Household cultivation of South African Haworthia and Mesembryanthemum succulent plants
Our editor provides you with experience in cultivating South African Haworthia, a succulent plant, in your home, including household cultivation of South African Haworthia and Mesembryanthemum succulent plants. Let's introduce it.
IV. Water and the pursuit of water by succulent plants
1. The status of water in the three elements of plant growth
The three elements of plant growth are sunlight, air, and water. Theoretically, water is the last, but for the cultivation of succulent plants at home, I believe that the control of water is more important than the other two. Everyone should have experience, too much or too little water supply will cause plant growth problems and even rotting and death. Especially in a home environment, due to the smaller transpiration of plants, it is easy to cause the water to not dry, and when the watering interval is too long, it is difficult to water thoroughly. More often than not, the soil on the top of the pot is already dry, but the soil below is still wet. If you are not careful, overwatering will lead to root rot and leaf decay. Of course, this is also related to the soil structure, but in fact, as long as you control the water supply, the soil ratio can be more flexible. There is an old saying that watering requires three years of skill, and this is indeed the case. Watering skills are an important part of home gardening, and for this special type of succulent plant, water control is even more important.
2. The skill of watering for three years
Recently, I summarized this so-called "three-year skill".
The beginning of the "three-year skill" is the entry-level stage. First of all, you need to understand the "water quality".
(1) Water quality
Water can be divided into several types, and according to its existing form, it can be divided into surface water and rootless water. Surface water refers to all liquid water in rivers, lakes, and seas. Rootless water can be liquid water naturally condensed in the atmosphere from rain and snow, or water vapor in the form of gas, which is what we call air humidity.
Theoretically, surface water has a high hardness because it dissolves many surface minerals and trace elements. After H2O evaporates, a large amount of inorganic salt will be deposited. The scale we usually talk about is this thing. Rootless water is the product of surface water evaporating and then condensing again when it is cold. Since it has discarded a large amount of precipitated salt before evaporation, it is also called soft water. Although it also contains a small amount of impurities (water droplets need microdust in the air as the core to condense), compared to the surface water, its content can be ignored.
As mentioned earlier, the succulent plant's succulent root has a very low osmotic pressure, and excessive salt can cause root cell dehydration. Therefore, we say that compared to surface water, rootless water is more suitable for irrigation of succulent plants.
In addition, the pH value of water is also an important indicator affecting water quality. We all know the pH value. Why is "Nongfu Spring" a little sweet? Because it is weakly alkaline. The cell fluid of animals is weakly alkaline, and only the body fluid of animals that are dying will become acidic. Therefore, people should drink weakly alkaline water. But plants are the opposite. Most plants need acidic water. This is not to say that plants like to drink acidic water, but because the waste produced by plant root metabolism accumulates around the roots, affecting the health of the plant. These excretions and elements in the soil that can be utilized by plants but must be dissolved first, all of these, must be dissolved by acidic water. If a flower pot is irrigated with alkaline water for a long time, the final result will be that all of these will be cemented together, eventually becoming the foundation stone of the grave of the flower.
Some students said: "I used Nongfu Spring to water the flowers at home, and they are fine?" This is because... because this spring is not alkaline enough...
Okay, the previous few paragraphs are just a knowledge point, everyone can understand it. When it comes to actual operation, I know you will still use tap water. In fact, tap water in the south is generally acidic, just with more dissolved substances in the water, it can also be used for watering flowers. Place it in a basin before use and let it sit for a night to allow the chlorine gas to dissipate and the water temperature to approach room temperature. When you have time, let the plants get rained on, and that will do.
(2) Watering strategies
There is no fixed formula for gardening, each family has its own way of doing it, and I guess no one is convinced by anyone else. There is also no fixed formula for watering. Some people like to keep the soil dry - dry soil is conducive to the reproductive growth of plants, allowing for better accumulation of dry matter, but the plants may not look so lively. Some people like to keep the soil wet - wet soil helps with the nutritional growth of plants, making them lush, but their resistance may be weaker. How, the pros and cons are in front of you, you can choose how to cultivate on your own.
Of course, whether you like it dry or wet, you still need to grasp the timing of watering. I believe all the gardening experts will agree on the existence of "timing". For succulent plants, it seems that the method of "watering when it is completely dry" has become a consensus. Indeed, this method is the safest method, and many students who can keep the plants alive for three years rely on this method to struggle. But think about it again, if everyone knows "watering when it is completely dry", where does the saying of "watering skill for three years" come from? Could it be that the ancients were all of low intelligence and summarized this simple method of "watering when it is completely dry" for five thousand years?
The answer is of course negative. "Watering when it is completely dry" is just a common saying of many experts in gardening magazines. These experts are afraid that others will master the core technology and take their jobs in the future, and they are unwilling to be a diligent gardener in silence, so they came up with such a versatile term to fool everyone.
"Watering when it is completely dry", what does "dry" mean? Is it a day or a month? Think about it carefully - this term is a tool for sophistry. Even succulent plants will cause damage to related cell tissues if the roots are dehydrated. The poplar in the desert can tolerate drought and can grow in places where it hasn't rained for 30 years. But students may not know that wherever poplar grows, if you dig down along the roots, the soil within 5 meters will be wet, and the groundwater may be connected to the oasis hundreds of kilometers away. Do you think plants are fools? They are very clever~
Wake up! Does your pot at home also have groundwater? Since there is no groundwater, why do you still give it a "dry"? It can survive with difficulty, which is already very considerate of your money. After all, home is not a greenhouse. There is earth air and humidity in the greenhouse, even if it is dry for half a year, the humidity in the air is enough for the succulent plants with low requirements to drink, not to mention the temperature difference (which will be introduced later). The so-called "dry and wet thoroughly" is a completely different concept. Because of this, the watering strategy in the home environment needs to be planned separately.
