Succulents not difficult to maintain at home, they are quite unpretentious in care. All succulents, without exception, require a lot of light, so it is better for them to choose the sunniest southern window.

Caring for succulents in winter

in winter when there is little light, Succulents are watered very rarely, and only so that they do not stretch too much. In winter, it is advisable to place them closer to the glass. And not only because it makes them feel lighter. It’s just that the air temperature near the glass itself is slightly lower than in the room. You can even shield the plants from the warm air. The winter temperature for succulents should be low, about +10 +12 °C. Such a low temperature is a condition under which some plants, for example,.

Caring for succulents in summer

At the beginning of March, some succulents are transplanted or transferred to new soil. The soil mixture for succulents should be water- and breathable, moderately nutritious, because in nature they grow in sandy soil. Therefore, at home, a mixture of equal parts of leaf soil, humus of their bark and sand is suitable for succulents.

From spring until autumn, succulents need regular watering and feeding.

Propagation of succulents

Succulents are easy to propagate, many even from leaf cuttings. These are sedums, kalanchoes, echeverias, pachyphytums. Even a small leaf that falls from a plant into the ground in a pot has every chance to take root and produce new shoots. All kinds of sedums can be propagated by stem cuttings, for example, Morgan's sedum, crassula, aloe, and stapelia.

Some succulents produce lateral shoots, which must be carefully separated and planted in the sand for rooting. But you don’t need to put succulent cuttings in water, they can quickly rot. Among succulents there are also viviparous plants, for example, bryophyllums.

Which succulent to choose for growing?

There can be no recommendations here - a matter of taste. You can choose slender spurge, very reminiscent of an antique candelabra. Or spurge spurge, which is nicknamed “crown of thorns.” It blooms all summer, and in winter it will attract your attention with its spreading, prickly branches covered at the ends with light green leaves. Spurge spurge is a fairly large plant and will require a lot of space, but you can also look for compact varieties.

What do you think of succulent sansevieria? It has gorgeous cylindrical leaves. A blooming epiphyllum cactus with wide leaf-like shoots will also look very impressive in the room. You can also choose an ampelous succulent, for example, Morgan's sedum, which looks very beautiful in hanging vases or on high shelves.

Succulents in a room can be grown in different ways: you can plant each plant in a separate pot. In this case, you can take square pots to save space.

But, if you are going to breed succulents, it is better to do it in a whole group. It is in the composition of different and so dissimilar species that all the originality of these plants, unusual for us, is manifested. For this, miniature succulents are taken; quite a lot can be placed on one windowsill, up to 60-70 species.

It is very interesting to create unique “desert corners” by planting several plants of various configurations and colors together in ceramic or plastic dishes, complementing them with one or more uneven stones.

It is advisable to sprinkle the surface of the soil in the container with sand or fine gravel. The height of the bowl should not exceed 1/3 or 1/4 of the height of the tallest plant.

To create a composition in a flat ceramic bowl, you can take a large round cactus, several lithops, or echeveria. Plant a gasteria or haworthia with a beautiful rosette nearby. In such a composition, pachyphytum with thick rounded bluish leaves resembling grapes, as well as low plants with creeping stems - sedums, monantes, crassula lycopsum - that hang their shoots from the edge of the bowl would be appropriate. This arrangement of succulents will be the envy of all your friends!

Images copyright flickr.com: himmelskratzer, sunshinesyrie, Becky in Texas, boisebluebird, yougrowgirl

If you are reading this article, then you are probably already in love with this beautiful group of plants - Succulents. Not surprising, because they perfectly decorate any room and are famous for their variety of colors and shapes. Many people have had Aloe growing in their homes since childhood, and now we have the opportunity to replenish our home collections with rarer and more interesting specimens.

Sowing seeds is the most common type of growing plants for many years. Succulent lovers probably want to purchase something new for their collection, something special, rare, unusual, at an affordable price.

For this purpose, sowing seeds are often used, which can now be easily purchased in online stores such as “Kaktusenok” or Aliexpress, having received new friends by mail. Having learned the basic principles of sowing and care, it is quite possible to grow many healthy, strong plants yourself at home.

It will be very interesting for you to watch the germination and development of the seeds of these wonderful plants. You will be able to select for yourself the most interesting specimens of seedlings, thereby expanding the collection.

How to plant and grow succulents from seeds at home? Our recommendations and photos will help you in this exciting activity. It is necessary to take into account a number of features such as:

Selecting a container for sowing

You will need shallow (about 50mm high) plastic containers with holes at the bottom and transparent lids. You can make one greenhouse from a large box with a lid or cover it with plastic wrap and place several small boxes with substrate and seeds there. Stores sell suitable greenhouses, but you can use a regular plastic container, the main thing is not to forget about the holes in the bottom of the container.

The soil

• Regular mixtures containing a coarse mineral base, such as sand, agroperlite, fine gravel, are suitable; you can also add a little crushed or granulated coal.
• You can purchase a universal peat filler - slightly acidic humus and add sand, crushed coal, and perlite to it in equal proportions.
• To prepare the sowing soil, it is better to use high-quality ingredients purchased in specialized stores. If you want to take sand, gravel or coal from a garden plot or forest, you need to thoroughly treat everything with a disinfectant solution, steam it or fry it.

If the seeds are large, they can be sown in granite chips or gravel and sand. Sowing seeds in purely mineral substrates reduces the likelihood of seedlings dying from rotting in the first couple of months of their life. But in this case, the seedlings need to be watered almost every day, adding special fertilizers.

Succulents such as Aloe, Haworthia and Gasteria are great to sow in clean perlite. Perlite has high moisture capacity and breathability. But we should also not forget that such a substrate does not contain nutrients. Perlite should be well moistened with water before sowing.

Sowing seeds

To distribute the seeds evenly, it is recommended to take a thick sheet of paper, bend it in half, and pour the seeds into it, then tapping it with a thin stick or needle, scatter it into the substrate. Changes are sown on top of the substrate, covered on top with a mixture of earth or a small layer of coarse sand, about 2 mm. The sprinkled layer should not be thicker than the size of the seed itself, therefore, if the seeds are very small, for example, like those of ficus, then it is better not to sprinkle them at all.

Don't forget to make plastic tags indicating the type of your plants, thanks to which you can always find out the name of your friend and clarify recommendations for his care.

We water the top with a small amount of filtered water at room temperature (you need to water it with a spray bottle), using the spraying method, so as not to wash away the soil with the seeds, and to prevent the seeds from penetrating deep into the ground. Next, cover with a lid or film. You need to cover the greenhouse before the seeds sprout and after, until the plants get a little stronger and reach a size of 1-2 cm. Then we gradually stop covering.

Seed germination time varies among different species. So the seeds of families Agavaceae And Liliaceae sprout faster, and Apocynaceae And Asclepiadacea long germination time, sometimes up to three months.

All this time, the seeds must be kept in moist soil, and only after 60-90 days will they begin to hatch. Therefore, you should not stop watering, thinking that the seeds were bad. Higher germination is observed in freshly harvested seeds.

Sowing care

To get maximum germination, you need to take into account factors such as temperature, lighting and watering:

• Optimal temperature for seeds in the daytime +20 - 26 degrees, the greenhouse should not be in the open sun. In summer, temperatures up to + 30 degrees during the day and + 18-20 degrees at night are suitable. At night, the seeds should rest from daytime temperatures. Drafts should also be avoided.

Haworthia and Dioscorea seeds require a temperature of +18-20 degrees for germination. It is better to sow them in winter or early spring, so that the seeds germinate in optimal conditions, and in the summer they can gain strength and get stronger.

If you want to sow seeds all year round, you will need to install a greenhouse and special lighting.

• Lighting good is required, but you should avoid direct sunlight, which can harm delicate, fragile plants. If young seedlings do not have time to grow stronger over the summer and reach a size suitable for comfortable life in winter (2-5cm), it is recommended to use phytolamps to extend the growing season.
• Watering The substrate should be regular; the soil should not be allowed to dry out completely, but the water should not stagnate. It is best to water little by little as the top layer dries out and sometimes leave it for a couple of days to dry out the lower layers of soil. Particular attention to watering is required in the first year of life. For the first couple of months, the soil should not be allowed to dry out for a day or more. Then you can gradually accustom the young plant to dry soil. In summer we water more often, in winter a little less.

