How to grow succulents? Xiaoyuan shares comprehensive care experience

Introduction

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The article begins:

Thanks to the author [Yunxie Xiaoyuan] for theoriginal contributionsharing

Edited and compiled by: Encyclopedia Jun

Location: Nanning, Guangxi

During this period, flower friends have often privately asked me about how to care for succulents, and I promised many of them that I would definitely write an experience article, but I have been too busy in real life, and on top of that I had exams a while ago, so it was delayed for a long time, so long that even summer has almost passed, haha. I guess by the time everyone reads this article it should already be autumn...probably.

So-called experience is all blood and tears gained by stepping over the corpses of succulents. The purpose of Xiaoyuan writing this is nothing else, just to let people in the future take fewer detours and all be able to grow healthy and beautiful plants (since I myself mainly grow Sedums, almost everything below is based on a Sedum environment; those who want to read about mesembs and Haworthia can skip it).

Ps: Xiaoyuan is not a plant-related major. The following is really just pure experience talk. There may be things that are incorrect, and it is also stated rather bluntly, with no professional terminology. I hope everyone will be understanding.

The location is Nanning, Guangxi, in South China. The overall environment is like this: spring is short, with the terrifying return of the southerly damp weather when walls sweat; summer is long, hot from April to Mid-Autumn Festival, with flood seasons and typhoons; autumn has an "autumn tiger"; winter is equivalent to autumn in the north, with no snow.

To sum it up in one sentence, it is what is recognized as a reverse cheat zone, a vegetable-colored zone. (Friends in Hainan, don't raise your hands, we are all brothers in misfortune, don't hurt each other - -)

This kind of climate is actually not very suitable for the survival of Sedums, but it quite suits the habits of Haworthia (stuffy, humid). But what if you really like growing Sedums and do not want to give up?

Actually, as long as you are attentive, you can grow them beautifully. Although in our reverse cheat zone we cannot compare with the cheat zones in terms of the overall environment, I have also seen many flower friends in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian who grow very beautiful succulents, and not just a few. First of all, you must believe that you can grow them well. Don't complain that you were not born in a cheat zone just because you cannot grow them well. If you do not summarize your blood-and-tears experience, you will never grow them well. Why did the succulent turn black, turn to water, get bugs, or get moldy? Is there any remedy? Will it happen again next time? These all need reflection.

There is also one more thing: a few flower friends think my succulents are bought ready-made and pretty... I just want to say that if the state I cultivated with care ends up being erased by a sentence like "they were all bought pretty," then I would be very sad. I never photograph succulents just after potting, because that was not grown by me, and photographing it would be meaningless...

Actually, winter is our cheat period in South China. There is no need to worry about snow or frostbite, we are only responsible for being beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. If cared for well, the state can be maintained until June of the following year, and in summer we keep the plant shape from falling apart. Soon it is autumn and winter again, and once the weather turns cold, coloring takes only minutes. Always questioning others and not reflecting on yourself, I think this kind of person is quite awful.

Alright, now let's get to the main topic:

1. Environment

1. Site.

Before growing succulents, you must decide where to place them. As for sites for growing succulents, in the posts I have browsed over the years I have seen open-air without a canopy, open-air with a roof, open balconies, enclosed balconies, on air conditioner outdoor units, by windows, on bay windows, on indoor office desks, in kitchens, in basements, and even fully enclosed glass containers, fish tanks... and also hydroponics = =||| The further it goes, the more bizarre it gets. People really go all out just to grow a succulent.

But we need to know that Crassulaceae plants really love light, so I suggest the environment for growing succulents should preferably be a terrace or a ventilated balcony.

2. Light.

If you do not have the conditions for open-air growing, that is, most balcony growers (including me), you can download a compass app on your phone to check the orientation of your balcony. If it is a south-facing balcony (like mine), then it is very suitable for succulent growth. If there are no buildings or trees blocking it nearby, and you pay attention to care, I think growing on a south balcony is not inferior at all compared with open-air growing. I even think open-air growing has more dust, plus birds and mice and such, haha. Also, sometimes succulents grown on a balcony have more pleasing colors. For example, my white peony can develop an orange color on the balcony, but in full open air it cannot develop that color.

