How to Grow Chubby, Plump Succulents: Master the Three Secrets of Sunlight, Air and Water to Become an Expert

Succulents are super cute! They are a healing little item for many office workers and a home decoration for many people. In recent years, as the wellness trend has grown, succulents have also appeared on dining tables and in beverage shops. Many "succulent friends" grow dozens of pots at a time, and even pair them with containers of different shapes and materials to play with creative combinations. Say that they are the celebrities of the plant world in recent years, and everyone will surely nod in agreement.

People who don't have a green thumb often mock themselves: "Even a cactus would die under my care." In fact, the cactus is a type of succulent. As autumn arrives, it is exactly the season for viewing succulents. Let's follow an expert at a seedling nursery to learn how to cultivate succulents. We hope readers of "Upstream and Downstream" will fall into the pit from here and become "succulent-growing experts," making Taiwan, China full of succulents and full of green.

Start with "Graptopetalum" succulents: Echeveria is both beautiful and edible

Lin Hung-tsung, assistant researcher at the Seed Improvement and Propagation Station of the Council of Agriculture, points out that there are many lineages of succulents; the Crassulaceae family alone has more than 15,000 genera. With so many types, their characteristics naturally differ. Many garden shops, without understanding the reasons, teach incorrect planting guides, causing succulents to die unjustly with nowhere to appeal.

After years of domestication and cultivation at the seedling nursery, the Crassulaceae genus Graptopetalum, originally distributed on the 2,400 m high plateaus of Central and South America, can already adapt to the climate of Taiwan, China. Lin Hung-tsung suggests that everyone start with this, as you can both admire the cute appearance of succulents and find them not too laborious to care for.

The characteristics of Graptopetalum succulents are clustered or rosette-shaped leaf arrangements. Generally, succulents seen hanging in waterfall shapes, or arranged in the shape of a Guanyin lotus seat, mostly belong to Graptopetalum. The most common is the edible Echeveria; the leaves can be picked, washed, and eaten with honey, or blended into juice to drink. It is a healthy food that can balance the body's acid-base value.

Lin Hung-tsung also mentions that Graptopetalum is a succulent with great horticultural development potential, because the stems of mature plants tend to become slightly woody, their growth vigor is strong, and the spoon-shaped leaves also come in diverse colors such as green, gray-green, pink, and waxy white powdery forms. In addition, the petals have special markings and patterns, making it hard for succulent lovers to choose, and they always want to take them all home.

Echeveria

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