How to care for Dudleya pachyphytum 'Patchy Fitu'? Dudleya succulent care methods
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Thanks to the author [Eve] for theoriginal exclusive authorizationsharing
Edited and compiled by: Encyclopedia Jun
Location: Kunming, Yunnan
Turning Point
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Original title: Eve's Garden Dudleya Records - Part Three "The Legend of Patchy Fitu" Part One
This is the longest sharing article ever, so rest your eyes well before reading it slowly...
"Patchy Fitu," the eldest elder among Dudleyas, dwells among steep cliffs, clad in gray-brown aged leaf garments, wearing a snow-white silver crown upon its head, noble and extraordinary.
If the plants growing on that dreamy coast are called fairies, then Patchy Fitu is their godmother.
Patchy Fitu has the hardest stems, the most tenacious vitality, and the most abundant rosettes among all Dudleyas. Because of its thick, short, rounded leaf shape, it is also named the "Thumb" Dudleya (hereinafter referred to as "Thumb").
At the same time, this godmother is also the slowest-growing among Dudleyas, sleeping for most of the year. They only grow 5-8 leaves per year, and the stem grows about 3-10 mm. Most of their energy is spent repairing wounds torn by insects and animals.
What gave birth to such a species is the harsh environment bestowed by nature. They are experiencers and survivors!
Turning to the main topic of this article, those who have read the second Dudleya article (see "Sunset Fairy, Morning Dew, Dudleya Records Part Two!") should have some deeper understanding of Dudleyas by now. Most of what we grow now are Dudleya species that grow along the coast, and their characteristics have been introduced in detail in previous articles, so I won't repeat them here. This article mainly focuses on "Patchy Fitu," the Thumb Dudleya. According to the plan, this article should have come out in autumn, but because a large number of Thumb enthusiasts are already reporting many planting problems, this article had to be born prematurely....
Alright, next I will do two things: "summarize the problems" and "share personal experience" (note: personal experience, not official, not absolute. If you find it useful, adopt it; don't follow it absolutely!). This article may be a bit long, because I will share all my experience of growing over a hundred Thumbs at once! I've been staying up for four days rushing through all kinds of work. It's not that I'm impatient, nor that I have insomnia. It's that recently I've been receiving too many, too serious Thumb problems day and night!
First, let me summarize the problem categories. Every day I receive messages (comments, private messages), at least dozens of them more or less about Thumb planting problems. They can be classified into the following types: "potting," "rooting problems," "growth problems," "summer survival problems," "disease problems," etc. Repetitive, repetitive, repetitive, still repetitive. My thumb cramps from replying to messages. These past few days I've been constantly doing live video streams to provide on-the-spot answers, but it seems many enthusiasts still can't understand, so I've rushed this post to publish through the Encyclopedia.
Alright, next I will write out everything I know one by one. Of course, this article may be the longest technical sharing article ever, so I've also divided it into two parts: Part One and Part Two. The content is as follows:
Part One
"Potting" What pot to use? How to plant? How deep to plant? Should the leaves be removed?
"Rooting" What soil mix to use? How much water to give? How long until roots develop?
"Growth" How long for wounds to heal? How long until it branches? Why does it never grow?
Part Two
"Growth" How long until it shows its colors? How long until it blooms?
"Summer Survival" How to care for it in summer? Will it die in summer?
"Disease" Why do the leaves keep turning yellow, is it infected with some disease? The stem is hollow and rotten! The rosette is dead and won't sprout
buds!
"Variety Issues" Why does the Thumb have such long leaves? Why won't the Thumb grow round, is there a problem with the variety?
"Potting"
It happens that my new batch of Thumbs just arrived, so I'll use this as an opportunity to prepare 3 cases for everyone to explain my potting method in detail!
First, the first thing to do when you get a Thumb is a comprehensive inspection. Inspect what? First, whether the stem has wormholes, and whether the leaves are infected or rotting.
Wormholes are commonplace for Dudleyas. The main inspection is to check whether there are still eggs or live worms inside the wormholes. If found, just remove them with tweezers. Broken skin or hollow stems won't affect growth or rooting, as long as there are no remaining eggs or direct breakage, it's ok!
"Leaf removal issue," first of all, there's no doubt that leaves that have rotted or become infected due to stuffiness during transport absolutely must be removed!
Secondly, leaves around the rotting ones that have been infected should also be removed together! Yellow, black, soft, turning to water! Remove all of these! (Although Thumb leaves are precious, for the health of the whole plant, remove them!)
After removing them, carefully observe whether the stem has been infected. If it shows black, soft, or water-soaked conditions like the leaves, directly dig out that part, then apply medicine. If it's green or light yellow, it proves there's no problem! For medicine, you can use healing agents, carbendazim, or disinfectant powders.
Alright, the problematic leaves are done. Next let's talk about the non-problematic leaves, which are the Thumb's "leaf garment." What is a leaf garment? (It's those normally consumed black old leaves.) The Thumb has a characteristic that consumed leaves won't fall off on their own, and they stick very firmly to the stem like a thick layer of clothing. In the wild, the Thumb's stem basically relies on this for protection! (Anyway, that's how I understand it. It's just a piece of clothing. You can understand it however you like, it's just that meaning.)
How should it be handled? I will slightly remove a little bit, such as the part that will be buried in soil, and some at the bottom of the rosette, because after artificial cultivation, once roots develop, the rosette's growth form will be completely different from wild ones, so we need to reserve space for its growth. The rest, try not to remove if possible, because this is a very important transitional protective umbrella for them to adapt to the new environment. Unless wormholes or infections are found in the gaps, I won't strip the stem bare!
Detailed enough, right? Don't ask me again whether this or that should be removed. My WeChat memory is full from receiving photos...
"Pots" For Thumbs, all the pots I use are rock pots! Because rock has high density and good insulation effect, it won't easily cause the temperature inside the pot to get too high in summer or too low in winter, leading to hot-cold fluctuations. Secondly, stone pots have a certain effect on stabilizing the soil. And most most most importantly, no one will casually move it around anymore, including the owner, haha.
Alright, let's start planting. For the long-legged ones, I always plant deep first, fill up with soil, then slowly pull up and adjust the depth. After adjusting, I also place many stones around to fix and wedge the stem again. (Emphasizing the key point: stability is a must. The Thumb head is truly not just ordinarily heavy.)
"Top dressing stone" The top dressing stone I use is rock that matches the pot. Why? To press down the soil, stabilize the pot interior, promote rooting, and keep it natural, done...
Cover the exposed stem that has no leaf garment with sphagnum moss.
No.1 Long-legged example completed
NO.2 Potting a bushy-type Thumb cluster.
Skipping the repetitive leaf cleaning step, this old stem has one extra part to clean: the dried flower stalk remnants. These remnants can easily scrape and damage the underside of leaves as the Thumb's rosette grows, so they must be cleaned!
These dried flower stalk remnants are very hard, prickly like firewood roots. They're quite troublesome to clean. You can't pull them forcefully; you can only slowly wiggle them loose along the direction of the leaf garment gaps and take them out.
Next let's talk about another special point in this case: "native roots." This old stem has a relatively rare complete set of native roots.
What are native roots? They are virgin roots that have never been disturbed since sprouting. But usually, rough mining methods will break them off, or even pull the entire stem apart. To extract complete native roots, you must pry open the rock and take them out to preserve them. Native roots are very hard, with the root system forming a twisted braid-like shape, coiled together. Even the thinnest ones are as thick as electrical wire, with a thick layer of old skin on the surface, very easily mistaken by growers as the stem, and exposed during planting (Good heavens! Only a very careless grower would do such a thing...)
Thumbs with native roots regenerate fibrous roots very well, with a survival rate basically above 90 percent. (Original equipment, of course it's easier.) So seeing this, everyone should understand why many old Thumb stems are difficult to root. It has a lot to do with native roots being damaged. Take this as an example: the stem and crown relied on such an old root to live for decades to over a hundred years, then suddenly it's cut off, and it also experiences transport damage, drastic environmental changes, and other factors. Do you think it's difficult for it to regenerate? Think about it yourself!
Ok, based on its native root direction and crown orientation, imagine what shape it had in nature, then choose a suitable rock pot...
Note that when placing and adjusting the shape, the native roots may very likely pop out of the soil surface. So based on the special nature of this case, first use small stones to press down all the native roots, then slowly adjust the crown and stem.
Their stems may seem hard but should not be completely exposed, because in the wild, the Thumb's stem basically never shows. It's either hidden under rocks or protected by a thick leaf garment. So I always cover them tightly with stones.
