Succulent plants survive the summer
Here are some contents about succulent plants, surviving the summer for succulent plants, with the following introduction:
Now that the summer in Beijing is over, I had more than 200 succulent plants, and fewer than 5 of them died during the summer, which is about a 2% mortality rate. Some say that there's no pressure for succulent plants to survive the summer in Beijing, but there are also many days with temperatures above 35 degrees. I believe there are some common experiences that I'd like to share with everyone.
1. Several plants that died
I summarize the plants that died this year: Only 2 Sedum plants died, one was Garden Dance and the other was Mountain Rose; 2 Mesembryanthemum died, one was Tian nv and the other was Silver Bells; the rest did not die, but some were sunburned. Mountain Rose died during its dormant period due to my rough management. Garden Dance was severely sunburned and did not recover, dying after 2 months. Silver Bells was sunburned by sudden exposure and did not recover, dying after 2 months. Tian nv (S) died in early June when it was not very hot. The reason should be that Beijing had humid and rainy weather in June this year, with occasional strong sunlight. My management was quite rough, and the leaves of Tian nv were prone to accumulate water. With the temperature rising, the ventilation was poor outdoors for a few days, leading to rot. This actually tells us that ventilation is very important, and even if the plants are kept outdoors, they may not necessarily be well ventilated.
2. About the issue of winter and summer types
An important issue in surviving the summer is to determine the winter and summer types of plants. But this mainly refers to plants that clearly enter the growing or dormant period in winter and summer. These plants mainly include cacti, oleander, euphorbia, agave, and beaucarnea. Among the more than 200 pots I raise, there are about 160 pots of Sedum. I personally feel that most Sedum plants have winter and summer differences, but the gap is not very large. Except for some that clearly go dormant in summer, such as Mountain Rose, Sempervivum, and some varieties of Echeveria. Even summer types struggle when the temperature is above 35 degrees. Winter types can tolerate slightly lower high temperatures, but not much lower.
So I personally feel that for Sedum, there's no need to emphasize the summer and winter types too much, but rather consider other ways to survive the summer. For other types with obvious signs of dormancy, it is recommended to handle them properly. Common methods include shade and ventilation.
3. The issue of mature plants and seedlings
Mature plants and seedlings are two completely different types of plants. Whether in terms of their resistance or hormone levels, there is a significant difference. Generally speaking, mature plants have much higher resistance than seedlings. The light compensation point of mature plants is generally also higher. They are relatively more resistant to sunlight; on the other hand, seedlings are different, even for sun-tolerant varieties like some cacti, their seedlings cannot withstand strong sunlight.
In previous years, I put the seedlings outside to harden their resistance after they germinated, but most of them could not withstand the extreme weather of the capital. So now I basically keep the seedlings indoors for a year before gradually putting them outside to harden. Similarly, due to the need for profit, many nurseries sell plants that are still in the seedling stage and have not reached the standard of mature plants. They are relatively not resistant to sunlight and have poor resistance. For example, it is known that Lithops need sunlight, but if the Lithops are too small and exposed to sunlight, they will basically be sunburned to death.
There is a relatively simple method to distinguish this, which is to look at the size of the plant. I personally feel that Sedum plants below 5 centimeters can usually be considered seedlings. Mesembryanthemum below 1 cm can also be considered. Cacti are a bit harder to say. Also, usually, powdery ones are more resistant to sunlight (powder can reflect sunlight and protect themselves), and thicker stems are also more resistant to sunlight (easier to buffer and dissipate heat).
4. Desert plants?
People always like to think of succulents as desert plants. However, this is not the case. Most succulents cannot grow in deserts. Sedum grows widely in southern China. Other genera should be called semi-arid or drought-tolerant plants. Taking Sedum as an example, they have not evolved to grow in such harsh desert environments. It's just that their growing environments may be relatively dry, or they may not have many opportunities to obtain water. For example, some grow on cliffs, rooftops, etc., where the soil layer is thin, and they cannot rely on the soil to provide enough water. Therefore, when it rains, they store more water.
Even for cacti, some may grow in arid areas, but they are close to the sea, with moist sea breezes blowing the coast every day, moisturizing the surface soil and plant surfaces. Only a few are very drought-tolerant and grow in environments close to deserts, such as Trichocereus. Therefore, it is not accurate to say they are desert plants. Knowing this can make us understand that succulents are not "averse to water" but "drought-tolerant," and there is a difference between the two, just like saying soil is permeable and water-retaining.
Therefore, it's not a good idea to keep the plants dry all the time, unless they are dormant. Otherwise, giving them some water is beneficial and harmless. Wild Sedum may not necessarily be short of water in their surroundings, and the soil conditions are poor.
