9 Things You Must Do for Succulents to Safely Get Through Summer
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Images and text: Aha
Many people love summer, because you can wear whatever summer clothes you like without holding back, run the air conditioner while eating watermelon, and of course enjoy sunny beaches and eye-catching bikinis. Well, but when summer comes, for succulent lovers it is very bad news. Every summer, in just two short months, the succulents on their balconies either die or get damaged; in milder cases they lose color and become leggy, turning into a miserable sight. Today the curator will share with you a few things succulent lovers need to do before summer begins!
1. Remove dried leaves
The dried leaves left at the base after the succulents' metabolism are best cleaned up completely before summer begins. These places are the easiest for dirt to accumulate and for various pathogens and mealybugs to breed. The removed leaves can be gathered and burned or thrown far away, to prevent the insect eggs hidden inside from hatching and continuing to harm your beloved succulents.
2. Replace the gritty soil
Before summer begins, it is best to replace the gritty soil once. High-quality gritty soil allows the succulent roots to breathe normally in summer. Soil with a lot of grit can also speed up water loss, preventing the roots from soaking in water and causing tragedies such as black rot and turning to mush... There are also other benefits like pest prevention and supplementing trace elements, which we will not discuss in detail here. Friends in the south can also switch to red clay pots and other containers with better water permeability, to reduce the risk of getting through summer.
3. Let the flower pots breathe
For succulents that have been planted for a long time, the drainage holes at the bottom of many pots have been blocked by dust from various planting materials. Although some water can still leak out during normal watering, after a heavy rainstorm in summer, a large amount of water accumulates in the pot but cannot drain in time, causing black rot and turning to mush in the succulents. So before summer begins, it is best to find a handy tool and clear the soil near the drainage holes.
4. Add a beautiful top dressing
Before summer begins, giving the succulents a beautiful top dressing is also very necessary. Do not ignore the importance of top dressing; besides improving air and water permeability, it also helps somewhat with pest prevention. Various top-dressing soils have some rather special effects depending on their properties. For example, Maifan stone can release a certain amount of trace elements during watering to help the succulents grow, while diatomaceous earth is a natural physical insecticide. Each type of top dressing has its own advantages, and everyone can choose according to their own needs. Also, in summer try to choose lighter-colored top-dressing stones and pots, to avoid absorbing too much heat.
5. Keep a backup of your succulents
Before the hot days arrive, it is best to use methods such as beheading or pulling off leaves to separate side shoots, leaving a backup of your beloved succulents, to avoid completely losing a certain variety if the succulent dies in the hot summer. This is especially true for some varieties that struggle to get through summer, such as the Echeveria 'Gilva' line, Echeveria derenbergii, the red-frost variety, the Monanthes, and so on, as well as some more precious varieties. Try to leave them offspring as backups.
6. Mix something into the water
Before summer begins, including when watering in summer, you can choose to mix a certain proportion of broad-spectrum fungicide into the water. Generally there is no need to specially measure the ratio; the amount does not need to be too much, and it is usually enough for the water to look slightly cloudy. The frequency does not need to be too high either; once or twice before summer begins is about enough. Doing the prevention work well can reduce a lot of unnecessary losses in summer. In addition, you can bury some systemic insecticides in the soil, such as DX and carbofuran, or mix some insecticides like Huahuashen into the water when watering, to do a good job of pest prevention.
7. Put up a shade net
To avoid the succulents being sunburned by the midday summer sun, putting up a shade net is still necessary. Take advantage of the May Day holiday to quickly set up a shade net for your succulents. Choosing a three-pin or four-pin shade net is enough; there is no need to use one that is too thick!
8. Check the succulents that have problems
While it is not yet so hot, hurry up and check the succulents at home that have problems, especially those that have been potted for a long time but still have not established. Hurry and dig them out to see whether it is because the roots were not trimmed that no new roots have grown. Before the height of summer arrives, hurry up and trim the roots so they can grow new roots. Whether it is aerial roots or water-induced roots, hurry up and use them. Do not let rootless succulents get through summer; that is very dangerous.
9. Keep the last bit of beauty
No matter how the results of getting through summer turn out in the end, take a beautiful photo of your beloved succulents now, record those days you spent together with your succulents, and keep that last bit of beauty.
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