Five years of growing succulents and not one of them turned out well - I've finally figured out why

Introduction

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Thanks to the author [Moon] for theoriginal submissionand sharing

Edited and compiled by: Encyclopedia Jun

Location: Zhongwei City, Ningxia

A while ago I published an article on the Succulent Encyclopedia (see "My Garden, My Succulents: Tips for Getting Succulents Through Summer in the Great Northwest!" for details), and one comment got me thinking. A fellow succulent lover said, "Five years of growing them, and not one of them turned out well." Yes, five years into the hobby, stumbling and struggling along in the succulent pit, I've been stepping over succulent corpses the whole way. After organizing my thoughts for a long time, I've finally summarized a few causes of succulent death, for succulent newbies to reference. I hope fellow succulent lovers take fewer detours, and I hope all succulents meet the right person!

The ones fronting this post are all my favorite concubines, each as beautiful as a flower, and bringing them out could instantly outshine a crowd of newbies. This pot of Pansy (three-colored sedum) just got through summer, and its color has faded quite a bit. I never saved a photo of it at its most beautiful, because my phone just couldn't capture its peerless beauty no matter what.

Red Sun, also called California Sunset, this is how it looks in late autumn.

Tia, eye-catching like fireworks. When it fades, it doesn't hesitate either. I remember four years ago I kept a pot of Tia indoors, and not only was it green and lush, it also grew leggy, lopsided this way and that, and I was so disgusted with it

It's great to have a yard! The yard that every succulent grower yearns for most - I got mine last year, and from then on, my succulents could fully enjoy the gentle breeze, fine rain, sunlight, and dew. When it comes to the environment for growing succulents, the most important thing is to grow them outdoors as much as possible. When I first got into the hobby, I was a balcony grower. Even though I put the succulents on a south-facing windowsill, I couldn't stop them from growing leggy, flattening out like pancakes, putting on skirts, and finally dying ugly. Once I even found a pot of Coral Beads in a friend's dark, damp bathroom that had grown leggy into bean sprouts, and I felt pity. My advice to newbie succulent lovers: if you can't provide succulents with a ventilated, sunny environment, then switch to growing pothos instead.

Let me show off a bit - this pot of Allen can absolutely rival Peach Egg.

Bear Grandpa

The Graptopetalum paraguayense I've always deeply loved is absolutely the fighter jet among succulents. Drought-resistant, sun-resistant, doesn't attract mealybugs, easy to bring out its colors, and leaf propagation has a 100 percent survival rate

A single-headed Peach Blossom that turned into five heads has grown into a giant, but I love how it looked when it was small even more. The photos above fully prove that I do have "good results"!

Snowy Blue Paris, always neat and well-formed, looking good all year round, and it's been with me for four years. So choosing is important - some varieties rot easily, like White Peony; some varieties easily get mealybugs, like succulents in the Sempervivum genus.

Xiaomi Star, a little expert at filling its pot. I can't show off anymore. Back to the point - let me talk about some sad things, about how I once tormented these lovely little lives

The style changed a bit quickly. That's right, this is probably the succulent I grew when I first got into the hobby. Back then, I didn't have a single friend who grew succulents, so I fumbled around on my own, treating succulents like green plants, putting them on the bedroom windowsill, and watering whenever I remembered. Because mature plants were too expensive, I bought tiny seedlings online, so small they were like boogers, unable to take any rough treatment, dying faster than I could buy them.

Tsk tsk, look at this compacted soil, and then look at these little pebbles used as top dressing - how could the succulents possibly be okay? There was no air permeability at all. As a newbie, I didn't understand soil mixing at all, and I couldn't tell top-dressing stones apart either. The succulents would die on me at the drop of a hat, so frustrating! Only after killing many pots did I sum up the experience: soil mixing is very important. Garden soil compacts easily and has poor air permeability, so you must mix in an appropriate amount of granular soil according to the variety and the pot. Top dressing is also a must - it's beautiful, prevents insects from laying eggs, and also needs to be breathable! Flower pots must have holes!

I can't even figure out what this pot of dried branches was. I don't know what it went through before it died such a tragic death. I probably kept this photo to remind myself. Just like that, my muddled first year of growing succulents passed, with almost total annihilation.

I made up my mind to catch up. Whenever I had time, I hung around forums, humbly asking questions and seeking advice everywhere. I bought several books and put them by my bed, flipping through them every night before sleeping. I confirmed varieties with Taobao sellers over and over, made labels, and improved through learning. Succulents were too expensive, and I was afraid of the heartache if I killed them, so I bought leaves and learned leaf propagation. Granular soil was more expensive than rice, so I went to the Yellow River bank to haul sand, picked up honeycomb coal blocks from snack stalls, got rid of the ceramic flower pots with trays and switched to small succulent pots with holes drilled in the bottom, installed steel-frame flower troughs outside the balcony, grew everything outdoors, and pulled up shade netting in summer. Hard work pays off, and the succulents became beautiful.

So beautiful it even attracted bats. I found it strange too - other people grow flowers and attract bees and butterflies, but I grow succulents and attract bats, and not just once.