White Peony

White Peony

Taking my south balcony as an example, in winter and spring there is full sun (what is full sun? To put it in ordinary terms, it means there is sunlight continuously from when the sun rises until it sets). In summer, due to changes in the sun's rays, by noon it gradually stops reaching the balcony, but starting from the Beginning of Autumn the sunlight gradually recovers, and by late autumn it returns to a full-sun environment. So I think a south-facing balcony is very suitable for the growth of phototropic plants.

As for a north balcony, it is rather tragic: in summer it gets heavily sunned, but in winter there is no sunlight at all, completely reversed. As for an east balcony, from my observation it seems to be half-day sun, also inferior to a south balcony. I currently have a succulent healing spot on an east windowsill, where weak succulents that cannot adapt to strong sunlight are placed, and once they recover they are moved to the south balcony. As for west-facing ones, nowadays there are rarely houses with balconies designed to face west... If there is not enough light, set up grow lights (I have never bought lights for illumination, but they are said to be pretty good).

3. Ventilation.

Good ventilation can keep them alive.

Those with terraces can skip this. For those on balconies, open windows as much as possible for convection, convection, convection! Important things said three times! If it is an enclosed balcony where even a person walking in feels stifled, set up a fan, preferably a floor fan, oscillating, with strong wind, whirring away, comfortable for people and comfortable for succulents. Poor ventilation very easily breeds bacteria. Things like sooty mold, various black spots on leaves, and various molds are especially easy to get. If you are not careful, black rot and turning to water will send you back to before liberation overnight, and the annoying mealybugs are also stirring.

Speaking of this, why do I say ventilation needs to form convection, and that fans are artificial intervention rather than air conditioning? I have always opposed everyone using air conditioning to cool and ventilate succulents. Of course, air conditioning can be used to lower the temperature, but the premise is that the air conditioning must stay on continuously throughout the whole hot summer for those months. Even if it is off for one day, or turned on during the day and off at night, it is not suitable for succulents.

If everyone insists on turning on the air conditioning to cool them, I think only this counts as effective: turn on the air conditioning while also opening windows for ventilation, and keep it uninterrupted throughout the whole summer.

But never mind you, even I would not dare do this at home, because family members would definitely object, and moreover the electricity bill would be unbearable. There is also the most deadly point: I do not know if everyone feels this way, but in an air-conditioned room it is indeed very comfortable, yet once the air conditioning is turned off, a person in the room immediately feels very stifled, and then the heat quickly spreads up, or as soon as you leave the air-conditioned room, immediately a rolling heat wave comes... Succulents are very sensitive plants, and under such alternating cold and heat, they are especially prone to turning to water.

But fans plus open-window ventilation are different. You set up a fan to blow on the plants a bit. The setup is not as extravagant as turning on the air conditioning while opening windows, family members will not have much opinion, and it can also achieve the purpose of ventilation, because succulents are not afraid of high temperatures, but of stuffiness.

4. Rain cover

Many flower friends also privately asked me whether there is a rain canopy on top, and I said yes, and it is a must. Summer temperatures are high, and being in Guangxi, there are flood seasons, typhoons, local showers, and the impossible-to-complain-about situation of rain on one side and bright sunshine on the other that makes you feel life is unbearable = =||| Everyone can probably imagine the tragic scene of being rained on and then scorched in summer, so I will not say more here.

However, once the weather cools down, getting rained on is completely fine, but note that too much rain will cause leggy growth. At this time, having a rain canopy can block most of the rainwater. For some succulents that are severely short of water, have not adapted to the pot for several months, and yet do not die, I sometimes also put them out to get rained on. After one rain, those that should adapt to the pot do so, and those that should plump up do so.

5. Shading

From my observation, aside from some that are truly sun-tolerant (such as Graptopetalum mendozae, Orostachys, Sedum adolphi, Echeveria 'White Phoenix', Pachyphytum 'Blue Bird', Echeveria 'Monroe', etc., which I will write about later when I have time), most Sedums still have only average resistance to strong sun. Succulents that have not adapted to the pot should also not be sunned immediately, or they will get sunburned in minutes. Shade cloth is still very necessary. You can leave it off in the morning; the main purpose of pulling the net is to block the summer afternoon sun. Do not cover it tightly, because that makes it even stuffier (violating the principle of ventilation and convection). You must observe the path of the sun and block the sun specifically.

2. Flower Pots

Next let's talk about how to choose flower pots.

