The battlefield of the succulent killer: keeping succulents is too hard

Foreword

Follow the encyclopedia, meet the beautiful (WeChat ID: duoroubaike)

The main text begins:

Thanks to the author [You Zai] for theoriginal submissionsharing

Edited and compiled by: Encyclopedia Jun

Moment into eternity

At noon one day in September 2017, a small stall suddenly appeared at the entrance of the company, with a crowd of people squatting and standing around it, and a few friends and I also stepped forward and squeezed in. That was the first time I saw succulents, the oddities of the plant world. They sat round and chubby, dazed and adorable, in their flower pots, with labels stuck beside them: pink peach eggs, bright red firesticks, jelly-colored angel's tears, Echeveria 'Hime Botan'... In an instant I was pulled by these little sprites into the endless succulent pit.

Looking at the little dazed and adorable angel's tears on my office desk, my mood would gladly calm down even when I was rushed off my feet with work, and I finally understood why this extremely slow-growing plant belongs to the healing category - even if the whole world is speeding up and racing madly, it will always quietly wait there for me, keep me company, and give me beauty and tranquility.

Can't stop the hand-chopping

Succulent websites, forums and official accounts are the places I often visit. After understanding the classification, habits and care of succulents, when I felt my knowledge reserve could take care of more succulents, I went to a certain treasure site. Ah, the riot of flowers gradually dazzles the eyes, and once fallen into the deep pit there is no return. You need to join groups, a certain treasure group, WeChat groups. There you can admire the fine works of succulent masters from all over, broaden your horizons, and can't stop planting the seed of desire. Exchanging with succulent friends lets you learn more detailed knowledge, get personalized suggestions, and even receive guidance from professional greenhouse owners, which benefited a novice like me greatly!

Buying the succulents I love, I became even more confident that I could raise them well! Under the silent, gentle influence of succulent friends, succulents, soil, pots, tools, and even brushes and paints were all purchased one by one, and the not-so-large balcony area at home was nibbled away bit by bit by me.

A war without smoke

Do we have to devote a lifetime to a battle?

Walking over corpses - what a painful journey of the heart. Just a few examples. I once bought a pot of clustered Sedum rubrotinctum at a flower market, plump like a handful of rubies, giving off a dazzling brilliance in the sunlight. However, when summer came, it gradually became thin, small and elongated, and coupled with my neglect of care, one day I gently brushed it, and the few remaining delicate leaves fell decisively like tears, leaving only a thin green stem transformed into a vanished totem.

After asking the succulent friends and greenhouse owners in the group, I learned it was caused by smothered roots in summer. In summer, Crassulaceae need water control, and thick-leaved varieties need even stricter water control; only by strengthening ventilation will the roots not be smothered and cause leaf drop. Water control means extending the watering cycle and letting the succulents adapt to a water-deficient state. After mastering these skills, I found that summer is actually the best time for hand-chopping, because the cost-performance ratio is super high!

Seeing many lithops columns on websites, I was gradually firmly attracted by these cute little things unique to South Africa that look both like stones and like PP. I bought two to try raising. At that time I was still a novice and did not know these stones do not like water. One day, as usual, I touched their window surfaces, wanting to feel the texture of the granular patterns, when I suddenly found that one of them had a window surface that had become soft? I went to ask in the group again, and only then learned that because I watered too frequently and kept it in the sun, it had turned to mush! I held this little gem growing on the earth in my palms, and months of effort were all washed away...

Later, in an online class on getting succulents through summer, I learned that lithops belong to a category that greatly dislikes water, and during summer and the molting period they need to be cut off from water. For large lithops, during the molting period there is no need to water for three months to half a year. After mastering the habits of lithops, I bought many highly cost-effective lithops again and assembled a pot of colorful candies.

I am a lazy person, and perhaps lithops and mountain roses, which do not need careful care, suit me better.

The flower language of mountain roses: roses that never wither. What symbolizes eternity is not only diamonds, but also the truly ever-blooming mountain roses: pink 'Coconut Luo', white-jade 'Egg', light green 'Wine Cup', yellow 'Golden Jade Ball'...

The first rose I bought was the pink 'Coconut Luo'. For my beloved one, I personally painted a flower pot with dreamy polka dots. Mountain roses are winter-growing and dormant in summer. In the north, water should be completely cut off around May, and after it slowly wraps its leaves up, it can be dug out of the soil, have its roots trimmed, and be placed in an empty flower pot or vase to appreciate like dried flowers. Slowly, it will consume its own outer leaves, and when the curled dead leaves around it wrap the flower, time seems to freeze as well.

Whenever I look at these little sprites that are both beautiful and tenacious, I am moved by them. On the battlefield of life, may we always be together.

Appreciate the author

If you like this article, besides sharing it to your Moments, you are also welcome to long-press and recognize the WeChat payment code on the left to tip the author of this article! Even one cent is love, and any amount counts as affection!

This article has beenexclusively authorizedby the author to the WeChat official account: Succulent Plant Encyclopedia (ID: duoroubaike). The content of the article does not represent the views and stance of the official account! The encyclopedia has signed with a third-party internet copyright enforcement company and opened site-wide rights protection. Unauthorized reproduction by other platforms is strictly prohibited! If unauthorized reprinting is found, infringement liability will be pursued! Netizens are welcome to report it!

Advertisement ADVERTISEMENT

The culture of succulents needs you and me to promote it! Remember to share good articles more, so that more people fall in love with succulents! Use the power of plants to influence and heal the people around us!