Great tips for getting succulents through summer: build a shelter to keep off rain and birds
Getting succulents through summer is a real challenge. Some growers have already lost almost all of their succulents, while others' plants stand tall without any care at all. Ask them how, and there's no secret trick, just outdoor growing. Huahua is here to talk about it right away: outdoor growing comes with risks, so be very careful!
Outdoor succulents get battered
The Complete Guide to Flower Growing
Growers have been complaining for a while: put succulents outside and every pot you grow dies. You know exactly who the culprit is, but you just can't catch it!
An old specimen plant you worked so hard to grow, left on the windowsill for a few days, and all the leaves are gone!
The culprits are these little birds. The one in the photo below is a pet budgie, and it joined in too. The rest of the "culprits" are wild birds, impossible to catch.
Don't take it lightly if birds peck at your succulents. Summer weather is hot, and not only are the wounds on succulents slow to heal, they are also very likely to get infected. They can die on you in no time!
Solutions:
1. Insert bamboo skewers
Insert bamboo skewers about 20 cm long around the edge of the pot. Be careful not to poke the succulent's roots. This way the birds have nowhere to land, and it also scares them off
2. Cover the top
A shade net or an old discarded table mat from home will do. When covering, be sure to leave at least 20 cm of space, otherwise the air won't circulate and the succulents can easily suffocate
3. Put on a protective cage
If you have wire mesh at home, you can build a simple wire cage. This method isn't very "pretty", but it is the most effective
Outdoor growing in rainy weather
The Complete Guide to Flower Growing
In summer, many regions easily get rainy days. At these times outdoor growing is quite risky. Rainwater flooding the pot, plus the muggy, damp conditions before and after the rain, make succulents prone to black rot
In stormy weather, even the toughest succulents can easily get knocked apart by raindrops!
With continuous rainy days, outdoor succulents are basically soaking in water. As in the photo below, the leaves may still look perky, but eight out of ten have already rotted at the roots!
Solutions:
1. Choose pots with holes in the bottom
Succulents hate waterlogging, so pots for outdoor succulents must have holes to drain water in time. It's best to cover the small holes with a layer of gauze so the soil doesn't wash out with the water
2. Build a shelter to keep off the rain
If you have quite a few succulents and it's inconvenient to move them, you can build a rain shelter for them, which saves a lot of worry. But it needs to be sturdy, otherwise if the wind and rain knock it over, all your effort is wasted
3. Move them indoors
If the rainy weather lasts more than 3 days in a row, Huahua suggests moving the succulents indoors
Some outdoor succulents look fine. Even if a few days of rain doesn't kill them, they will grow leggy afterwards. This is why your old specimen succulents aren't as beautiful as other people's
Key factors for outdoor growing
The Complete Guide to Flower Growing
Outdoor-grown succulents have stronger resistance. Many succulent growers are itching to try: can mine be grown outdoors too? Take a look at the following points first!
1. It's better to start outdoor growing in spring and autumn
It's already early summer now, and the temperature is high, so it's not suitable to start growing succulents outdoors. Growers, wait a bit. Once the temperature drops below 26°C in September to October, it won't be too late to start outdoor growing
2. Outdoor growing depends on the region
Although succulents grown outdoors are tough, they are not completely free of seasonal weaknesses. Especially in summer and winter, whenever the temperature goes above 32°C or below 2°C, you need to pay attention to shading in summer and keeping warm in winter!
Take Yunnan, the region everyone knows as the cheat-code zone for succulents. It has no obvious summer, so you can grow outdoors all year round, and they only get better and better. It's simply a paradise for succulents!
3. Outdoor growing depends on the variety
Outdoor growing also depends on the variety. Generally speaking, common, easy-to-grow ones are all fine, but varieties that struggle through summer, such as Jingye (Echeveria derenbergii), snow lotus (Echeveria laui), Haworthia, Sedeveria 'Huntington', and bear's paw (Cotyledon tomentosa), are best not grown outdoors
4. Outdoor growing depends on the owner
Everyone knows from experience that no matter how easy a plant is to grow, it takes effort to get it into good condition. With outdoor succulents, if you pay no attention at all, even if they survive, they will definitely grow like "wild children"
So even with outdoor growing, don't be careless. Wind and rain, insects and birds, it's all up to you, the owner
Outdoor growing isn't 100% problem-free either
Don't blindly follow the trend
Be very careful
?