South African succulents house cultivation - watering method
An article about green plant knowledge, introducing the relevant introduction of succulents, the house cultivation and watering method of South African succulents, is specifically introduced as follows:
(3) The method of watering
No matter whether it is the Japanese horticultural industry or the domestic immortals, they are reluctant to disclose the watering methods, and I think it can't be blamed on them. It may also be that immortals usually have greenhouses with thousands of plants and can't deal with each plant carefully. You will also pick up the water pipe and spray randomly when you are facing a large number of plants that are waiting to be fed in the greenhouse like a sauna. So I understand why they don't talk about it.
But for the majority of balcony people, the situation is completely different. Everyone saves money and allocates a considerable amount of money from their own private money, risks domestic violence, and endures the strange eyes of friends and colleagues. In winter, they can't even eat a baked sweet potato, and in summer, they can't drink a bottle of iced soda. It is hard to buy a few可怜兮兮 pots of flowers, of course, to water them carefully one by one. Laojiang understands you, so I am willing to use 1000 words to talk about the watering method carefully.
In general growing season, (as mentioned earlier, if you can't remember, turn back and see for yourself, I've forgotten......) within a reasonable watering cycle, you can boldly and boldly water from top to bottom until it is full, especially for students who have the condition to use rootless water. A thorough watering can make the plants feel like they are bathed in the spring breeze. The scale on the pot surface, the dust on the plant surface, and the excrement of the roots in the potting soil can all be washed clean in a thorough watering. I remember someone's famous saying - a white blank space is really clean.
But be aware that students with frugal and environmentally friendly habits must pay attention. The water that flows out of the bottom of the pot after watering should not be reused. So-called "recycled water" refers to the waste water that flows out of the bottom of the pot after watering. Don't tell me there are no such economical people. Laojiang has heard more than one. When I was raising orchids, some people even said this was "熟water". To me, this is the sewage in the drain, and its killing power to plants is comparable to the wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The garbage and toxins in it are enough to make you pay hundreds of times the price, just because you want to save a few cents of water bill. Of course, washing water and long-term accumulated water also have the same effect.
Then, watering before the dormant period, (this time has been mentioned before, in order to deepen the memory, please look up), this period needs to control water, or the lush growth accumulated in a growing season will not be corrected. At this time, due to the change of climate, the watering cycle needs to be reset. Moreover, the amount of watering should not be saturated, the requirement is to let the plant have a semi-full drink, the intake of water should be slightly less than the consumption, so that, in addition to forcing the plant to grow capillary roots, it can also increase the sugar concentration in the plant. The development of capillary roots can make the plant healthier, and the accumulation of nutrients can make reproductive growth possible. The plant will become fat, short, and its characteristics will become more prominent, and it will also have enough physical strength to deal with the next dormant period, exfoliation, and flowering period. For students who can't grasp it well, please refer to the previous weighing method, work hard several times first to determine the amount of water for thorough watering, and then divide this value by 2. At this time, because the plant's vegetative growth is very weak and there is not much garbage that needs to be flushed, you can water gently with a thin stream, and try not to get the plant wet. At the minimum, you should also avoid water accumulating in the flower core.
Finally, during the dormant season, the main goal is to maintain. Due to temperature and other reasons, the plant enters a self-protection state, the root system stops most of its activities, and a considerable part of the capillary roots has disappeared. At this time, there is no need to consider the maintenance of root hair. Since the function of water absorption is lost, excessive water is not only ineffective but will also cause the rot of capillary roots, which will then affect the main roots. If you are unlucky, it will rot into the stem tissue...... Then, congratulations to you, you have another reason to buy new plants. During the dormant season, it is mainly to spray, properly maintain the humidity of the air and potting soil, so that the plant will not have physiological obstacles due to excessive dryness during dormancy. If it's really stuffy, choose a cool evening, water it thoroughly once, and then turn on the fan full force for a night to ensure that the pot surface is white and the leaf core has no water accumulation the next day.
Of course, so-called dormancy is not absolute. For example, species such as白银 in the genus Haworthia and 玉露 in the genus Sempervivum, and most species in the genus Tetragonia in the family Aizoaceae, and 曲玉 in the genus Lithops, do not show obvious dormancy. This also needs to be flexible according to the state of each plant. The principle is - in the season when it should be dormant, if the plant shows dehydration, the growing point loses its luster, or the overall color darkens and the texture becomes soft, it should be treated as dormancy.
3. The influence of gaseous water on plants
Gaseous water refers to H2O in an invisible state evaporated in the air. Gaseous water is not water vapor, water vapor is countless liquid water particles, which fundamentally belongs to liquid water. The indicator of the content of gaseous water in the air is "air humidity", and air humidity is an external supplement to plants that is as important as irrigation water.
Botany tells us that in addition to the roots, plants can also absorb water through the stomata on the leaves. This proportion varies from plant to plant. For example, for parasitic plants such as air plants, the water absorbed through the leaves can reach more than 80%, which completely subverts the status of "roots".
The east coast of South Africa has a very high temperature difference between day and night, and the diffusion of water vapor from the sea surface can make the air humidity very high at night. Due to the larger surface area of the degenerated leaves of succulent plants, they can more conveniently absorb water from the air through the stomata on the leaves to make up for the insufficient local rainfall. Therefore, the requirement of succulent plants from the South African origin for air humidity is very high. This is another logical inference, and the only difference is that this conclusion is not mine, but the result of research by several famous scholars, which Laojiang used as an argument, sorry sorry.
But Laojiang thinks that there is still a little difference between potted plants and wild ones. Of course, it is best to maintain the original ecology. If you have the condition to set up an automatic spray, and spray every hour at night to create high humidity, the plants will grow well. But this is no longer within the scope of "home cultivation". If students with good conditions have reached this level, then they can finish class early, and those without this condition continue to listen to my rambling.
