Give Sedum a Red Makeup
Today I bring you plant experience, the introduction of Sedum, a succulent plant, giving Sedum a red makeup. If there is anything wrong, please feel free to correct me!
Some flower friends asked me how to raise the red edge of Sedum, actually this is related to the variety of succulent plants, some Sedum can never develop a red edge. However, most Sedum have colorful leaf colors, ranging from dark red, brown, blue, purple to even black. This is because the plant produces different pigments due to environmental influences, such as ”β-cyanine” and ”cyanine”. Some succulent plants produce this biochemical mechanism to filter out the intense tropical sunlight of their native habitats, or it is an extreme expression of selective cultivation. These pigments can be produced with photosynthesis, but sometimes the production of certain pigments can only be achieved through long-term exposure to strong light, especially with the illumination of light sources containing blue and ultraviolet components, to force the plant to produce such pigments. Photosynthesis requires both red and blue light, but does not need or absorb green light, which is why most leaves appear green in the sunlight. Actually, to make a metaphor, people also ”change color” after prolonged exposure to the sun, but the human ”cyanine” is black. Therefore, the most important condition for Sedum to grow a red edge is, as mentioned above, sufficient lighting. However, this condition is sometimes encounterable but not always achievable due to the influence of living environment.
Especially for Sedum plants, the demand for light is very high. So if the lighting conditions at home are not too good, it is indeed difficult to achieve a colorful leaf effect and red edge effect. Moreover, if the light intensity is extremely poor, it will cause the plant to grow tall and thin or even die. The issue of the orientation of the balcony cannot be solved unless you move. The only way to make up for it is to use artificial UV light sources for supplemental lighting, but the effect is limited. Even artificial UV radiation lamps cannot completely replace the full spectrum of UV light from the sun, and this method is very power-consuming. Sunlight is the most low-carbon and natural ”light”. Moreover, standard agricultural greenhouse-specific plant supplemental lights/growth lights are very expensive, and many of the cheap imitation products purchased online have significantly reduced effectiveness or are even useless, so it is important to learn how to research and identify them.
This is why everyone envies those who have south-facing balconies, terraces, or gardens, as having this hardware condition brings you one step closer to keeping them well. If you are really obsessed with succulents and are troubled by the lack of sunlight, you can try using some artificial light sources. But please remember that supplemental lights only serve as a supplement and should not be used as a substitute for sunlight. Don't complain later about why the plants still don't grow as well as those kept outdoors. Plants are products of nature, not display items under the light in a showcase.
There are many plant supplemental lights on the market. You can choose plant supplemental lights/growth lights that contain red light, blue light, or a full spectrum. If you want to warm and supplement light in winter, you can choose reptile-specific UVA, UVB radiation lamps, but the distance of照射 should not be too close, as their other important function is to warm, and the surface temperature of the lamps is very high, so close照射 can burn the plants. Incandescent bulbs are not very useful as they mainly emit yellowish-white light and a large amount of infrared radiation. Although they are very cheap and easy to obtain, their efficiency of converting electrical energy to light is very low, making them unsuitable for plant supplemental lighting. Long-term exposure to this type of light will make the plants thin and weak. Therefore, plants like Sedum, which have a high demand for sunlight, are definitely not suitable for indoor maintenance under incandescent light, even if they will not die, their condition will not be good.
So many people worry about not being able to raise Sedum without sunlight, and indeed, Sedum and sunlight have an inseparable relationship.
Sunlight direct light is the best (outdoor, terrace, south-facing balcony). In a place with bright scattered light (near the window of a non-south-facing balcony), there is actually no need to worry, at most there is no bright pigment effect, just green. However, if kept in a medium light environment (indoor bright areas), it is very likely to grow a ”snake waist”. If kept in a low light environment (indoor, far from light) for a long time, it will definitely wither.
These different environments are actually different stages of Sedum plants, and choosing different environments for them is actually choosing what state they should present to you.
Also, succulent plants like Haworthia have much lower light requirements than Sedum, and they do not require full-day direct sunlight, but are more suitable for maintenance in indoor environments with bright scattered light. This is the difference in habits between different families and genera. ”Succulent plants” is a general term, not a strict biological taxonomic definition. ”Succulent plants” include countless different families and genera, and their habits are not the same, do not confuse them.
If flower friends really do not have good sunlight or hardware conditions, they might as well try to grow more shade-tolerant plants, such as Haworthia, some Aizoaceae, and some Liliaceae succulent plants.
The above is [] a detailed introduction to giving Sedum a red makeup and growing red edges, have you understood?