Succulents plant refer to a wide family and genre of plants with a common characteristic of having stems, roots and leaves consisting of fleshy, water-storing tissue. Leaves are very nice and fat. Succulents are native to warm climates so this is a way to hold on to moisture. Succulents like to be dry.
All cactus are succulents but not all succulents are cactus. The cactus differs in that they have no leaves and the stem contains chlorophyll and functions in place of the leaves.
Succulents come in different colours, shapes and sizes. Some of the spines, they are considered to be modified leaves.
10 Tips How to Grow and Care for Succulents
1. Choose a container with drainage. Basically anything with the hole in the bottom, that way water has a chance to escape and not pool which can cause your plant to rot.
2. Use a soil specifically blended for cactus and succulents because they prefer a soil that’s lighter, faster draining, with more aeration.
3. If you want to start with something really healthy so always buy or pick a healthy succulent which looks very nice in shape and having good color that’s free of insects and doesn’t have dead or dying foliage or soggy foliage.
4. It’s an important tip of planting. Put a little bit of your cactus or succulent soil at the bottom of your container, and then work a little bit of it up around the sides. Gently remove the plant from your nursery container and place on top of the soil. Then add in additional soil around the root ball and then tamp it in making sure that the root ball is nicely packed in.
Tips: – It’s always a good idea to leave a little bit of a lip from the top of the soil surface to the top of the pot. This way, you will never make a mess when you’re watering.
5. Watering to succulent plant is an important art to groom it. Water it until just a little bit water as coming out the bottom of the pot, but if doesn’t have excess to collect in the saucer So make sure to pour it out.
Tips: – The thumb rule is to allow the soil to dry between watering. Depending on your climate and the time of year this can be once a week to every few weeks. If the leaves begin to pucker it’s a good sign that your plant needs water, but if the leaves start to look translucent and soggy, that could mean that the soil is holding too much moisture. Basically, you just want to make it a habit to check on your succulents often to see if they need water.
6. Light is also important for plants. Succulent’s plants require at least four to six hours of morning light in the summertime. You need to protect them from the scorching afternoon heat because many varieties can sunburn easily. But on the flip side, in the wintertime, you may need to provide extra light when the days are shorter and the light is not as intense.
7. Just like all other plants, succulents need food, so they need to fertilize. Fertilize depend on what variety of succulents you are growing accordingly you can feed them but in general you can fertilize once in a month.
8. Take care of your succulents from insects. If you see anything starting affected immediately take care of it.
9. Always keep your plants clear if you see any Insects, diseases, dead and decaying foliage of that will keep them happier and healthier. And they look a whole lot nicer. And as a side note, there are several succulents that produce a really fine powder on their foliage and even though it’s not detrimental to their health, try to refrain from touching that foliage because they look a whole lot better when they’re not marred with a bunch of fingerprints.
10. As it’s a succulent plant and having adapted with different temperature, so always care of it. The majority of succulents cannot handle really cold temperatures, so if you live in a cold climate make sure to bring them inside before the first frost.
Thus you can groom your succulent such as zebra plant, cotton candy succulent, a string of bananas, jelly bean succulent, Echeveria, Bear Paw succulent, kalanchoe and many more to enhance your garden beauty.
You can also read- 7 most important organic gardening tips for Beginners