Living Stone Planting Methods
The editor answers the topic of living stone plant knowledge for netizens, the methods of planting living stones, and the specific content is as follows:
Every flower friend has their own set of methods for planting living stones. For新手 flower friends, observing others' planting experience can be very helpful for their own living stone planting process. This article is a summary of living stone planting experience by flower friends, including some experiences of everyone, which is worth learning for both新手 and advanced flower friends.
1. Daily Maintenance of Living Stone Planting
The key points of living stone planting are to pay special attention to watering, temperature, and lighting. It is absolutely necessary to keep the soil moist during the growing period, to maintain it continuously, alternating between wet and dry. The capillary roots of medium-sized and mature bulbs should not dry out, and the degree of wrinkles on the bulb or water frequently flowing out from the bottom of the pot should be avoided. The amount and frequency of watering should be increased for small bulbs, and reduced for large bulbs and clustering plants.
During the dormancy period of living stones: Water small and medium-sized bulbs in small amounts frequently, even to slow down wrinkling. When the bulbs become mature and large, it is necessary to completely stop watering to allow them to fully dormant!
Living stones entering dormancy gradually lose their luster, and soon the bulbs become wrinkled and shrink. At this time, watering should be strictly controlled. It is often helpful to use a spray bottle after the sunset during hot summer days or to lower the temperature of the growing room to slow down the degree of shrinkage. It depends on the grower's concern!
Watering during the peeling process of living stones should be as cautious as possible. When peeling, the new bulb expands from the old body and may have some cracks. The growth of the old body and the new bulb is opposite, forming new cracks. Water entering the fine mouth will accelerate the shrinkage of the old body, causing the small bulbs to appear prematurely, which is not good for the growing small bulbs. Stop watering and the supply of nutrients to the roots during the peeling process (1-2 weeks) and allow the new bulbs to absorb nutrients from the old body for growth.
2. Living Stone Planting Medium
Regarding the cultivation soil for living stones, there are various interesting sayings. In fact, among the many types of succulent plants, it is not common to find one like living stones that require less demanding cultivation soil. They are often cultivated and observed in smaller pots. We use soil with a certain amount of fertilizer according to common sense, and there is no need to give living stones a lot of compost or other fertilizers.
The simplest mixture is 8 parts river sand and 2 parts of high-quality compost soil with fertilizer. Using spherical soil in the lower third of the pot can achieve good drainage. Living stones do not need to worry about root rot, as the lower half of the bulb is the part that easily rots. It is best to use clay-grained soil, with a size ranging from bean-sized to finger-sized. (Mainly for summer cooling, such as changing some of the medium, placing white stones on the surface, double potting, etc.)
The main purpose of repotting living stones (transplanting) is to change the soil, providing the potted plants with enough nutrient supply. Because the pot is limited by the soil, repotting is necessary for smooth growth. Also, as the soil becomes saturated with continuous watering, the drainage condition deteriorates, and the fertility of the soil generally starts to decline after a year. Larger pots are needed as the plants grow larger.
The best time for transplanting living stones is when they start to grow after the dormancy period ends. If there are too many plants or seedlings to transplant during the optimal period, it is actually possible to transplant at any time during the growing period.无论如何,每年移植一次是非常必要的。
When repotting, remove the plants from the pot, cut off the dead roots in the dormant period, and the long roots. They can quickly grow new roots... If pest insects such as root lice are found during this time, use pesticide powder to control them when planting.
3. Living Stone Planting Propagation
Propagation of living stones usually involves sowing, dividing, cutting, and播种. It is becoming increasingly difficult to import high-purity seeds from abroad, making self-collection of seeds very important. Living stones generally cannot self-pollinate or self-cross-pollinate. Seed collection must be done with at least two parent plants. It is important to choose parents with high purity. The purity of the parents can be directly judged from the seedlings. It is most important to select according to the characteristics of each variety, such as shape, color, and appearance.
The parents should be managed in the same environment and allowed to bloom simultaneously, relying on artificial media for pollination. For single-head varieties, sometimes it is not possible to manually pollinate if only two plants are not blooming at the same time. If possible, it is better to have 3-4 or more plants of the same variety. After a few years, when the parents become clustering plants, each bulb will bloom several times, and the whole plant will have a long flowering period and more opportunities for pollination. In that case, only two clustering varieties are needed. Crossbreeding with other varieties is strictly prohibited for living stones. Cultivators should remember the value of pure varieties. Therefore, if the parent plants miss the flowering period, the pollination pen should be saved for the next year, which is a responsible attitude towards horticulture.
The flowers of living stones bloom for about a week in autumn晴天. Some flowers may bloom for more than a week. After a few days of blooming, when the pistil is star-shaped and open, it is suitable for pollination. Collect pollen from other plants with a soft brush and apply it to the stigma of the pistil. The tip of the pistil is fine and soft, so pollination should be done carefully. The ovary swells day by day after pollination and is fully mature after 6-7 months. The mature seeds, along with the pods, are harvested, and it is necessary to wait for another 5-6 months or longer for post-ripening. If播种 without waiting for post-ripening, the germination rate is very low, and some may not germinate. On the other hand, seeds properly stored for several years have a good germination rate. It is better to plant in autumn or spring, with September to November in autumn and March to April in spring as suitable periods. Moderate heating in winter can also be used as a season. Seeds are sown on washed river sand, kept moist, and usually start to germinate in 5-6 days, with the whole germination process taking up to a month. Sometimes there are late bloomers that take 2-3 months to germinate. Valuable varieties require long-term careful management.
Seedlings use ordinary, nutrient-free sand, and after germination, they should be transplanted to other nutrient-rich soil immediately to promote growth. The soil used at this time should follow general standards, with a 1-2 cm layer of sand on top. The seedlings are small and soft, so the first transplant should be particularly careful. We are all masters at using chopsticks, so let's put this skill to good use!
From播种 to flowering, it takes 3-4 years for living stones to mature, and it is common for them to become two heads in the following year. It takes a few more years for a clustering plant with 5-6 heads, and large clustering plants are very precious. The larger they are, the higher their ornamental value. For a few valuable varieties with weak characteristics, propagation by division is safer. The division propagation process is simple, using a sharp knife to cut near the roots. Dry the cut surface in the shade for several days, insert it into the river sand for 1-2 weeks to root, and then transfer it to a pot for ordinary management. (Division is best before the end of dormancy and the beginning of growth.)
The above is the detailed content of the living stone planting methods (experience), hoping it can be helpful to you!