5. Sunshade and ventilation
At the end of the day, sunshade and ventilation are the most important. This year, Beijing was affected by El Niño, with more sunny days in the summer, reaching a high of 42 degrees under the sun, and several days with temperatures above 35 degrees. Relatively speaking, there was less rainfall, so there were not many sauna days. Most plants can withstand strong sunlight, but not the闷热. This can be seen in my previous posts. Even on days with 42 degrees, there were only sunburns, not rot.
About sunshade, I tried a more clever method of sunshade this year, which felt good and I recommend it to everyone:
When it comes to sunshade, everyone recommends using shade nets. Shade nets are indeed effective, but they are a bit exaggerated for home use. Moreover, they also block sunlight from entering the room, which is a bit counterproductive. I did not use a shade net but placed the relatively tall and sun-tolerant plants on the outside to act as sunshade. This way, the smaller plants get a break under the shade of the big plants. Although the effect is definitely not as good as the shade net, it is aesthetically pleasing and makes better use of sunlight.
I recommend two plants for sunshade:
a. Original不死鸟 species: Similar to不死鸟, but the plants can grow very tall and have strong growth habits, making them a very adaptable variety.
b. Desert Rose: A oleander plant, a typical summer type, with high temperatures and strong sunlight being what it needs. Just looking at its native climate, it is a species that can handle 40 degrees without stress. It has leaves and is relatively tall, so it can create a large amount of shade, which is highly recommended.
Desert Rose in its native habitat
Also, as mentioned above, usually larger plants are more resistant to sunlight than smaller ones (when have you seen a willow tree die from sunburn?); so if you don't have similar plants, you can use other sun-tolerant large plants instead. With this kind of care, some varieties that are not very resistant to sunlight have received some protection, effectively preventing them from being sunburned or sun-killed. Place the relatively large plants outside.
About ventilation, I also changed some methods this year. Generally speaking, the ventilation conditions of outdoor cultivation are enough. Except for particularly stuffy, windless weather, most conditions can handle ventilation issues.
But indoor ventilation conditions are very important. I have about 20-30 plants indoors. In previous years, due to poor ventilation, black rot and other diseases often occurred, leading to the death of the whole plant. So-called ventilation does not necessarily have to have a strong wind blowing; a slight breeze is enough to dissipate the internal heat produced by the plants and prevent the reproduction of bacteria.
This year, I specifically added a few USB fans, and under the care of the USB fans every day, the indoor plants rarely had problems. Moreover, since the fans themselves also have a cooling effect, this also relieved the summer heat. Some dormant beaucarnea did not go dormant and continued to grow, which was quite pleasing.
USB fans are relatively safe, energy-saving, and inexpensive, and you can buy several to blow wind at different positions and angles, which can meet the need for multi-point air delivery without taking up space and is very effective.
6. Supplemental lighting
Talking about indoor cultivation inevitably leads to the issue of insufficient light, which is the limitation of indoor plant cultivation. Therefore, I highly recommend using supplemental lights. Supplemental lights can provide a stable light source for dormant, sun-intolerant, and seedlings during the summer. This is very important, otherwise, on sunny days the light is fine, but on cloudy days, your plants will all become spindly.
Supplemental lights usually do not sunburn plants. For plants that are struggling to survive the summer, fans and supplemental lights can provide them with more relaxed conditions. However, there are some misunderstandings about the use of supplemental lights, which I won't discuss in detail here. I'll just mention one point, which is distance; if it's too far away, it's useless. Usually, I use LED supplemental lights within 40CM. This depends on the specific characteristics of the light.
7. Small black pots
I also want to mention small black pots. These are very controversial pots. Generally, black pots are recommended because black absorbs heat, which can keep the plant roots warm and is very beneficial to the plants. Small black pots are indeed cost-effective, but during the summer, I had several cases where the high temperature of the small black pot bodies caused burns to the plant leaves.
Under strong sunlight, the temperature of the small black pot body can reach 60-70 degrees! When the leaves and pot body come into contact, it is easy to cause burns. Therefore, it is recommended to properly handle the small black pots during the summer. For example, you can place the pots in a place where they cannot be directly exposed to sunlight, or simply cover them with white pots. If it's really not possible, you can treat the contact point between the leaves and the pot body, and usually, this can improve things a lot.
8. Sunlight in early autumn
This last point should also be taken seriously. I later had some sunburns and burns, not caused by the summer, but by the sudden sunlight after the summer, when the weather was clear and the sun was strong.
In summary, it is mainly because the sun's altitude angle is not as high in early autumn, and the sun can shine in斜ly, making the previous sunshade measures ineffective. But the sun is still very strong, so the sun-intolerant varieties are also sunburned.
The above[] introduces the complete content of surviving the summer for succulent plants (summary by Beijing plant enthusiasts), have green plant enthusiasts understood it?