Finally came the first heavy rain since the start of summer. I joyfully put the succulents out in the rain. I thought they would be as delighted as I was, but I was wrong. I am not a flower, so how could I know their joy? It left decisively, fading away like a dying beauty! From then on, I would never again impose my own preferences on others. This is what I posted on Moments back then. I am a Snow Lotus killer. From one hundred yuan per single head back then to five yuan per head now, I've killed at least ten of them. I have no face to grow it anymore

Because microclimates differ vastly, copying other people's experience simply doesn't work. In one summer all the succulents died. Who said succulents like sun?? Succulents like warm sunlight, but they can't be exposed to scorching sun. Above thirty degrees, it's better to shade them a bit, otherwise after a nap you'll find them sun-dried into jerky. Who said succulents don't like water?? Succulents are drought-resistant, but if they lack water they'll still dry into sticks.

This pot of Qiuli was my darling back then. I gave it the very best spot. In summer I put it on a shaded windowsill, where there was ventilation and the noon sun was just blocked. I doted on it so much, yet it still left without a backward glance. After a night of wild wind and rain, it fell from the sixth floor and shattered to pieces, leaving me standing downstairs stamping my feet in grief

This one fell along with it. It was probably because the pot was too tall, top-heavy, and the windowsill too narrow, so it was blown down by the wild wind. Luckily there was a green belt below, and luckily it was late at night, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable

It got through summer, but didn't live to the next year. So beautiful, yet it rotted just like that. The autumn tiger is also very scary, so be careful

Back then, I had no idea how to handle emergencies at all. I just let sick succulents be, letting them fend for themselves. I didn't even know that when succulents were attacked by mealybugs, I should use Huahuashen to kill them. I was too zen about it

Luckily, succulents are strong and tough. Even with an unreliable grower like me, they still bloom into their ultimate state

Large Sedum pachyphyllum, endlessly multiplying. Now many of the pots have its descendants

A last hurrah of Ebony hybrid, it must have turned to mush. It got rained on at noon and then the sun came out, and even in death it had to be this beautiful!

At first I liked single-headed, smaller, neat Echeveria elegans varieties, so several pots went three years without being repotted. They grew a lot bigger, but their appearance also weathered a lot.

You have to accept their ugly looks to see their dressed-up beauty. Thinking back to when I was a newbie, quite a few succulents were ruined by me and then tossed into some corner, ignored and left to die ugly. Thinking about it now, I scold myself for being so ignorant.

I bought this one for three hundred yuan back then. I felt the pain for three minutes but still cut off my hand and took it. In recent years I've saved the money I would have spent on clothes and put it all into succulents. Anyway, ever since I fell into the succulent pit, aside from work I'm just looking at succulents, and I rarely have time to go shopping.

I never dared repot it, mainly out of fear of killing it from the disturbance, but it turned out to be a lucky hit, and it grew into a great state

It's precisely because succulents change unpredictably through the four seasons, and precisely because I have no idea what fairy-like appearance it will grow into in autumn, that I'm in so deep I can't pull myself out! Die, buy; buy, die. In the cycle of buying pots but lacking succulents, buying succulents but lacking pots, buying pots but lacking soil, I spun continuously for nearly three years before it finally stabilized.

Although I have a yard now, getting through winter is still a headache. Ningxia winters are minus ten-something degrees, and succulents absolutely can't stay outdoors. The property management doesn't allow building a sunroom in the yard either, so I can only move the succulents indoors. I've occupied every windowsill in the house. In the living room I placed two five-tier flower racks, and there's a pile of Aeoniums on the floor, but there are still some with nowhere to go. Only then did I realize I'd grown too many, but I can't bear to give away a single one.

This pot is a veteran. I once disliked it for being ugly and threw it outside to brave wind and sun, relying entirely on nature to raise it. Not only did it not die, it even turned into this and shocked me

It's this one, and it also has the bearing of a refined lady! So, never ever disdain any pot of succulents in your home. Since you brought it home, cherish this wondrous fate. Tend it carefully, or leave it to nature - most will die, really!

I've planted succulents in this wooden stump several times. Each time I'd imagine its beauty after the dead wood came back to life, but the fact is: at night, the stray cats in the neighborhood team up to rummage through it, and during the day, magpies come to peck at them too. I was defeated. It's all my fault. In winter, afraid the stray cats would starve, I always put leftover food in the yard to feed them. They got used to coming, and probably treated the succulents in this stump as food.

This is also a death photo. I repotted it in late spring and early summer, and before it had fully settled into the pot, I took it out to sun and rain, and it rotted! A warning to everyone: try to repot in autumn if possible, it's safer

The common Graptopetalum mendozae is the only leaf-propagation seedling I've raised to maturity. Back then I was so stingy I wouldn't even give a single leaf to a friend, and I couldn't bear to pull off leaves myself either. First, the succulents I bought were already small, and a few leaves were like the succulent's arms and legs, so I couldn't bear to pull them off. Second, if I pulled off just those few leaves, wouldn't it become bald? Now it's great - I can pull off leaves freely. It's grown this big, and there are plenty of leaves.

The feeling of growing succulents is like opening a door. There's the harvest after putting in effort, the disappointment of laboring without reward, and the surprise of unintended success, just like every door in life...

Winter Beauty also has its spring

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, huge and imposing

White Echeveria prolifica that sprouted six heads

Since I followed the Succulent Encyclopedia and was pulled into the author group by Encyclopedia Jun, I've broadened my horizons and gained knowledge. There really are so many great masters! I'm poisoned by them every day. Especially the great master 'Qingqing Green Tea', who can grow succulents into their ultimate state even on a balcony - I admire her to the point of prostrating myself.

Growing succulents, you really can't be lazy. After all, there's a difference between being alive and being alive beautifully. Every succulent is unique, just like its unique owner. Tend them with care, and the succulents will repay you with surprises, moving moments, and satisfaction!

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