About watering techniques for flower cultivation
This article provides a detailed introduction to the knowledge of home flower cultivation, specifically addressing the watering aspect of flower cultivation techniques, as follows:
Before discussing watering, let's talk about a few digressions. From the perspective of home flower cultivation, I believe that the environment for healthy plant growth mainly consists of six aspects: moisture, temperature, light, air, soil, and nutrients. Among these, I classify moisture and temperature as the elements that determine the life or death of plants, commonly referred to as keeping them alive; while sunlight, air, soil, and nutrients are categorized as elements for thriving. Of course, this classification is relative. For example, without nutrients, plants cannot grow well, their resistance decreases, and they will eventually die. The reason for such a classification is based on the difficulty of controlling these six elements in home flower cultivation (of course, this also includes my personal judgment, and what I find difficult might be easy for others). In fact, with the continuous improvement of living conditions at home, temperature will also become a relatively easy-to-control element. In the future, I will discuss with you how to cultivate flowers well from these six aspects.
Getting back to the topic, let's talk about the issue of watering.
I personally think that watering is the most critical aspect of home flower cultivation. Water is the source of life, although sunlight, soil, and fertilization are all indispensable, in conventional cultivation, moisture is the most important. In fact, the emergence of hydroponics also proves the importance of moisture. For most plants (except aquatic plants), watering is a very troublesome task. Psychologically speaking, most flower lovers have the beautiful wish that their beloved plants grow quickly, and watering has become the "best method" to achieve this beautiful wish. However, this "best method" has caused everyone to experience the pain of "bitter parting." It can be said that most problems with flower cultivation are related to improper watering, and even it can be argued that the main reason for the death of flowers is due to improper watering, mostly caused by excessive watering. That's why there is a saying that it takes three years of practice to master the art of watering flowers.
So how exactly should we water, when should we water, and how much water is considered appropriate? Since watering is so complex, is there a "dummy-proof" watering method?
Before answering these questions, we must have some understanding of the habits of the plants we are cultivating. For example, cacti have adapted to arid climatic conditions through natural evolution, so they must have exceptional qualities in this regard. Imagine in the dry desert, how much annual precipitation can there be? How much humidity can there be? In China, taking my region in Jiangnan as an example, the air humidity alone is already a great enjoyment for these cacti plants. Even in the dry north, the humidity is much higher compared to deserts. In fact, for these plants, in suitable temperature seasons, you can break off a branch and it will root without being planted in soil, just by placing it on the surface of the pot. I remember once visiting a flower market and encountering a hobbyist buying a cycad. Cycads are also drought-resistant experts, and dealers usually transport them in large quantities from Fujian, placing them directly on shelves without potting them. They are watered occasionally and still thrive, even sprouting new roots. The hobbyist was amazed, realizing that his plants in pots were not as healthy as the dealer's plants growing in the air.
This example shows that different plants require different amounts of moisture, which is greatly related to their adaptability to the environment. Using the same method to cultivate all plants is destined to fail. This is like what we often say: we each have our strengths, and only by providing a suitable environment can we fully utilize our talents. The same is true for plants; rice has a completely different adaptability to water compared to cacti, and their adaptability to drought is also exactly the opposite.
So when we have some understanding of the habits of plants, we can say that we have already mastered 50% of the watering techniques.
The above content introduces the complete information about the watering aspect of flower cultivation techniques (part 1) for your comprehensive understanding and reference!