We mentioned earlier that Haworthia needs to be moist and Mesembryanthemum needs to be dry. Whether it is moist or dry, maintaining proper moisture for succulent plants in home cultivation is necessary. If we can turn over the pot to check the soil, when the soil in the Haworthia pot is dry and white 3 centimeters below the soil surface, and the soil particles below are moist but not sticky, it can be watered. For Mesembryanthemum, when there is still moisture in the 1-2 centimeters of soil at the bottom (excluding the drainage layer), it can also be watered. These two watering times can ensure that the plant does not suffer from physiological disorders due to excessive water while maintaining the root hairs on the capillaries of the plant to the greatest extent, avoiding the cycle of drying up - reviving - drying up again, and allowing the limited nutrition to accumulate to the greatest extent, so that the plant will grow better and better.
When it comes to "timing", of course, we will also talk about how to grasp the "timing". We cannot turn over the pot to check the soil every time we water. In addition to the need to practice the basic skills of touch and observation, there are naturally tricks~
Trick 1) Weighing method, first determine your soil mixture, try to use the same formula every time you pot, and prepare an empty pot, fill it with dry soil, then weigh it, record the weight, then water it thoroughly, weigh it again, and record the two data. Then weigh it every day, in addition to checking the water retention of your soil mixture, the ultimate goal is to see how many days it can return to the weight of the dry soil when potted, and subtract 1-2 days from this number, which is your watering cycle. This is for Haworthia, for Mesembryanthemum, you can skip the subtraction of days. Of course, this method ignores the absorption and transpiration of water by the plant's roots, generally, the soil with plants will dry faster, so the data obtained can be compared with the weight of the pot with plants for the same period, and the obtained watering cycle will be more accurate.
Trick 2 - Soil color change method, increase the proportion of Akadama in the soil mixture, because Akadama has good water absorption and water transmission ability, and it will change color when it absorbs a little water, so the wet and dry state is very intuitive. Increasing the proportion of Akadama in the soil mixture can strengthen the water transmission within the pot, the soil on the top will dry faster, and the moisture will always be transmitted upwards until the moisture content of the soil below reaches a critical point, and this critical point is often the beginning of the watering signal. It is recommended to increase the proportion of Akadama soil to more than 40%, and use pure Akadama with a diameter of 2-3 millimeters to cover the surface of the pot. When the Akadama on the surface of the pot turns light yellow and white, water Haworthia the next day at most, and water Mesembryanthemum after 2 days.
Tricks that should be condemned
1. Toothpick method, many people like to use this method, but it is actually easy to damage the roots growing along the side of the pot. Once watered, it will rot. Condemnation index 3 stars.
2. Finger probe method, I saw this method in a translated article before, I don't know if anyone is actually doing it, I think this method is very stupid, let alone that everyone now likes to use granular soil, the finger cannot be inserted, even if it is inserted, the finger will be dirty, the soil on the surface of the pot will be messed up, and some precious capillary roots floating on the surface of the pot may also be broken by the insertion, it can be said that this is a stupid method with more harm than good, condemnation index 4 stars.
3. Knocking the pot to listen to the sound method, I don't want to criticize this method anymore, it is too unreliable, unless everyone has the hearing of a musician like Lang Lang, otherwise, this method is not as good as directly inserting a finger. Condemnation index 5 stars.
(3) Watering methods
Whether it is gardeners in Japan or experts in China, they are not willing to reveal much about the way of watering. I think we cannot blame them. It is also possible that the experts usually have greenhouses with thousands of plants and cannot deal with each one carefully. After all, when you are faced with a large number of plants crying for water in a sauna-like greenhouse, you will also grab a hose and spray them all over without hesitation. Therefore, they don't talk about it, and I understand it very much.
But for the majority of balcony gardeners, the situation is completely different. Everyone saves money and allocates a considerable amount of money from their private funds, risking family violence, enduring the strange looks of friends and colleagues, unwilling to eat a baked sweet potato in winter or drink a bottle of ice soda in summer, and finally buy a few pitiful pots of flowers. Of course, I understand you, so let's talk about the method of watering.
During the general growing season (which has been introduced before, if you can't remember, please go back and check it yourself, I also forgot...), within a reasonable watering cycle, you can water with confidence and joy, pouring until it is full and overflowing. Especially for those who have the condition to use rootless water, thorough watering can make the plants feel like a spring breeze. The scale on the surface of the pot, the dust on the surface of the plants, and the root excrement in the soil can all be washed clean in one thorough watering, thinking of someone's famous saying - white and clean.
But pay attention, those who have the "bad habit" of saving and environmental protection must pay attention, the recycled water must not be reused. The so-called "recycled water" is the wastewater that flows out from the bottom of the pot after watering. Don't tell me there is no such thrifty person, I have heard more than one, when I was raising orchids before, someone even said this is "cooked water" ... I would say, this is sewage, the damage 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 a thousand times the price, just because you want to save a few cents of water bill. Of course, washing water and water that has been accumulated for a long time also have the same effect.
Then there is watering before the dormant period (this time has also been mentioned before, please check it yourself to deepen your memory), this period needs to control the water supply. If you don't control it, the stretching accumulated in a growing season will not have a chance to be corrected. At this time, due to the change of climate, the watering cycle needs to be reset. Moreover, the amount of water cannot be saturated, the requirement is to let the plant drink half full at a time, the intake of water should be slightly less than the consumption, so as to