How to build a mini succulent garden in a foam box?
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Photos: Curator
We often see many households in our neighborhood growing flowers and vegetables in foam boxes, and they thrive beautifully. In fact, foam boxes are excellent for growing succulents too, and they're cheap and durable.
Below I break down the specific steps with photos:
1. Take one foam box and poke holes in the bottom.
2. Put a layer of large LECA (expanded clay pebbles) or volcanic rock or large pieces of burned and soaked honeycomb coal at the bottom to increase drainage and aeration.
3. Add soil (own mix): coconut coir + peat soil + crushed burned and soaked honeycomb coal; and mix in carbendazim dry powder (for sterilization) and insecticide, similar to fenbendazole, soil insect granules, etc.
4. Top with a layer of crushed honeycomb coal granules or granular soil.
For leaf propagation, first transplant the leaf-propagation seedlings that have already rooted and sprouted in a vegetable basket or a pot without drainage holes (how to do leaf propagation is explained in detail in several of my (Leaf Propagation) articles) into the foam box, and leave them indoors in a sunny, well-ventilated spot for one month, keeping the soil slightly moist during this period (small seedlings are very thirsty, the soil must not be too dry). After one month, in spring and autumn they can be moved outdoors to sun and rain! In summer, because of strong sunlight and high temperatures, the fragile small seedlings can easily be sunburned, dried out, or sun-killed if you're not careful! In winter, low temperatures can also cause frostbite, freezing to death, or stunted growth!
The leaf-propagation seedlings in the photo above are growing day by day~ Because they were previously planted too densely, some have already been moved out, so when doing leaf propagation you must also leave room for later growth, otherwise being too dense will inhibit each other's growth.
Once leaf-propagation seedlings are about 2 cm, they can be moved outdoors. Most Sedum (stonecrops) are suitable for outdoor growing, and after a spell of sun and a spell of rain they grow healthily and happily like bamboo shoots after a spring rain!
The hot summer has arrived, and my succulents are still left on the rooftop without a shade net. On rainy days I can be lazy and basically don't need to do anything; when it doesn't rain, I have to water every other day, especially the small seedlings, which need timely water replenishment.
For stem cuttings (using White Bear and Yellow Bear as demonstrations), steps: 1. One foam box; 2. Poke holes in the bottom; 3. Put a layer of large LECA or volcanic rock at the bottom for drainage and aeration; 4. Add soil (own mix): coconut coir + peat soil + crushed burned and soaked honeycomb coal; and mix in carbendazim dry powder (for sterilization) and insecticide, similar to fenbendazole, soil insect granules, etc. 5. Sprinkle rooting powder or top with a layer of vermiculite or akadama for rooting; 6. First poke a few holes in the soil with wooden chopsticks (very important), then place the beheaded Bear that has had its roots dried and calloused on top, to help the roots grow downward; 7. Soil slightly moist (very important), moisture helps rooting. 8. Move to a sunny (behind glass), well-ventilated spot and leave it alone, don't touch it (very important), and in about one month it will root naturally (Yellow Bear and White Bear root more slowly; others like Iceberry root in about 2 weeks).
White Bear in stem cutting
Yellow Bear in stem cutting
Black Aeonium (Aeonium 'Zwartkop'), Aeonium 'Zwartkop' original species, Aeonium 'Sunburst' (Sunburst Aeonium), and Aeonium decorum 'Sunrise' in cutting
Sedum pachyphyllum (Jelly Beans), Sedum clavatum (Ningzhi Lian), Sedum 'Little Beauty' (Xin Yu Zhui), and Echeveria 'Nü Chu' in leaf propagation
The following are all succulents grown in foam boxes!
The groundcover series such as: Sedum japonicum 'Tokyo Sun' (Golden Sea Basin), Sedum hispanicum (Thin Snow Evergreen Grass), Sedum dasyphyllum 'Minor' (Ji Xing Mei Ren), Sedum makinoi 'Ogon' (Maruba Evergreen Grass), etc. are suitable for rough growing, sprouting as you cut like chives, scattered in the soil without care, and they will still grow madly!