1. First is the material of the flower pot. Nowadays, flower pots on the market include ceramic, coarse pottery, red clay, black pottery, purple clay, maifan stone, tile, woven baskets, plastic, and so on. I personally think that aside from double-glazed ceramic flower pots and red clay pots that are too breathable, flower pots of the above materials are all acceptable, including plastic flower pots.

Ceramic pot, glazed inside and out, not good for growing Sedums, so I planted Mammillaria elongata in it. It has been several years in a flash, grown outdoors with sun and rain all day

Ceramic duck pot, Graptopetalum mendozae.

Coarse pottery pot, Echeveria 'Derlucianum'

Coarse pottery pot, Red Dragonfly

Plain pottery pot, Echeveria 'Hyerina'

Red clay pot, Kalanchoe thyrsiflora.

Black pottery pot, silicone pigment, Graptopetalum macdougallii hybrid

Black pottery pot, silicone pigment, Peach Egg

Purple clay pot (after coloring you cannot tell at all hehe), Echeveria 'Snow Princess'

Maifan stone pot, Echeveria 'Monroe'

Cement pot, Echeveria 'Mercury'. Cement pots are too heavy. I do not like this material. I have already repotted this one into a lighter coarse pottery pot.

Speaking of plastic flower pots, some flower friends may object, but I have no resistance to plastic flower pots. Plastic flower pots are typically represented by what we affectionately call "little black squares," the 7 cm black square pots. They are everywhere in greenhouses, and in 2014 and even before, they were widely used by everyone. I still use them to this day. Why do I say I am not resistant to little black squares? Because plastic flower pots are usually mass-produced by factories, and the drainage holes at the bottom are made in great number, very suitable for drainage. Everyone can observe those plastic flower pots at flower markets. No matter what pattern they are made into, the bottom holes are always very numerous.

Large white square, Senecio 'River Dance'.

Small white square, Echeveria 'Queen's Crown'.

Small colorful square, Gymnocalycium baldianum.

Tin pot, Sedum hispanicum.

Tin pot, mixed arrangement.

The following are all woven baskets, lined with burlap at the bottom. The advantage is breathability; the disadvantage is that they are too breathable and need frequent watering.

Sempervivum

Red Crane

Graptopetalum macdougallii

Frost Flower

Echeveria laui hybrid

Echeveria 'Halina' hybrid

Mixed arrangement

Birdcage

Ironwork, with Frost Flower inside

2. Next is the bottom hole of the flower pot. My personal pursuit of bottom holes even exceeds that of the flower pot material. Of course, material is also very important. Nothing else matters, as long as the bottom hole is large enough, around 2 cm, which is good for drainage, and only then is it suitable for me to grow Sedums. As for the small-bottom-hole pots that were replaced, many of them were used by me to grow Haworthia, because Haworthia needs more water.

3. Matching pots with succulents. I will not say much about this; everyone has their own view. In principle, large succulents use large pots, small succulents use small pots, cliff-style old stumps use tall pots, Haworthia and mesembs use tall pots (long roots), and Sedums use shallower pots (short roots). Personally I like to use square pots with an inner diameter of about 5 cm for single heads. Speaking of this, I think again of the little black squares mentioned earlier. The size of the little black squares is really very suitable. If the inner diameter is any smaller, for example a 2 cm opening, I really cannot plant in it; at minimum it must be 3 cm or more.

(cylindrical pot with a 5 cm opening)

These are all square pots with an inner opening of 5 cm.

Drum-shaped pot, Sedum clavatum

Tall pot, Echeveria 'Peach'

Tall pot, Cotyledon orbiculata 'Ping Pong'.

Tall pot, Echeveria 'Opalina'.

Thumb pot, Peach Egg

Thumb pot, Jade Rabbit

Equivalent to two dog heads, Echeveria 'Snow Beauty' with a rosette diameter of 20 cm

Actually, by now everyone should understand. Xiaoyuan prefers pots with an inner opening of about 5 cm, lightweight and breathable material, not bulky, and extra-large bottom holes. Because the square style arranges neatly, they are the most numerous among the flower pots I currently have.

3. Soil Mix

Many flower friends also ask me what soil I use, and why the succulents I grow have short leaves, good color, and compact rosettes. Here I must tell everyone that although growing succulents to a good state also requires choosing breathable soil, it is not that using a certain type (such as the previously very popular golden soft maifan) or a certain brand of soil will definitely let you grow them short, fat, and round. However, because of excessive promotion by some merchants, many people think that using a certain kind of soil can turn their leggy, skirt-wearing succulents into short, fat, and round ones. Here I do not mean to target any brand of soil. I also think buying ready-made mixed soil is more worry-free, but growing succulents is not a matter of everything being fine just because you use good soil. Good soil means breathable.

