Succulents are about to enter or have already entered dormancy, how should you water them?
ClickSucculent Plant Hub;Love life, love succulents
Author: Xiao Qi
Editor: Succulent Plant Hub
The weather is unpredictable, suddenly a heavy downpour comes, then it flips like turning the pages of a book, and just as suddenly a blazing sun appears ~ then now we have entered early summer, hot as can be, easily 35 or 36 degrees, so how on earth should you water, everyone must be fed up with this... Watering in this season is truly unpredictable; water too much and you worry about severe stretching, and about the stuffy heat causing root rot... water too little and you worry they are not drinking enough, will dry up and die, and will develop many dried leaves...
Honestly, watering in this season, if you have not yet reduced the amount, then you really need to be especially careful ~ In this season watering should already be controlled to half the water amount of the growing season... or even less. And when June and July arrive, for succulents that have entered dormancy or semi-dormancy, the water should be even less, and the watering time and frequency should also be stretched out even longer ~
But if they are succulents that grow in summer, then you can use small amounts and water more frequently. Imagine this: in such weather, if you wore clothes and soaked yourself in water for ten minutes, then stood in a place with no water, with the air stuffy and hot, how uncomfortable your body would feel ~
Next, Xiao Qi will offer her own small watering steps for everyone's reference. Although Xiao Qi's home also has stretching, it is not many, or only mild stretching, and some have almost no stretching... (this is not showing off, nor trying to show how capable I am, just wanting to share some good little steps with everyone, hoping everyone can grow them easily)
Suppose the picture below is a three-inch pot, then first divide it into three zones; when watering, only water the blue zone, and at most do not go beyond the orange zone. Watering this way first lets the surrounding medium absorb water first, then slowly transmit it to the roots, so that too much water will not accumulate at the roots all at once.
Remember ~ the water amount should be at least half of before ~ Suppose before you watered about 50CC, now you can only give 25CC or even less ~!
The CC number is just a metaphor; very few people are so fussy about exactly how much water they watered, the point is just to let everyone know that the water amount must be reduced...
If you use the soaking-pot method to water, you can refer to the picture below; the water height should as much as possible not exceed one third of the pot's height, and ideally the soaking pot level should be half less than the one-third point; the soaking time should be half of before.
Watering in this season cannot be like in the growing season, generously pouring it down, or soaking a large amount of water from the bottom, otherwise it is very easy to cause root rot or invite mold or other bacteria in ~!
Finally, a reminder to everyone: it is recommended to raise the pots up, not to let them directly touch the building, because the building absorbs heat during the day and releases heat at night, which can easily burn the ends of the roots, and then root rot begins...
The above is offered for everyone's reference, but do not forget ~ there is still the truly scorching heat to come, so remember to help the succulents gradually extend the interval between waterings and reduce the water amount ~!
What we often overlook
Q: Are the living conditions of succulents in their original environment not all very harsh? Then why, once they reach the grower's hands, do they need extra care?
A: Because in the wild where they originally live, their roots can extend downward without limit, and the succulents of the original environment belong to those that had such harsh conditions from a young age; also, because they have been in a severe environment for a long time, they are very able to adapt. But once they reach the grower's hands, they have already been propagated for N generations, so it is impossible to care for them from the very start by growing them the wild way.
Q: Are succulents not all touted as lazy-person plants? So can you just not water them?
A: Of course not, because in the original environment their roots extend downward without limit and can seek water sources, but when we grow them, the vast majority are grown in pots, so root development is limited. When there is no water in the pot, that means there is no water for the succulents to absorb, so watering is necessary; the only difference is the frequency of watering and the amount of water.
Q: Why do succulents in the wild not get sunburned easily? Yet the succulents we grow get sunburned easily?
A: Because succulents in the wild do not have the burden of a pot, so they dissipate heat faster. Growers usually have no small number of them, and at this time ventilation is even more important, yet one thing is often neglected: the closer pots are placed to each other, the worse the ventilation, but people mistakenly think that as long as wind blows on them, it means ventilation is good. When the plants cannot dissipate heat fast enough, sunburn is easily caused.
Q: When succulents are sunburned, is it enough to just move them out of the sun?
A: No. When succulents are sunburned, it means the temperature in that area is relatively high. Do not forget that the buildings of residential towers absorb heat during the day and release heat at night, so you need to move them to a more ventilated place, and the temperature must be a bit lower than before.
Q: Some nurseries claim to grow outdoors, and say you can grow them the wild way, but is this feasible?
A: No. When we enter a nursery and find that the nursery has created the feeling of outdoor growing, we often mistakenly think that the succulents we bought can also be grown this way. But in fact, when a nursery puts succulents out in the rain or sun, it is usually because some succulents already need watering, or some succulents had previously been placed in a shaded spot and stretched slightly, so the nursery staff moved them to the rain or sun spot we see. But afterward, when the nursery staff move the position, they absolutely will not call to notify you that you should change the position, so the succulents bought home, just because of this, are grown by copying exactly what you saw, and in the end they die.
▼
Love succulents, love life
Long-press the QR code to quickly follow Succulent Plant Hub
WeChat search for the Succulent Plant Hub official account [ duorou91 ] to follow quickly! Reply"community"and 50,000 succulent friends to share! Reply "leaf cutting propagation, soil mixing, pest removal, black rot" for care knowledge! Reply with succulent names such as "White Peony, Ruby, Laura" to view the latest succulent illustrated guide. You can also add Xiao 9's WeChat:2372961376