As they grow, you can plant the seedlings in pots. A plant 2-5 cm high, which has several stronger leaves, is ready for transplanting. The amount of water for watering one independent plant is approximately 3-4 ml. It is convenient to use a syringe for these purposes.

Grown plants ready for transplanting. Photo taken from the site

Fertilization and disease prevention

For medicinal purposes and for the prevention of seedling diseases, fungicides (Vitaros, Maxim) can be used. They must be diluted following the instructions. Insecticides are also used, but only liquid, low concentrations. If you use nutritious soils, then additional fertilizers are not needed in the first six months. If the soil is completely organic, special fertilizers for cacti and succulents are suitable, strictly according to the instructions.

Propagation by cuttings and leaves

Not all lovers of succulents know that these beautiful plants reproduce not only by seeds, but also by leaves, stem cuttings, and children, which, if the necessary requirements and rules of care are met, germinate well and quite quickly form into an independent plant. Want to expand your collection, or give a succulent as a gift while saving money? You have a great opportunity to gain experience in this matter.

Where to start propagating succulents

So, a leaf or cutting of a succulent, how to get it and germinate it. Where do we start:

It must be remembered that succulents with thick, fleshy leaves (for example, Sedum, Sedum, Echeveria, Crassula) are propagated by leaf method, and only species with thin leaves (Adenium, Pachypodium, Euphorbia) are propagated by cuttings.

Sheet preparation

• You will need an adult healthy plant; the leaf or cuttings should not have damage or external signs of disease (dryness, spots, rot).
• You need to take a very sharp knife or blade and be sure to disinfect it.
• Carefully cut off a leaf or cutting at the base of the stem.
• It is forbidden Immediately plant the leaves and cuttings in the ground or place them in water. The leaf cut must be dried for two days under normal room conditions.

Preparing and planting cuttings

• Cutting It is recommended to treat the cut site with crushed charcoal, and if milky juice is released, rinse it with clean water and then treat it, and then dry it under normal room conditions. And then, germinate in boiled or filtered water at room temperature (it is important that the cut does not touch the bottom of the vessel for germination), or in fine-grain disinfected sand, seating the cuttings by 1.5-2 cm and fixing it on top with fine expanded clay. After planting in sand, it is necessary to water the cutting well with filtered (settled) water at room temperature.
• For successful germination and rooting, the room temperature should be maintained around 23-25 ​​degrees. Crassula and Euphorbia are well suited for water rooting, but Sansevieria root better in sand. For cuttings, you can use rooting stimulating agents (Kornevit, Epinom) following the instructions.

The soil

• Setting the stage to root a leaf: you need to take a ready-made substrate from the store, for cacti and succulents, and mix a small amount of sand, fine expanded clay or crushed coal into it. Can be rooted in clean sand. All planting materials must be disinfected. You can also add coconut substrate.
• After drying, the leaf should be placed on prepared dry soil at a slight angle to facilitate rooting.

Planting and caring for leaves and cuttings

• Care. To root a dried leaf not needed watering, but occasionally it needs to be sprayed.
• We leave our new plant in a bright place, without direct sunlight, avoiding drafts.
• When the fox the current will take root(after 2-3 weeks), you need to water it periodically as the top layer dries, 3-5 ml per watering, with filtered water at room temperature.
• After germination, the cuttings need to be transplanted into nutritious soil for succulents (described above).

As the new small plant sprouts, your mother leaf will dry out, but on the contrary, new shoots will appear from the cuttings, and it will continue to grow.

Video: propagation of succulents by cuttings

Anacampseros Anacampseros filamentosa

Most succulents in nature grow in climatic zones with sharp temperature fluctuations, both annual and daily. For some cacti, in their historical homeland, for example, in the desert regions of northern Mexico, in summer the daytime temperature can rise to 40-50°C, and at night drop to 10-13°C. In winter, daytime air temperatures there rise to 20°C and drop to +7°C at night. Many cacti come from here, for example, prickly pear, telocactus, lophophora, pediocactus, echinocereus, etc. The average annual precipitation is approximately 250 mm.

