of the free-shipping region, have you all done them?

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This article is by the authorexclusively authorizedWeChat public account: Succulent Plant Encyclopedia (ID: duoroubaike). The article content does not represent the views or stance of the public account

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