Aeonium series like Purple Velvet are suitable for slightly deeper foam boxes, because the plants are tall and the root systems strong, needing space to extend infinitely downward!
I used to like to pot succulents one by one, neatly categorized and refined, but later as I grew more and more, pots weren't enough, and to save money, I switched to various large soil pots, vegetable pots, plastic baskets, vegetable baskets, fruit baskets, foam boxes, etc. In the end, after practicing outdoor growing, the best overall value for money is still the foam box. Why? Because it has the strongest heat retention and water retention. You may be even more puzzled! Doesn't more water smother the roots? On the rooftop, the sun shines long, UV is strong, and wind is strong, so water evaporates easily; appropriate water retention helps succulents grow. Especially on rainy days, rainwater contains rich trace elements, which helps plants grow vigorously.
About soil mixing: this is a question of relativity.
1. If you want rapid propagation, use more soil and less grit in the mix, or none at all, like some greenhouses; you can also add more fertilizer, and every Sedum grows like a cabbage, with each Jelly Beans stem thicker than a finger; if you want to control shape, achieve excellent coloring, or play with old stumps, use more grit and less soil in the mix, like collectors do, and basically no fertilizer, for appreciation only!
2. In places with high temperature and high humidity, a long plum rain season, and many damp cloudy days, use more grit and less soil in the mix to aid aeration and drainage, otherwise with too much water the roots rot easily and can turn to mush in minutes, dead as a doornail!
3. Leaf-propagation soil should be loose and soft with strong water retention, with more soil and less grit in the mix; after the plant matures, the proportion of granular soil can be appropriately increased.
4. The standard succulent soil mix: peat soil + coconut coir + perlite, a ratio of 2:1:1 is slightly better. You can mix in granular soil or sand, etc., to increase aeration and drainage. To save money (soil is no small expense!), I use honeycomb coal (it must be thoroughly burned and soaked to wash away dust and heat before use, otherwise it will burn the roots) instead of granular soil. Practice has proven it cheap and easy to use. But for ordinary succulent lovers growing their own for fun, in small quantities, I suggest still using granular soil: first, it's more ornamental; second, it saves you the trouble!
Planting everything mixed together, like a big platter, also has a problem: "one prospers, all prosper; one suffers, all suffer." For example, if pests or disease happen to strike, they will infect each other, so burying insecticide and fungicide in the soil beforehand is key, and you must also do regular preventive protection, just like how I never waste the laundry detergent water from washing clothes each week, watering the succulents pot by pot with it, killing insects and sterilizing at the same time. If that doesn't work, use targeted medication. For home use, the top recommendation is Huahuashen (Flower Guardian Deity), low toxicity and comprehensive! Outdoors you can use stronger medication, for example if there are mealybugs, use Jie Bi Zhi (a scale insect treatment), toxic but effective, one use lasts 3 months; for powdery mildew, use Cui Bei, spraying every leaf front and back, and spray several times, and also pour the medicated water into the soil. Powdery mildew is a fairly stubborn disease and is also easily contagious, not easy to cure completely, so no matter what medication (I once used Huahuashen and carbendazim alternately mixed with water, spraying on top and pouring below several times, and also cured it) it's impossible to cure in one go! You must bombard it repeatedly until it's cured.
Also, whether succulents have pests or disease, under outdoor growing conditions they won't die for a while; as long as you persist with targeted medication, they will all recover!
I often stick different kinds of succulents here and there in the foam box, freely improvising. Over time it actually gains more of a "natural, unadorned" natural beauty; looking across, a riot of color, brilliantly colorful, like palettes scattered across the world, a feast for the eyes!
Actually, happiness is very simple, as long as we sow with care, we reap whatever we plant!
Get started now! Don't hesitate, the mini succulent garden in our minds is just this simple, achievable with a single foam box!
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