99% of succulent casualties from overseas shopping happen after arrival

Friendly reminder

To protect the ecological environment,

please do not buy wild succulents.

For overseas succulent purchases, please buy from merchants with legal import qualifications and permits.

Currently,

overseas shopping and online shopping have become the mainstream way to buy succulents.

But many succulent lovers find it hard to keep alive the succulents bought through these channels,

because before shipping, sellers have to subject such succulents to some processing.

Under normal circumstances,

healthy succulents are very brittle and very fragile,

and cannot endure long periods in a fairly bumpy transport environment,

let alone air or sea shipping.

To improve the flexibility of succulents

and reduce damage during transport,

most sellers in South Korea, before shipping,

dry the succulents in the sun,

making them become semi-dehydrated.

Then they cut off the roots one by one,

because succulents with roots are not allowed to be exported.

So when succulent lovers receive these dehydrated, rootless succulents,

they are much harder to grow than those bought at flower markets that have already developed good roots.

How should you handle succulents just received?

01

First, check for pests

When you have just received succulents, be sure not to rush to plant them,

because they very likely carry some pests,

such as: mealybugs, red spider mites, aphids, etc.

If you plant them immediately, they may very likely infect other healthy succulents,

and then dealing with it becomes quite troublesome.

So after opening the box, first check the succulents,

then wipe the diseased and pest-affected parts of the succulents with alcohol that is harmless to humans, and it can be effectively handled.

If you have already planted pest-carrying succulents in your home,

and infected other succulents,

then using alcohol is already too late,

but there is no need to worry,

you can long-press the QR code below or search WeChat for Succulent Botany,

browse our past articles,

we have solutions for how to effectively deal with various succulent plant pests.

02

Choose a suitable planting environment

Choose a ventilated place at home with ample sunlight as the best option for placing succulents.

For succulents, these two points are indispensable,

without sunlight, succulents easily become leggy; without wind, succulents will develop black rot.

We should know that most succulents originate from Mexico,

where in the wild they are

in conditions of high ultraviolet light, high humidity, and strong wind.

It is somewhat similar to the environment of Yunnan, Tibet, and parts of Northeast China in our country.

If you do not mind the trouble,

you can also buy a fan, a UV lamp, and a smart water sprayer that sprays water at set times to simulate it,

and I believe the succulents will surely grow delightfully well.

Of course, if you have an open balcony, that really is the best.

03

Choose suitable potting soil

It should be noted that

you must never use soil dug from parks or green belts,

because first, such soil does not have enough air permeability, and succulents easily develop root rot;

second, it may carry a large number of small organisms or pests.

If you insist on choosing such soil,

thinking it is very "nutritious",

Senior Sister recommends that it is best to steam it in a pot or put it in a microwave for half an hour,

otherwise it is very difficult to thoroughly kill the pests.

Here Senior Sister still recommends everyone use finished potting soil,

German peat soil, various finished special succulent soils are all very good choices.

If you insist on sourcing locally and making use of waste,

you can also choose fully burned and washed furnace slag, raw peanut shells, and coconut shells, which are all very good choices.

04

Planting succulents

Choose a relatively shallow flower pot,

because succulents will not root deeply into the soil.

Pour the prepared potting soil into the flower pot,

water thoroughly, then gently place the succulent on top, and wait for it to slowly take root.

After a few days, the leaves of the succulent will become fuller and fuller, full of water.

Until it lacks water again, just water it again.

Severely dehydrated succulent

Healthy, plump succulent

Attention!

For succulent lovers living in the north, humidity is the key to rooting.

Please do not pour water on the leaves,

keeping the humidity of the soil and environment no lower than 70% is the key to rooting.

Excessive exposure to the sun can easily kill succulents,

while maintaining good ultraviolet light,

you must also ensure the temperature is low enough,

think of Northeast China or South Korea.

Using sand as succulent potting soil is not a very good choice,

because sand does not have good air permeability.

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