Every cactus is a succulent, but not every succulent is a cactus: here, let’s talk about the second group, the cousins of the kings of the desert, small, fat and without thorns.
It is not very difficult to take care of a succulent. So if you love plants but often watch greens wither despite your best efforts, succulents might be the answer. Carol Costa, a journalist specializing in gardening, explains: all they need is lots of sun and little water.
However, there are some important tricks. One of them is to pay attention to watering: it is very common to drown succulents in home cultivation. To prevent the roots from becoming puddled, invest in pots with holes (even if they are not in a traditional model, like the examples in this other article) and in a mixture of sand and soil for drainage.
But what about the frequency of watering? The weekly amount will differ depending on the season and temperature. More than focusing on a specific number of irrigations, notice the appearance of the plant and the soil, which must be kept moist, never soaked.
To measure, just pretend the earth is that delicious chocolate cake in the oven and stick a toothpick. If it comes out dirty, it’s not done yet. That is: it’s not time to water. Leaving dry, you can take the amount of water from a disposable cup of coffee and put it in, slowly and with common sense. A good idea is to use a plastic tube, like those in a cafeteria, to dose the amount well. For large succulents, the scheme is the same, but with larger measures.
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Pay close attention to the size of your plant. Succulents that become long, with well-separated and even slightly sagging leaves, suffer from a lack of sunlight. The healthy plant is quite compact. Take them out for sunbathing in the morning to prevent them from losing their natural shape.
Also avoid those white pebbles, small, used to decorate vases: they are nothing more than chopped marble and, when wet, release a dust that is harmful to the plant. In their place, prefer natural coverings such as pine bark and rice straw.
The succulents worked, you liked it a lot and now you want to replant? Making the switch is easy: cut the stem of the succulent and let it dry for two days – if it is replanted immediately, it will fill with fungus. Then just put it back in the ground and wait for the plant to “take”!
Discover some species of succulents that look beautiful at home: