Succulent Black Rot Prevention: Nine Little Care Secrets
Summer is here again, and they say it's going to be a super hot summer. Look at how the roads in India are being baked and melting - it makes you anxious... High-temperature mode is about to begin, and many people are anxious about how to get through the summer. Those who grow their plants outdoors don't dare to leave them outside anymore, afraid of rain causing black rot, afraid of sunburn and sunscald beyond counting, so they all bring them indoors to grow in the shade. Never mind the condition, never mind the flat pancake look or the leggy stretching - we just ask that they stay alive. Alive until autumn, and then they'll be a beautiful succulent again!
Some succulent growers start doing major repotting in late spring. Repotting into what? Full-grit soil plus a full array of red clay square pots - feels breathable enough, right? Watering isn't scary either, since it dries out so fast. And they don't dare water heavily either - just a ring around the edge. If you give a heavy watering and it doesn't dry by the next day, once the sun hits it there's going to be trouble. Now let's talk about a set of black rot prevention care techniques that the editor has summarized.
No.
1
Keep ventilation going in summer
Moving them indoors kills them faster
In summer, the first requirement for succulent safety is ventilation. Moving them indoors without airflow makes them even more likely to die.
No.
2
When you need an umbrella for shade yourself
Please pull up a shade net
When you yourself need an umbrella for shade, put a 3-pin shade net over your succulents. When the temperature reaches 35 degrees, add another layer of 3-pin net, which is equivalent to a 6-pin shade net.
If grown outdoors, you definitely need to put up a shade net. Of course, if the spot where you place them only gets one or two hours of sun a day, I think it doesn't matter whether you put one up or not. But if the temperature reaches 35 degrees, you need to add a layer of 3-pin shade net to be safer.
As for a north-facing terrace, in summer the sun can shine from just after 7 in the morning all the way until 3 in the afternoon, so you can put up a 3-pin shade net as early as May.
Please do provide appropriate rain protection
No.
3
Rainwater is the best fertilizer. Getting rained on in spring and autumn lets succulents grow very plump. But once summer comes, you must provide appropriate rain protection. Summer rain comes fast and sudden, mostly heavy showers and thunderstorms, and it can soak them through in just a few minutes.
If the day it rains happens to be a watering day, then you can let them enjoy a good soaking, and right after the rain, blow the water droplets off the flower centers and leaves. If it's not a watering day, you can pull up a rain film when it rains to keep the succulents from getting wet.
No.
4
Please control your hands
Don't pluck leaves in summer
Everyone loves plucking leaves for leaf propagation, but once summer comes, please absolutely do not do this. If your succulent is a healthy plant with no wounds, its chance of getting black rot is greatly reduced. But if there are wounds on its stem, under high temperature and high humidity, bacteria multiply extremely fast, and it becomes especially prone to infection. If you can't control your hands and absolutely must pluck, then after plucking, apply carbendazim to the stem as a preventive measure.
Unless necessary
Please do not repot or change soil in late spring and early summer
No.
5
Actually, there's no need at all to go through the trouble of changing soil and repotting succulents just to get them through summer. Once summer comes, you should let them meet it in their strongest state to begin with. Repotting and changing soil is equivalent to re-establishing the root system, which is a huge drain on succulents. And during the process, it's easy to damage the roots and stem, creating wounds that make black rot more likely.
No.
6
About watering
Control your hands, control your hands - in summer you can still water once every half month, just reduce the amount of water given. Normally you water from above; in summer choose bottom soaking. When soaking, don't soak it completely through - just letting the lower part of the soil in the pot get wet is enough.
Choose 6 to 7 o'clock in the evening for watering, and after watering you can run a fan for the whole night. The next day, based on how dry or wet the soil is, decide whether to keep sunning them or add another layer of shade net for shade.
No.
7
About pests
Spring and summer are when pests are at their worst. If succulents are placed together with green plants, they're even more likely to attract pests. So you can bury medicine in the soil and also spray medicine regularly to prevent pests (three times over a summer is more than enough), nipping all pest problems in the bud.
No.
8
Please water with carbendazim regularly
Many people say this stuff is useless and you can't see any effect. It is itself a preventive medicine, so of course it doesn't show as obvious an effect as insecticide. It is a medicine that reduces and kills bacteria. Watering with carbendazim regularly keeps the amount of bacteria in your plant's soil to a minimum, which helps prevent and treat black rot.
It's recommended to water with carbendazim once every month and a half, shortened to once a month in summer, to reduce losses.
No.
9
Potting up new succulents
Buying succulents in summer isn't much of a problem. As long as the plant is healthy, getting it to establish and grow roots in summer is not much different from other seasons.
Since it's a plant purchased in summer, just use soil with a high grit ratio plus a red clay pot. After potting up in moist soil, place it in a spot with indirect light for a week. If it were another season, then after a week you'd water it thoroughly and just toss it outside to grow.