The key to getting succulents to show their colors is root care; the expert teaches you rooting and root-care techniques.

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ForewordQian Yan

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There's a saying circulating in the succulent world: "Watering takes three years of skill; to grow succulents, first grow the roots." If you want to get your succulents to show their colors, it's absolutely necessary to first grow a good root system!

And the key to root care lies in soil and water. Today I'll chat with everyone about how to root and care for roots at each state and stage of succulents.

The first thing to talk about is leaf propagation. When pulling off the leaves, be careful not to damage the growth point. After the wound dries, you can do leaf propagation. Before the leaf has grown roots and sprouted, it's not recommended to water or mist, as it easily causes the leaf to turn to mush and develop black rot.

Generally, everyone will notice that small leaves tend to root and sprout faster than large leaves. This is because small leaves have fewer nutrients, so to ensure its own survival, the mother leaf secretes more growth hormones, rooting and sprouting faster to absorb nutrients and keep itself alive.

The speed of leaf propagation rooting depends on air humidity, so in spring, leaf propagation roots fastest and survives best. When air humidity is high enough, roots can even form without touching the soil surface, just in the air, so now some friends use the"water-induced rooting method,"" which means placing the leaf on the mouth of a bottle filled with water, not touching the water, relying on evaporated water vapor to reach the humidity requirement and root.

Here I'll also introduce a method to everyone:a flower pot with a bottom hole, large particles as the bottom layer, the middle layer with a large proportion of peat mixed with a small amount of granular soil, topped with akadama soil, sealed with plastic wrap, and a transparent lid is even better.

Soak the bottom granular layer of the pot directly in water; the water vapor will slowly be absorbed upward from the bottom by the soil. Place the leaf flat on the akadama soil, using the akadama's good water absorption and root affinity, plus the artificial air humidity created by the sealing film, and the leaf will quickly root and sprout. After rooting, bury the roots into the akadama soil, remove the sealing film and stop the bottom soaking. At this point you can water and mist normally; once it has sprouted, it's fine even if the mother leaf touches water.

Leaf propagation seedlings need enough water, so when the surface akadama soil dries, you should water immediately.Leaf propagation seedlings should be kept in a bright, ventilated place for care, and can be moved to a pot once they're big enough.

Having said all this, everyone should already understand: for rooting,the most critical factor is "air humidity."

As for what medium to use or whether to water, these are not the main factors affecting whether succulents root.

As long as air humidity is high enough, roots can even form just in the air.

Many of you buy succulents online. After the succulents go through soil removal, root trimming, drying and shipping, the root system is already badly weakened, so if you want to grow succulents well, the period after potting is crucial!

Generally, the succulents everyone buys online come in these few states:

1. Beheaded rootless seedlings, 2. Seedlings with sparse roots, 3. Large thick roots with well-developed root systems, 4. Sick, turning to mush, black rot and the like, which I won't mention; each leaves it to fate.

Generally, for beheaded seedlings, rootless seedlings and seedlings with sparse roots, once the wound has healed, you can soak them in rooting powder for a few minutes, which will make rooting a bit faster.

Seedlings in this state are not suitable for large granular soil, otherwise after rooting, the root hairs will have nothing to attach to and will easily dry out. At this time, the soil mix should have a higher proportion of peat, and the granules should not be too large, 2-3mm is enough.

During this period, you must ensure the soil is always in a moist state. Don't think about watering thoroughly only when completely dry, or cutting off water in summer and such. Once the newly grown roots dry out, wanting them to grow well again becomes several times harder, and in no time they'll go dormant or develop black rot on you. You should keep the soil where the succulent roots are from ever drying out completely; water whenever it dries, don't worry about how many days between waterings.

Many experts' experience posts always emphasize watering thoroughly when dry, and this actually makes a lot of sense. I had a pot of Iceberry that showed this phenomenon.

It was originally a very large single head, cut off by beheading, with no roots. So I laid it flat on vermiculite to root.New roots came out very quickly and densely, and in less than 2 weeks I potted it for care.

Over the following 3 months the growth was very pleasing; this Iceberry continuously pushed out side shoots in a very short time. In this state, I naturally assumed its root system was very good and very strong.

It wasn't until this spring (more than half a year since potting) that I thought I could repot it into a larger pot to let it cluster better, and only then did I discover the problem.This Iceberry had hardly rooted deep at all; its longest root was only about 3 cm.

With succulents like this, if we assume their root systems are already strong enough and then toss them into an outdoor growing environment to toughen up, problems can arise.

In an indoor environment, the Iceberry's rosette blocks a large patch of soil, making the moisture in that part of the soil dissipate very slowly. So the surface soil layer can retain plenty of moisture. When this moisture is enough for the succulent to grow, it will show a very healthy state.

When you put this kind of succulent outdoors, the soil is affected by sunlight and wind, and the evaporation rate suddenly becomes much faster, making the surface soil layer much drier than before. With short roots, the succulent temporarily cannot absorb water from deep soil, so it wilts.

