Succulent old stems are deeply loved by succulent enthusiasts, yet these little secrets are rarely known

Location / Beijing

Editor / Succulent Plant Hub

An old stem of ten years, not to be traded for a thousand in gold. Summer has come again, are you panicking? Whether it is total annihilation or breathtaking beauty all depends on your summer care skills!

Everyone says summer care is hard! Harder than climbing to the sky! This is easy to understand. For lovers of beautiful succulents, summer is truly too cruel. Once care is inadequate, a large patch of succulents will perish.

The reason summer is so hard to endure is that in many regions the temperature exceeds 35 degrees. Spring has already passed, and the beginning of summer passed two days ago. The high temperatures of summer are wave after wave, and this week the temperature will reach as high as 35 degrees. Truly a handful of bitter tears.

So what aspects should be paid attention to in summer?

From the perspective of normal succulent growth, once it exceeds 35 degrees, apart from the more stress-resistant succulents of the Cactaceae family, the vast majority of succulents will enter a dormant period, the purpose of which is to protect themselves.

In this state, you will find that the succulent leaves become soft, and their life activities also slow down.

Part of the high temperature is caused by temperature, and part is caused by light. Strong light contains a large amount of ultraviolet rays.

Fellow succulent owners all know that to make succulents dazzling, ultraviolet rays are indispensable, so outdoor-grown succulents are mostly extraordinarily colorful. But the intensity of ultraviolet rays must have a limit.

Once it exceeds the range that succulents can tolerate, at best it burns them, and at worst they may die outright?

Now that we have recognized how terrifying a high-temperature environment is, for the sake of the succulents' lives, preventive work must be done in advance. Once you find that the temperature over the next few days exceeds around 32 degrees, you must prepare for shading in advance.

You can buy shade cloth in advance, or during the hottest midday hours when the sunlight is strongest, temporarily block the balcony windows with cloth or newspaper to prevent the succulents placed on the balcony from getting sunburned. Also avoid using black or dark-colored flower pots, which cause the soil temperature inside to rise.

Besides temperature, humidity is also a powerful enemy. Temperature can still be prevented, but humidity truly seeps in silently. Excessive humidity in the pot will directly cause root rot.

If the humidity inside the pot is too high and the outside temperature rises, it is equivalent to putting the succulent, damp as it is, into a large steamer, which will cause rapid death of the succulent.

Especially for friends who keep their succulents indoors, you can buy a timer switch online, set it to run for twenty minutes at twenty-minute intervals. This will keep your succulents dry and fresh at all times, and your mood will be beautiful too!

Actually, when it comes to watering, it is closely related to both temperature and humidity. Many succulent friends get confused when it comes to watering in summer.

Let me give you an example. Actually, if you just look at the picture, the leaves are shrinking and becoming soft, and all the signs suggest it should be a lack of water.

Yet in fact, the water had just been changed a few days ago, and they had been properly sunned every day.

For old stems, you can choose a peat ratio of between 10%-20% and grit of between 80%-90%. For ordinary seedlings, the peat ratio can be increased as appropriate.

The inherent color of succulents should be green. Under high and low temperatures, succulents release large amounts of carotene to protect themselves.

Based on the damage caused by low temperatures and ultraviolet rays, the release of carotene gives us the jelly colors, reds, creamy yellows, and so on that we want. A large temperature difference is the best way to color up succulents.

It is not that autumn sunlight is stronger than summer sunlight, but that the day-night temperature difference in autumn is relatively large. Eventually the temperature drops so low that the leaves cannot resist it and fall off. The color of the fallen leaves is also the final struggle of self-protection.

Ventilation is one of the most important factors for succulents to show their best state. If ventilation is insufficient, it easily leads to leggy growth and fading. At the same time, more ventilation also helps the water in the succulent pot soil to evaporate, so everyone must pay attention to ventilation.

Many people think that watering more will make succulents plump, but that is actually not the case. The ancestors of succulents grew in arid regions, where the roots could not absorb water for long periods.

In order to survive, their stems and leaves gradually became thick and fleshy, relying on water stored inside their bodies to sustain life. So with more water, they will only keep growing upward, and that directly causes leggy growth!

Only after controlling water and giving them the concept of being short of water will succulents use their leaves to store water the next time they are watered, and only then will the leaves become plump.

Of course, during this period you also need to combine it with plenty of sun! But they cannot be too dry either. If too dry, the leaves will also shrivel, because the water stored inside is slowly used up.

So watering is a great art, and you must control it well! Watering is like romance. If you are too forward, it will not work; people say you are lustful. If you are not forward, people say you are dull.

Everyone should judge for themselves. Real knowledge comes from practice. Observe more, pay more attention. Here I suggest using a mix with more grit. Their drainage performance is stronger, and on the premise of ensuring health, they will color up faster.

Growing succulents into old stems is even more a matter of accumulation over time and experience. Most are old succulent plants that have grown for many years and have obvious trunks or branches, generally mainly of the Crassulaceae family.

The editor-in-chief has also seen some merchants using beheading or other methods to artificially create old stem clusters. Although the appearance satisfies ornamental needs, the naturalness and patina are indeed lacking.

During care, try not to remove half-withered leaves. Wait until the nutrients are completely absorbed, and they will naturally and slowly fall off.

For soil, use more grit, loose and breathable. Generally speaking, getting mail-order succulents to settle into the pot is also a very common problem. They will only grow steadily after about half a year. It is not recommended to pull out the roots for no reason. Succulents really will be unhappy.

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