The homeland of Crassula is southern Africa, in particular the Cape province of South Africa. They are characterized by hot and dry summers with temperatures during the day 30-40°C, at night 16-17°C, and wet winters, when during the day 16-17°C, at night up to 8-9°C.

It is impossible to create such conditions in central Russia; in summer, daily temperature fluctuations are 5-10 ° C, for plants placed on the balcony, and this is quite unstable, but still more natural than if flower pots were kept indoors. That is why everything that is possible (pots with succulents) in the spring (April-May) needs to be moved to fresh air, or, in extreme cases, the room should be ventilated more often.

With the onset of autumn, in temperate climates there is a decrease in temperatures, an increase in air humidity and a sharp decrease in the amount of sunlight. We bring plants into the house, and try to achieve some balance between temperature, watering and light, in order to provide a period of rest, which some succulents simply need (many types of cacti), while others are optional, but forced due to the shortening of daylight hours (crassula, spurge).

Most succulents need a lot of light, usually full sun. The need for light may differ among different families and genera, but one thing is absolutely certain - among succulents there are no shade-loving plants, there are some that can grow in light partial shade.

The attitude towards direct sun is also ambiguous. So, almost all cacti, acacia, agave, require as much sun as possible; they grow in nature in open areas under the scorching sun. They should be placed in an apartment on a south window sill; a southeast or southwest window is also suitable if it is not shaded from the street.

There are succulents that need sunlight, but only in the morning or evening, at the hottest time of the day in the sun, they can get burned - they burn out, the color of the leaves or stems becomes reddish. These are plants such as cotyledon and crassula (crassulaceae), didierea (didieraceae), caralluma, duvalia and guernia (palsinaceae), godsons (Asteraceae), some types of aloe (asphodelaceae), haworthia and gasteria (asphodelaceae), etc.

These plants are best placed on east and west windows, or on a south window, with shade from direct sun during the hottest time of the day, which is from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shading can be a tulle curtain, a sparse mesh, or a veil.

Light requirements for many succulents decrease in winter, with lower temperatures and reduced watering. However, there are plants, for example some types of cacti, that even in winter need good lighting for successful flowering, because At this time, the birth of buds occurs. In many euphorbias, the formation of flower buds also occurs in the first half of October, when a temperature in the range of 20-22 ° C is needed to ensure normal development of bracts, and at this temperature very good lighting is necessary.

Additional illumination of succulents can be effective, but not for all plants (as a rule, succulent seedlings require this; “living stones” grow well under artificial light, etc.). Additional lighting with fluorescent lamps (including energy-saving ones) will help avoid stretching of shoots for those plants that do not need direct sunlight, so when choosing a succulent, you need to familiarize yourself with the growing conditions in advance. For plants that require full sunlight and warmth in winter, the need for light is so great that to provide it, they must be under lamps for many hours, and illuminated evenly from all sides (lighting from both above and from the sides). This is technically difficult to achieve.

It is much easier and more humane for flowers to survive the period from October to February in a cool place, and in an almost dry substrate. The lack of intense light, heat and moisture does not encourage plants to grow; they seem to fall asleep until spring, and you will not get elongated pale shoots and ugly trunks.

Watering succulents

Succulents are grouped into a separate group because they have a special relationship with moisture. These plants accumulate water in separate parts - stems or leaves, and are able to survive for a long time without watering. It would seem that during a dry period, cacti and other succulents should intensively consume moisture from succulent stems and leaves, but then they would quickly dry out and die, but this does not happen.

This is explained by the fact that there are special physiological adaptations against strong evaporation of moisture from the surface, i.e. reducing transpiration. Thus, in many succulents, the surface of the leaves, stems or trunk is protected from excessive evaporation by a waxy coating or pubescence. In addition, during these periods the intensity of physiological processes sharply decreases and extreme water saving mode is activated.

Gas exchange and evaporation of water in all plants occurs through stomata - these are pores, holes in the upper layer of the epidermis of a leaf or stem (in cacti). In succulents during the day in the hottest time, the stomata are closed, they begin to open in the evening, and are completely open at night, when the temperature drops sharply and, accordingly, the evaporation of moisture is several times lower than during the day.

Watering succulents should be carried out depending on the humidity and temperature of the surrounding air; this determines how quickly the substrate in the pot dries out.