Where stones can't block it, cover with sphagnum moss. I know, you're going to ask: isn't it a pity to cover such a nice stem? What I want to say is, can you consider the plant's feelings? Its native stem itself grows under layers of protection. Exposing it just to see the stem, and those with OCD even peel the leaf garment completely clean. If you grow it just to satisfy your eyes, then don't blame it for dying fragilely or staying dormant and never growing.
NO2 completed. What the plant needs, what it should look like, please find out for yourself, from its original ecology, not from what others say, or from your own assumptions. That way you'll take many detours. This is the lesson I've summed up from my own bloody experience.
NO3 Long legs plus bushiness. To be honest, this is a very tricky case. Long stem, big head, rosette facing up, and many parts of the stem have already been gnawed through by insects. The most awkward thing is, by the time it reached my hands, the leaf garment was completely gone. Don't ask me, I don't know who did it either, anyway it wasn't me... Sigh, it can't stand upright either (top-heavy with a thin stem, if you dare stand it at 90 degrees, it dares to break for you to see!) Nor can it lie down (the rosette all grows upward at once; if laid flat, the crown would take at least several years to face the sunlight.)
As usual, first bury all the remaining native roots, then slowly think. Imagine its original form.
Ok, Next, the next topic: "Rooting"
Everyone should be familiar with this picture, right? This is the case from last autumn where roots were grown to fill the pot in 3 months, then the pot was smashed to take it out. How did the roots grow out? You think the most important reason is the soil mix, right? NO! NO! NO! Not entirely.
Let's analyze this case. First, from mining to arriving at my home took less than a month, meaning it was fresh enough! Consumption wasn't too serious. Secondly, it itself had half a native root, providing a good foundation for rooting!
Once a Thumb's root system starts growing, it's very robust. From the details, you can see that not a bit of the dusty soil fell off! It completely retained the original shape of the pot. And the moisture level was at that "moist" level that you wouldn't dare make it not wet! With such a continuously stable pot environment keeping it comfortable, the root system naturally goes crazy growing. Are you going to ask how to water again? To be honest, I really didn't water much. I just watered once on the third day after planting and then threw it outside to face wind and rain.
Then how is the moisture controlled within this range? Mm-hmm, this is related to the soil mix and placement location. Overall, what rooting needs is a soil mix that solves the current climate and a pot that suits the current environment, plus maintaining good moisture, to form a superior rooting environment... Yes, so the most important thing is balance! None can be missing!
"Soil Mix" I commonly use many kinds of Dudleya soil mixes, applied to different species, different situations, and different growing environments.
So let me take this opportunity to repeat and emphasize again and again a fatal problem: there is no absolute soil mix! Only relative! Please don't ask me right away what soil I use. This kind of question is completely nonsense. Because your growing methods and preferences can't be the same as mine, your environment and my environment can't be the same, and your Dudleya's situation and my Dudleya's situation can't be the same! (I'm really agitated because I receive this repeated question too many times every day!) Ok, I won't keep you in suspense. My formula can be listed, but I hope it's just for your reference, not for you to directly copy and use to harm your own succulents.
Kunming outdoor growing:Akadama 30%, volcanic rock 20%, pumice 10%, peat 20%, sand 10%, coal slag 8%, sheep manure 2%
Watering:Spring, summer, autumn, winter, completely ignored all four seasons.
Kunming greenhouse growing:Akadama 20%, volcanic rock 20%, sand 20%, coal slag 20%, peat 18%, slow-release fertilizer 2%
Watering:
Spring: spray water once every 2 days (Kunming's spring is the dry season)
Summer: spray water once every 7-10 days (Kunming's summer is the rainy season)
Autumn: spray water once every 5-7 days
Winter: spray depending on the weather. Kunming's winter is always a question mark, sometimes cold sometimes hot.
The above are my personal soil mixes for outdoor and greenhouse growing in Kunming. For reference only in Kunming and areas with similar climates!