Cultivating succulent plants, we all know a trick called "stuffy cultivation". A dry plant can become vigorous after being covered with a cup for a few weeks. So some students think they have mastered a secret and no longer need to ask others for help in raising meat. Indeed, simple stuffy cultivation can increase the air humidity of the part above the soil surface of the plant, and the air humidity can supplement the water needed by the plant without relying on the roots, which indirectly increases the plant's absorption (S-Y) channel (equivalent to opening a small kitchen). Moreover, the epidermal cells of the plant leaves will become vibrant and full due to the direct moistening of water, and some plants with unhealthy roots will quickly develop roots after being stuffy. But we say that temporary stuffy cultivation is just like taking a stimulant, the effect is temporary. Whether you are always stuffy or not, after a certain time, the side effects of stuffy cultivation will completely offset all the previous advantages. Because this method of stuffy cultivation only considers the part above the soil surface and ignores the role of the part below the soil surface.
The most unsafe factor of cupping cultivation is the water content of the potting soil. If the soil is dry when the cup is covered, due to the hydrotropism of the roots, the roots will grow upwards. Because the humidity above is higher than that below. Originally prepared deep pots will be found to have roots only growing to the upper half when turned over, and the lower half has no roots, which not only wastes the growing medium but also causes the plant roots to entangle on the surface, affecting nutrient absorption. Moreover, due to the lack of root growth in the lower part, the soil may become compacted. When you are not stuffy, the roots that grow downwards will rot one by one.
When the soil is wet, there is no need to say more. Since the evaporation at home is less, the potting soil dries slowly. If you add a cover on top, the soil will not dry. The result is that - if you don't look at it for a week, the pot is not a succulent, but a paradise for mushrooms.
Neither dry nor wet is good,可见简单的闷养是不利于植物生长的，although it also uses air humidity, but this method that only pays attention to the head and forgets the buttocks is better than letting the plant dry.
So, can't you stuffy? The answer is no, you can stuffy, but you need to stuffy in a large environment, and put the whole pot in.
Why do plants grow well in greenhouses? It's because the humidity in the environment is high, and the humidity in the greenhouse environment is also artificially created. This is a form of raising the humidity of the whole environment, with the whole plant wrapped in a moist and flowing air. Because the air is flowing, the roots will not hypoxia. Because the environmental humidity is high, less watering is needed. Since the inside and outside of the pot are in the same environment, the roots will not grow upwards due to hydrotropism. Moreover, daily maintenance such as lighting and care will not be affected by the plant being stuffy.
It is precisely because of the many benefits of greenhouse stuffy cultivation that some students have thought of building small greenhouses at home or simply using a storage box to put the plants in...... Of course, I don't deny this method, and there are indeed many successful examples, such as the storage box cultivation method, which has been highly praised by many flower friends in Shanghai. The plants grown are also very beautiful.
But for most students like me who are novices, I still suggest giving up this method. Because various signs indicate that home stuffy cultivation is difficult to control, and even in a large environment, the roots of plants are significantly weaker than those grown in an open environment. This is because the plants are always in a very humid environment, the water absorbed by the leaves is enough for consumption, and the roots do not need to look for water desperately. Once transferred to a dry environment, the water source channel is reduced by half, and the plant often shows severe discomfort, such as drying, stopping growth, and other unsatisfactory phenomena.
I believe everyone knows that plants bought from greenhouses recover slowly. No matter how beautiful the plants grown in a high-humidity greenhouse environment are, they will first shrink and then go through a long adaptation period before they grow new roots. At this time, the plant's beautiful appearance should also become very ugly. In fact, this is a process of adaptation and transformation of the plant from a humid environment to a dry environment. Some plants may die, and you can't blame the original owner, only that you don't understand the "needs of the plant".
The respiratory mode of succulent plants causes the stomata to close during the day and open at night for respiration, so excessive air humidity during the day is completely unnecessary and will only reduce the plant's resistance and increase its dependence on air humidity.
Students who often visit forums know that when raising orchids, you should buy "balcony grass", and when buying succulents, you should buy "balcony meat". The key here is not "balcony", but refers to the seedlings grown in a home environment, which are different from the professional greenhouse production. Because generally the plants grown at home will not have too much air humidity to make them lose themselves. However, it should be said that now there are professional succulent greenhouses that are doing well, paying attention to controlling humidity and exercising roots in the early stage of cultivation, and trying to create a harsh environment early to facilitate later maintenance by buyers. Such greenhouse plants are actually not much different from home-grown ones, and some resistance indicators are even stronger.
When it comes to air humidity, it's time to summarize - when cultivating succulent plants at home, it is necessary to properly create air humidity, but it must not violate nature. Try to use the surrounding environment and existing facilities, such as closing the windows after watering at night in autumn to maintain humidity, and opening the windows in summer to let the outside humidity in, etc. Even if there is a simple flower greenhouse, it should be opened frequently to maintain ventilation. As long as the air humidity can be maintained above 60% at night, it is enough. You must not be greedy for success and ignore the constants; cover or wrap things up, which may look vigorous but are not suitable for plants. Succulent plants are originally sprites that absorb the essence of heaven and earth in the wilderness. Constraining their lower half in a small pot is already a provocation, and then depriving them of the right to breathe fresh air - you are not a fish, how do you know what the fish needs?
Finally, I've finished talking about "water", and I think I should take a break. I've spent several evenings of my spare time typing. Some students might be tired of reading. No matter, as I said before, Laojiang has worked hard to share his knowledge and turn it into words. Now I feel refreshed and light...... Whether you read it or not is up to you, anyway, I've written it.
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