Actually, the soil I use is very simple, and not all granular: a large mix of various 3-6 mm granular soils (including akadama, kanuma, volcanic rock, maifan, orchid stone, coarse sand, rainbow stone, etc.) plus 30% peat soil, and sometimes I also add a little rice husk charcoal when I remember.

Granular soil is sold everywhere on Taobao. For peat, it is best to choose foreign brands. K brand and Han are all about the same to me. Buy the fine kind. If the flower pot is relatively breathable (such as large holes, many holes, woven baskets, etc.) or the pot is small, I will appropriately increase the proportion of peat. After potting, bury a small amount of Japanese DX little white medicine to prevent mealybugs. For top dressing soil, I mostly like relatively heavier granular soil, such as maifan stone, coarse sand, and akadama, because later when watering, if the top dressing is light, the water will scatter it everywhere as soon as it is poured, and if it sticks to the succulents it affects their appearance.

White Night is still red in summer.

4. Watering

If someone tells you to water a fixed number of times a week, a fixed number of times a month, or a fixed number of times every XX days, you can choose to ignore it, haha. Watering cannot rely on this kind of fixed, rigid, counting-the-days method. That is very irresponsible, but helplessly, there are still many beginners nowadays who ask how many days apart to water.

For Sedums, assuming they have adapted to the pot, I myself water when I see the leaves wrinkle. Wrinkled leaves are a signal the plant sends you that it needs to drink water. If the leaves are still very plump, do not let your hands get itchy.

In summer, choose a windy night for watering. If you cannot wait for strong wind and there is no rain recently but it is really too dry and needs watering, then set up a fan to blow after watering. Do not cut off water in summer, or the roots will dry out and die. In the low twenties Celsius you can water thoroughly; above 30°C but not over 35°C, water less; above 35°C, do not water, it is too hot.

Plants without roots, do not water, or they will rot, because they have no roots to absorb water.

You can check weather forecast app notifications or follow the local meteorological station's official social account. If it will rain soon, and it is an open balcony or similar, you do not need to water; wait for the rain to quench their thirst.

Watering is not something you can figure out overnight. The motherland is vast, and climates differ greatly. You can only slowly explore based on the weather where you are. My watering method is not completely suitable for you. Only by observing the state of the plants and slowly judging can you figure it out. Who hasn't come this way stepping over succulent corpses~

5. Fertilizing

If you are attentive, you can add some slow-release fertilizer when mixing soil. I myself have bought slow-release fertilizer and liquid fertilizer, but I have always been too lazy, and they have sat there gathering dust. I cannot even remember to use them once in several months... Everyone can do as they please with this. I actually think whether or not you fertilize does not make much difference. Just my personal opinion, haha.

6. Sterilization and Pest Control

1. Pest control.

I believe everyone is familiar with mealybugs. For pest control, I suggest choosing spring to bury DX, that little white medicine. It is really very useful. No need to spray back and forth and get the succulents dripping wet. I always buy the whole original package. According to the instructions, bury it shallowly based on pot size, then pour a small amount of water to dissolve it. When burying, do not pile it all on one side, because when you water it easily clumps. I checked my Taobao records and it seems I started using it in January 2015. Since using it, there has never been a super huge outbreak like in 2014. It has decreased a lot. You have to know how terrifying a mealybug outbreak is!

As for other bugs, I have not seen them here yet.

There is one more point: when you find that no matter how you water a succulent, the leaves never plump up, the roots definitely have a problem. Pull it out and look, see whether there are mealybugs. I have encountered this many times. From the leaves you can see no clue at all, no bugs crawling out, and no black sticky liquid at the leaf center, but as soon as you pull it out there are many bugs biting the roots. It is extremely hateful and disgusting. They bite the roots to death, and the succulent cannot absorb water through the roots, so it can only sustain life by consuming leaves, and its condition becomes poor. At this time I pour out all the soil, remove the dead roots, wash the pot and roots if necessary, replace with new soil, bury DX again, and quietly wait for it to adapt to the pot again.