For other regions, I can only give some suggested reference plans based on collected climate data:
Jiangsu-Zhejiang region:Coarse sand/fine mountain stone 30%, volcanic rock 30%, peat 18%, akadama 20%, grain carbon/carbon slag 2%
Guangzhou-Shenzhen region:Crushed rock/zeolite/perlite 20%, volcanic rock 20%, peat 15%, coarse sand 20%, diatomite 10%, coal slag 13%, slow-release fertilizer 2%
Northern region:Kanuma 15%, akadama 15%, volcanic rock 20%, peat 15%, vermiculite 5%, pine bark 5%, diatomite 5%, fine sand 15%, grain carbon/carbon slag 5%
Northwest region:Volcanic rock 20%, mountain sand 20%, kanuma 10%, vermiculite 5%, akadama 20%, peat 20%, grain carbon/carbon slag 5%
The above formulas are for reference only! Adjust specifically based on your growing preferences and specific circumstances! Why so complicated? Then I'd like to ask back: why mix soil at all? Very simple, such alternating combinations of so many soils are all about solving problems for regional climates.
Secondly, if you are planting Thumbs now, there is one formula that can be used anywhere as a temporary rooting formula. That is: akadama 80%, coarse sand, vermiculite 10%, but only for temporary root induction during non-growing seasons, not suitable for long-term growing. For example, right now, in hot summer or cold winter, you can directly use this formula for dry planting, and when autumn cools down, directly change the soil with the root ball intact.
"Watering" First of all, if you carefully and meticulously mixed soil according to proportions, you should deeply understand your soil mix's drainage and water retention, how much water each watering can make it retain moisture, and how long until the moisture dries up. If you really have no experience, I can recommend inserting an ecological detector. Like the yellow little device next to my wife's book in the picture, it can detect your environment, temperature, soil pH, humidity, and sunlight intensity at any time. Much more scientific than sticking in a toothpick, right...
The Thumb's water needs are the same as other coastal Dudleyas: likes the head wet and the feet moist. For outdoor growing, aside from supplementing water based on weather during the acclimation period, I hardly need to manage it at other stages. For greenhouse or non-open-air environments, just check the detector, humidity adjusted by temperature!
Watering:
I always only spray when watering, never water thoroughly. Within 30 degrees, basically maintain above 60%, and above 30 degrees, gradually lower the humidity relatively. Of course, if you're worried, during hot and humid summers or cold and wet winters, you can move the Thumb in advance to a rain-sheltered but lit place for water cutoff and dormancy. The Thumb's dormancy period can last up to a year, very tough.
But based on my growing experience, last year during Kunming's frost, I left them outside without care and they all froze into popsicles, yet not a single leaf was damaged. Now in summer, they're under Kunming's sun and rain every day and nothing has happened! Currently 0 casualties. I've never worried about Thumbs because they're truly low-maintenance...
Light:
All coastal Dudleyas have very high sunlight needs, and the Thumb even more so. Let it bask, give it the most brilliant sunlight possible. Its entire structure is born to bathe in the scorching sun! Of course, except for small seedlings that haven't hardened during disease recovery! Also, Dudleyas absolutely need sunlight for rooting. Mine are thrown outside right after planting. I've never seen sunburn or sun death in mature plants. You all know Kunming's UV intensity. But I did have a batch of small seedlings that were thrown out to face light too early and got scorched, but after 2 weeks the leaves shed and they returned to normal.
Ventilation:
To use the phrase from Part One: the bigger the better, best if it's like a coastal typhoon!
Growth:
Alright, next let me use a comeback story to explain the Thumb's growth issues.
The Thumb Dudleya is very slow in overall growth, but for wound recovery, the Thumb is absolutely amazing. The picture above shows an old stem acquired in March this year. When it arrived, it was wounded all over, with almost no intact leaf. But it had a small amount of native roots, hadn't shed its leaf garment, and was planted using a method that mimics its original ecology. On the third day, it was thrown directly outdoors to face rain and sun. Do you think I'm cruel?
Two weeks after planting, the wounded leaves began to wake up and recover, which means its root system had already started activating.
One and a half months after planting, look carefully! Count the number of leaves. No new leaves have grown! It's the old leaves that miraculously began to recover! The shriveled leaves plumped up, the wounds healed themselves! The farina grew back on its own too.
Today! That is, three months after planting, the wounds have almost completely disappeared, but the leaf count still hasn't increased!
Yes, believe your eyes. This is the conclusion I've reached from countless attempts. Although the Thumb Dudleya grows slowly, it possesses this magical regenerative repair function! (I've thought about using its leaf pulp for face masks, it would definitely be good, but it's too expensive to afford, just a thought) Now you understand why at the beginning when introducing it, I said that in nature it spends its growing period using nutrients to repair wounds, right? It's toxic like that, making a comeback from such damage without growing new leaves.
