Don't water your succulents carelessly in summer; figure out these conditions first so you can water with confidence

Summer is the toughest season for succulents. A ventilated, shaded environment and suitable temperature and humidity are all key to getting succulents through the summer. Beyond all that, proper watering is also an important factor in helping succulents survive the summer.

As mentioned before, everyone has their own watering method that suits them, and copying someone else's method is not necessarily workable. If you want to develop and master a watering method that suits you, you must first fully understand the following factors:

1. Regional climate

As introduced in a previous article, some expert kindly ranked succulents by how easy or hard they are to care for across the country, dividing them into easy-mode regions, hard-mode regions, and hell-mode regions, and so on. If you are lucky enough to live in an easy-mode region for succulents, such as Weihai in Shandong, in the summer of 2012 Weihai had only 10 days with a high of just 30°C, and the rest of the time it was only 23-28°C. Such a cool summer, plus the airflow from the sea breeze, is simply a paradise for succulents. In such a refreshing environment, succulents basically will not go dormant to protect themselves, and with metabolism and other functions operating normally, you can water with confidence. By contrast, in the hard-mode regions of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, temperatures reach 35°C or even easily hit 40°C, the bottom of the pot is stuffy and damp with no wind, and at this point succulents switch on self-dormancy mode to resist the harsh environment. Watering then is pure suicide, but you cannot skip watering entirely either, so the only option is to mist the surrounding air morning and evening each day to ease the succulents' water shortage by raising humidity.

2. Weather changes

This is easy to understand. In rainy weather, moisture in the potting soil evaporates slowly, and frequent watering will keep the soil wet for a long time, causing the succulent's roots to breathe poorly and rot, so you need to lengthen the watering interval. In clear weather, the potting soil dries quickly, so you definitely need to shorten the watering cycle. Likewise, when the temperature is high water evaporates quickly and when it is low it evaporates slowly; when there is wind the potting soil dries quickly and when there is no wind it dries slowly. This means you should get into the habit of checking the weather forecast every day: sunny or rainy, windy or calm, wind speed high or low, temperature high or low, you need to know all of this in advance, otherwise just try watering thoroughly and then immediately getting half a month of rainy days.

3. Pot material and soil composition

There are many pot materials: plastic, terracotta, glazed, even iron. Many plant lovers think terracotta has good breathability and is therefore good for succulent growth. Indeed, terracotta pots dry out easily, so the soil will not stay constantly wet, but precisely because it dries easily, you must shorten the watering cycle and increase the amount of water, otherwise the succulent really can dry out and die. Relatively speaking, because glazed pots have poor breathability, you must lengthen the watering cycle and reduce the amount of water. By the same logic, a soil mix with good water retention needs a longer watering cycle than a mix with poor water retention.

4. Succulent habits and plant size

Different types of succulents have different growth habits. Some succulents relatively dislike water, so you definitely need to water them less, while succulents that relatively like water need more water. And for succulents of the same type, because the growth stage and plant size differ, the watering cycle and amount also differ. A newly potted succulent whose roots have not fully grown and which has not fully adapted to the environment will surely die if watered frequently, while a succulent that has grown for many years has well-developed roots and is fully adapted to the environment, so its water needs are definitely greater.

The above are the major factors that determine the watering cycle and amount. Of course, there are also many other factors, such as where the succulents are placed and how many hours of sunlight they get each day, all of which you need to sum up and put into practice based on your actual conditions. So, after all this, how can you tell whether a succulent is short of water?

The most common way is to look at the succulent's leaves. If the leaves become soft or even wrinkled, then there is a strong chance the succulent is short of water. But be careful: if you just watered recently and the leaves are still soft or wrinkled, then you may need to unpot it and check the roots, though of course that is not what this article is discussing today.

So what watering methods and issues to watch out for are there for succulents?

1. In spring, summer, and autumn, water best in the cool morning or evening; in winter, generally at noon.

2. When watering, pour along the edge of the pot, and be careful not to get water on the leaves or the growing tip.

3. For succulents that have filled the pot or grown in clusters and are hard to water, you can use the soak method: find a basin, fill it with water, then slowly lower the succulent pot from the bottom into the basin until the surface of the potting soil is moist.

4. Never water when not dry, and water thoroughly when you do: this is always the principle.

The above was compiled and published by Xiao Jingzhi Life; we hope it is helpful to everyone.