Now back to my Iceberry. What mistakes did I make during care that caused it not to root downward? (You'd better think about it before reading on.)

The first mistake was watering shallowly and frequently.Because I had extra expectations for its side shoot growth, I watered relatively frequently. Because I watered frequently, of course each time I restrained myself from watering thoroughly. This artificially helped create a growing environment where the surface soil was more humid than the bottom.

The second mistake,was ignoring the water-retaining ability of the Iceberry's rosette and shallow root system. The soil at the edge of the pot dried, but the moisture under the Iceberry's rosette was still fairly plentiful.

Succulents are also very lazy. Although roots are very important, for them, often just enough is fine. When the roots can always provide enough water for the succulent, there's no need to pay a big price to grow more roots.

Some growers' succulents have been grown in black square pots for a year and have already grown very large and need repotting. But when repotting, they find the succulent's root system is far less strong than imagined.

The most critical issue here is the role of watering thoroughly.

On the premise of watering thoroughly, the soil in the pot all evaporates starting from the surface soil. After the surface soil dries, the succulent finds the soil below is still moist, so the roots grow downward. When the middle soil dries too, the moist soil at the bottom of the pot stimulates the succulent's roots to drill deeper into the soil.

If you're used to shallow watering and frequent watering, then you also won't know whether the soil at the bottom of the pot is wet or dry.If the bottom soil is drier than the surface or middle layer soil, the succulent's roots won't grow downward well.

Finally I want to talk about how to know whether your succulent's root system is truly strong enough. Maybe checking whether roots grow out of the bottom hole is one way, but it's obviously not a reliable way.

A strong root system has good water retention ability, which can make the soil in the pot dry much more slowly than in an empty pot.

If you pour 100 ml of water into a pot, a succulent with poor roots might only absorb 5 ml of it, while a succulent with strong roots can absorb 50 ml of it.

If you can extend your usual watering interval by double or even longer without causing any obvious change in their condition, your succulent definitely has a strong root system.

Root care requires patience.

Don't be eager for quick results and assume a young seedling can grow large thick roots right from the start. Don't transplant or trim roots frequently, don't casually pull it out to look, don't casually pull it out to look, don't casually pull it out to look, said three times.

Try to plant it in one go as much as possible, keeping one planting for over 1 year (some mature plants can be repotted once every 2~3 years).Too-frequent transplanting affects the systematic development of the root system and shortens root lifespan.

This mainly involves the following issues:

(1) The root system is a self-organizing micro-ecological balance system:Any plant body is a living entity, and we should believe in the self-balancing role of life.

As long as we mix the soil well and improve the environment well, growth is their own business, and growers should not intervene excessively. Because a micro-ecological environment will gradually form around a root system, and the rhizosphere microbial community can effectively ensure the development of root hairs and prolong root lifespan.

Therefore, don't casually change the growing environment, don't casually apply fungicides (unless necessary), and don't casually apply chemical fertilizers. Many friends, during cultivation, are too impatient and have too little experience, all important reasons leading to the destruction of the rhizosphere micro-environment.

(2) Extend root lifespan:We often talk about why Japanese plants have such good roots, such white roots, with no aging phenomenon?

The root cause lies in the efficient coordination of Japan's growing environment and soil quality. As long as the roots are kept in a gentle micro-ecological environment, with no disease bacteria, no extreme environment, and a stable environment for the stems and leaves, the roots will be healthy and long-lived.

The key to solving this is grasping the relationship between substrate moisture and air permeability, neither too wet nor too dry. In specific practice, you can choose a moderately closed environment (closed cultivation), combining ventilation and moisture retention. Don't water too much, the temperature must not be too high, observe at any time whether disease exists, and don't casually apply chemical fertilizers or unfermented fertilizers.

In a good root-care environment, old roots can even be replaced in place by new roots (new roots growing into the interior of old roots),a phenomenon called "nested rooting," which is a sign of successful cultivation.

(3) Stem-leaf to root balance:The response of stems (mainly the growth point) and leaves to the growing environment also directly affects the balance of hormones within the plant, affecting the root system.

In fact, the relationship between roots and stems/leaves is quite close; the two interact, and only then can the plant grow smoothly. Leaves are used for photosynthesis, and the stronger the photosynthesis, the higher the cytokinin activity and the more auxin is transported downward, which helps root development; strong light does not mean strong photosynthesis, and overly strong light may even block photosynthesis, so moderate light is the key to growing.

Plants with a growth point and leaves can root as long as the environment is suitable and there's enough time, and gradually form a complete root system; beheaded plants without a growth point should best retain leaves, otherwise the root system will gradually shrink; for beheaded plants with no growth point and no leaves, once new buds form, be sure not to cut them off too early; appropriately retain 1~2 buds to satisfy the lifespan of the root base, so that more seedlings can be produced.