Alright, through this case everyone should have an answer to the growth question. Under normal circumstances, the Thumb's leaves, as long as there's no rot or infection, minor bending damage can fully recover within a few weeks after rooting. And the normal rooting time should be 2-4 weeks during the growing season, and possibly 1-2 months or even no rooting during the dormant season. At this time, don't worry, because as long as it stays alive, at worst it survives until the next year, and then the growing roots will awaken.
Of course, the premise is that you don't mess around blindly. Many people can't wait and then go on a wild fussing spree. What, cutting a few slices at every turn (sigh, I'm speechless, stems that only grow a few millimeters a year and you can bring yourself to cut them), what, soaking in this solution or that solution at every turn. Really enough. Let me put it this way: you've only planted it for a few months, it might just be about to wake up, and you get anxious and change its position or change the soil or something, and it has to adapt all over again.
Those of you who can't get roots, think about it yourselves! Have you done any of these things! Aside from plants that are too severely damaged from mining or too depleted from transport, most Thumbs are actually killed by their own owners' impatience and blind messing around! It's inherently a slow-growing species, what's your rush? If it has enough leaves, a thick enough stem, and native roots, it won't die even after a year or two, what's your rush? If it was pulled to pieces during mining, then went through transport across several countries, and in the end has only a few leaves, half-dead, even gods can't save it. What are you hoping for, some magical soil mix or magical rooting water to save it? Figure it out yourself.
Next, a negative case about growth. When this one reached my hands, the leaf garment had already been completely peeled off by Koreans, and then no protective treatment was done.
Two months later, look for yourselves, feel for yourselves. The pictures aren't reversed. Indeed, the overall condition is not good. Practice explains everything. Now you know why I don't like peeling leaf garments, and why in this article I emphasized again and again and rambled on and on about the stem needing to be well protected. Of course, this is just my experience. You can try other methods, because I grow them rough and wild.
Branching:
Because of its extremely slow growth rate, the Thumb Dudleya naturally needs many many years. So where do all those dense heads of clustered old stems come from? Very simple. In its native ecological environment, Thumbs are often gnawed by insects and trampled by animals. Once the growth point and stem are damaged, it will grow a cluster of side shoots to maintain its own viability. (Mm, a very tenacious and unyielding fairy godmother... destroy one branch and I'll open up a whole patch)
Why doesn't it grow?
Sharing up to here, I believe everyone can somewhat grasp the edge of this question.
First, the Thumb itself is a species with an extremely slow growth rate, whether rooting or growing.
Second, if there's no response for half a year to a year, or even until next spring, and it hasn't died, then it's definitely still dormant. You should consider whether your planting method is "relatively" correct, and whether you've satisfied its needs for water, sunlight, ventilation, etc. Of course, cases of death from dormancy have occurred, but they're still very few.
Alright, this article ends here. I'll organize and upload the next part as soon as possible. Recently I've been crazy busy with all kinds of things. Overall, Patchy Fitu is a very easy-to-grow Dudleya species. You just need to slow down your impatient mindset and keep up with its growth rhythm, and you'll be able to understand it more deeply and create a good ecological environment for it. Definitely don't treat it delicately just because it's expensive. It doesn't need that. It's a strong survivor that grows on the crest of waves, enduring scorching sun every day, braving raging winds, and tolerating insect gnawing. They are wild grass, not your pets. They're expensive only because of their slow growth rate, not because they're hard to grow, ok?
Personally, I think if you've already sacrificed many Patchy Fitus, the first thing you should rectify is your mindset and approach. Complaining about climate, complaining about environment, being anxious for quick results, you should put all these down, because they don't solve any problems. No region in China is the Thumb's place of origin, so various problems exist everywhere. Kunming where I am is no exception. Also, the methods, approaches, and suggestions I share are not meant to be copied, only used for reference.
As for the bonus, live video streaming is already up and running. I now make regular guest appearances on various livestreaming platforms, sharing my succulent-growing experience on the spot, and everything in this article also has a video version. If you like it, keep an eye out for it in the future. I will say it again: everything I share is a conclusion I have drawn from countless personal experiments and practice, not an absolute truth.
Alright, I have successfully pulled another all-nighter and finally finished this article. As for the next installment, I can only say I will get it done as soon as possible.
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