How do you control soil moisture when sowing succulent seeds? Practical tips for you
When propagating succulents by sowing seeds, the soil is usually soaked through. After the soil is soaked, let it drain a little (or don't drain it at all), evenly scatter the seeds on top, then cover with clear plastic film and open it up for about 2 hours of ventilation every day. Before germination, a certain level of moisture must be maintained. If you only spray a little water on the surface of the soil, one problem is that the moisture is not enough, and another is that the water dries up completely before the seeds even germinate.
Generally, you wait until the seeds have germinated (germination rate of 60-70%), then lift off and remove the plastic film. After all, succulent seeds take at least a week to germinate; some Lithops (living stones) are faster and can germinate in three or four days in mild weather, while others take 20 days or even more. By the time they germinate, you basically don't need to worry about too much moisture (if no extra water was added along the way), because a lot of the water has evaporated during the germination period, and after germination the moisture will dry out even faster once the film is removed.
What you do need to pay attention to is disinfecting and sterilizing the soil. You can dilute potassium permanganate and soak the pot in it to saturate the soil. If conditions allow, you can put the soil in the microwave for a moment, which can kill insect eggs in the soil; fungicides, disinfectants and insecticides such as potassium permanganate cannot kill insect eggs.
A fellow gardener asked, what kind of soil should be used for sowing succulent seeds? Currently the shops don't sell a ready-mixed soil specifically for seeds. In the shop selling seeds, it said to mix 3 parts peat soil, 1 part perlite, 1 part vermiculite, and 1 part akadama soil, while the shop where you're buying soil now says you shouldn't use granular soil for growing seeds. So what kind of soil should be used for sowing?
Actually, peat soil alone is fine. From seed to seedling, plenty of moisture is needed, so it's not advisable to use granules; granules don't hold water well and the plants will dry out. If you use ordinary soil or nutrient soil, since it hasn't been sterilized, the seeds during the germination period with high humidity and warmth can easily hatch pest eggs in the soil that gnaw on the seedlings (such as fungus gnats, sowbugs, etc.), and it's also very suitable for pathogens to multiply, so the seedlings easily rot, damp off, and develop black spot disease.
After succulent seeds germinate, you can propagate by leaf cuttings after about 2-3 weeks of growing. Specific steps: lay a drainage layer in the pot (generally you can use bamboo charcoal, pumice, ceramsite, etc.); fill the pot with a moist-but-not-wet soil mix up to 1-2 cm from the rim, and press it firm; scatter a thin layer of fine vermiculite (1-3 mm) on the surface, about 0.5 cm thick; lay the leaves flat on top of the medium. Leaves have a front and back, so be sure to place the front side facing up, with the growth point as close to the medium as possible, but it does not need to be buried in the medium.
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