2. Sterilization.

Once the weather gets hot, bacteria reproduce very quickly. If you are not careful, sooty mold comes. Sooty mold is a very difficult disease to deal with. It will keep causing leaf drop. To put it this way, I would rather have mealybugs than get sooty mold. This is not something that can be killed just by spraying medicine. Sooty mold is very stubborn. Although it gradually fades as the weather gets cold, it does not completely die out. Once the weather gets hot it comes back again. Moreover, here the hot weather lasts longer than the cold weather, and the air is humid. Even the pots get moldy, let alone sooty mold.

Currently, when the weather is about to get hot, I prepare various sterilization medicines in advance and spray alternating ones every half month, one type at a time. Wear gloves and a mask. Buy that kind of pressurized spray bottle, 2-liter capacity, very easy to use. In just a few movements it is sprayed. Everyone, do not be lazy, and do not think sterilization medicine requires full battle gear and therefore dare not use it. You have all seen mealybugs, such disgusting bugs, so why be afraid of spraying medicine! Using a pressure sprayer does not take much time. If you do not do preventive measures well, once disease erupts and spreads, almost every one gets infected, and it is a rhythm of total annihilation!

As for sterilization medicines, I have mancozeb, prochloraz, iprodione, Nippon Soda methyl thiophanate, etc. (no carbendazim) and use them alternately. For those showing symptoms, if you think it is already very serious, then if you can give them up, give them up.

7. Seasons

Above we have already talked about choosing a suitable site under the overall environment, soil mixing, and daily care such as watering, pest control, and sterilization. Finally, I will summarize what needs to be done for the four different seasons.

1. Winter.

Being in South China, the winter temperature is equivalent to autumn in the north, that is, a winterless zone. It will not get cold enough to snow (once in a while in a cold winter there will be a tiny bit of snow, but it is very rare and cannot compare at all with snow in the north). So ever since I started growing succulents, winter has been my favorite weather. The colder it is, the more excited I am! I most like braving cold wind and freezing rain to patrol the succulents on the balcony!

In early winter it is very suitable for changing soil and repotting succulents and for potting new succulents. If you want to buy, buy, buy, then take action! Because winter here is also short. If you do not change soil and repot in winter, once spring comes the weather quickly gets hot, and there is also the return of southerly damp weather making everything moldy. Then potting again is a bit late. Adapting to the pot is also a process. If the roots do not grow well, summer is relatively hard to get through.

2. Spring.

The season when all things grow, bugs also wake up. General care in spring is burying pest control medicine. If you do not kill pests in spring, you will grieve in summer.

At this time you can also bring in new succulents.

3. Summer.

Summer care has actually already been mentioned above, so I will not repeat it here. Summer is not suitable for bringing in new succulents, and any operation related to succulents, such as beheading and root trimming, is not recommended.

4. Autumn.

Do not think that once you have made it through the hot summer everything is fine. Little do you know that many succulents easily run into trouble in early autumn. For my area, the sunlight changes, gradually becoming full sun, from morning to night, but the temperature is still very high. At this time, absolutely do not be careless and think autumn has come, summer has been endured, and now you can sun them to your heart's content--

In the end you harvest a big pile of empty pots.

At this time of year, sunburn is actually very easy to get. Take my experience this year: July in Guangxi was rainy, the subtropical high moved north, and the temperature really wasn't high. While people in the north were crying out about the heat, we sometimes didn't even need a fan at night and could sleep comfortably. So it wasn't until early August, when temperatures rose and I discovered several sunburned succulents, that I officially put up shade cloth, and I plan to keep it up until the "autumn tiger" heat finally ends.

I've rambled on for quite a bit, but it really comes down to just a few points: a good light environment (as much full sun as possible), enough ventilation (set up a fan to create cross-ventilation), breathable potting soil (large drainage holes and loose soil), don't overwater on impulse, and spray regularly for pests and disease. Get these points right, and you won't have to worry about your succulents not looking beautiful. I still want to write about repotting, root trimming, and succulents' growth habits, but this piece is already too long, and I'm afraid everyone will lose patience reading it, so I'll stop here for now and look forward to discussing it in detail next time.

Growing succulents is a meticulous job. You need to carefully observe their needs and take it step by step. Don't be afraid of them dying, and don't be afraid of disease. For those of us in South China, once we get through summer and the "autumn tiger" heat, it's another winter and spring of brilliant colors~

Xiaoyuan's goal has always been: every pot a prize specimen!

I wonder if you're the same? If so, let's keep working hard together!

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