Ordinary indoor plants, in the summer we water them abundantly, i.e. as soon as the top layer of soil has dried, it’s time to water, and if the soil is dry, then the plant begins to lose turgor (the elasticity of the leaves) and wither. We should water succulents moderately in the summer - the soil should dry out completely, and remain in this state for several days; it is quite possible that completely dry soil can remain for a week or more. When many plants become too dry, their stems and/or leaves shrink. If the weather is very hot, the time between waterings is reduced, but the soil should still remain dry for 2-3 days.

In winter, watering succulent plants also depends on temperature. So, at a temperature of about 6-8°C (some types of cacti require this), they are stored in a completely dry state, and can do without watering for 2-3 months. At a temperature of 12-14°C, watering can be carried out approximately once a month, or even less often.

However, there are cases when hosts can dry out succulent plants. For fear of flooding, watering is reduced so much that the plant begins to suffer from lack of moisture - the roots dry out.

Some succulents, for example, Haworthia and Gasteria, tolerate winter well in warm conditions at 20-22°C, if they have enough light. In this case, they are watered more often, about once every 1-2 weeks.

All these figures are very arbitrary, because... The evaporation of water from the ground depends on the composition of the substrate, the volume of the pot and the materials from which it is made. Therefore, only the appearance, condition of the plant and accumulated experience can suggest the correctness of the chosen care.

Soil for succulents

All succulents prefer soil that is loose, easily breathable and well-drained. In nature, some of them grow in rock crevices, on bare sand or a mixture of sand and crushed stone.

The main condition for substrates is, first of all, not nutritional value, or even acidity, but that it is well and evenly wetted, but dries quickly and does not retain water. Take, for example, peat - in its pure form it is not suitable for cultivation, because has a tendency to stick together, and when it is very dry, it is very poorly wetted and allows water to pass through. After watering, water lingers on the surface, tends to seep through the voids near the walls of the pot and flow into the drainage hole. Garden soil is a very imprecise concept - in gardens the soil can be peat, sandy, clayey or black soil, its only difference is that garden crops grew on it, for which fertilizers were applied and which changed its chemical parameters, but not mechanical ones. Garden soil can also stick together and cake; black soil is generally not suitable for succulents in its pure form - these are humus soils, which are not at all typical for the natural habitat of succulents.

There are a great many recipes for soil mixtures for succulents, including those on sale. If you look at the mixture in the store, then, as a rule, it contains peat soil, expanded clay and sand. But soil requirements are very individual, not only among different families, but even among different species of the same genus, so store-bought mixtures are not suitable for everyone, and experienced flower growers always prefer to make the soil themselves.

The need for a certain type of soil, nutritional value, proportion of constituent elements (sand, clay, gravel, crushed stone, lime, brick chips) also depends on the shape of the root system: succulents with thin surface roots are planted in soil with a larger proportion of sand and crushed stone, the substrate is light and loose. Succulents with a more powerful root system, with thick and deep water-storing (radish-like) roots (for example, euphorbias), are planted in heavier clay soil.

So, any soil mixtures for all succulents should include disintegrants: coarse river sand, fine gravel or expanded clay (particle size 1-5mm), well washed. It is permissible to add perlite or vermiculite (they have a high coefficient of water absorption) - they can, and even need to be added for soil mixtures consisting mainly of sand and crushed stone, because they allow water to pass through very quickly, without retaining it or absorbing it, and the added vermiculite is able to absorb moisture and gradually evaporate it, without direct contact with water, and there is no rotting of the roots.

Zamioculcas grows well only in a cramped pot.

Activated carbon is also used in soil mixtures for succulents. Not in tablets, medical, but in granules, it can be obtained in filters for kitchen hoods or water filters, or you can use crushed charcoal (burnt birch log, crushed into pieces up to 5 mm in size). Coal adds looseness to the soil, absorbs water to some extent, and removes impurities from the water (such as chlorine). It is added to approximately 1/10 of the total volume of soil.

The main components of the soil mixture are turf soil, leaf soil, heather soil, and greenhouse soil, in various proportions.
So, for example, a soil mixture for yucca can consist of 1 part turf, 1 part humus (well-rotted compost), 1 part sand and 1 part expanded clay (perlite).

And for milkweeds, the soil mixture is lighter: 1 part turf, 1 part leaf, 2 parts sand.

Turf soil can be found in meadows, or at a summer cottage; it is quite easy to collect it after moles - they leave entrances to burrows - low mounds of spent, loose earth. Leaf soil is half-rotted leaf litter that accumulates and rots for years under deciduous trees. It can be harvested in birch groves, but only in the spring, as soon as the snow melts, before the grass begins to grow. However, succulents also have different attitudes towards organic matter; some types of cacti absolutely cannot tolerate the presence of unrotted particles in the ground; then they choose deeper layers of leafy soil, where the litter has completely rotted and decomposed (there are no fragments of leaves or twigs).

Sand can be collected from the river, but it will have to be washed and sifted long and hard to remove silt and salts; it is much easier to buy it in an aquarium store, just like fine gravel.

About pots: The choice of pot depends more on the size of the plant. For large, heavy yuccas, crassulas, and milkweeds, it is better to take wide clay pots, and if the pot seems too bulky to you, compensate for this with a high layer of drainage at the bottom.

Small plastic pots are suitable for medium-sized haworthias, gasterias, aloe, and cacti.

Succulents are plants that have the ability to retain a large supply of water in their tissues. Externally, the leaves of succulents appear to be filled with water. These plants first appeared in countries with arid climates. Succulents are often very easy to care for and unpretentious. Succulents should not be overlooked when choosing indoor plants, as there are a number of flowering leaf and stem succulents that bring a lot of positive emotions to their owners.

Types of succulents

Succulents (from the Latin succulentus - succulent) are plants with fleshy leaves or stems in which moisture can be stored. Typical succulents are cacti. They mainly grow in areas with arid climates.

Succulents know how to protect themselves as much as possible from the variability of natural conditions by storing water and regulating their metabolic processes.

If we talk about what kind of succulents there are, then these plants can be divided into two groups - stem and leaf.

Stem succulents. Stem succulents store moisture in a thick stem. Very often it has a ribbed shape. The leaves of stem succulents are mostly small or have degenerated into spines.

Stem succulents include most cacti, as well as many types of milkweed.

Leaf succulents. Leaf succulents store moisture in their thick leaves. Leaf succulents include representatives of the following genera:

· lithops;

Haworthia;

· Echeveria.

A lifelong passion for houseplants for many people usually begins with one or two pots of cacti and a few pots of other succulent plants.

Succulent plants are great for children because they are easy to care for and won't harm if they are forgotten for a long time or if they are mishandled; they are also very easy to propagate.

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There are hundreds of succulent plants of different shapes and sizes.

Many of them have leaves collected in a rosette - this arrangement of leaves contributes to less evaporation of water in the desert conditions where many succulents come from.

As they age, some of these plants develop into “rosette trees,” with rosettes of leaves crowning tree-like stems.

Despite the variety of appearances, all succulent plants require the same care. For good growth, they need the same conditions to which they are accustomed in their natural habitat - deserts and semi-deserts, i.e. good drainage, sunlight, fresh air, water during the growing season, cool and dry soil during the dormant period.

For good development and long life, plants need a period of rest in winter and time in the fresh air in summer.

Choosing soil and pot for succulents

The main requirement for the substrate is that it should be perfectly and evenly wetted, but dry quickly and not retain moisture. So, peat is not suitable for them, since it can stick together, and when it dries out too much, it is difficult to moisten it. The store sells mixtures for succulents; they consist of peat, expanded clay, and sand. Succulents that have small roots located almost on the surface require soil that has a large amount of crushed stone and sand, very loose. Succulents with thick roots require heavy clay soil.

The substrate for succulents must include gravel, expanded clay, and sand. You can add vermiculite and perlite there; they absorb moisture and slowly evaporate it. Activated carbon is also added there; it makes the soil looser, absorbs water and removes impurities. Coal is added in a ratio of 1:10 to the total volume of soil. The substrate also includes leaf soil, turf, and heather.

The pot is selected according to the size of the succulent. Wide clay pots are suitable for large fat plants and milkweeds. And small haworthias and aloe are best planted in small plastic pots. If the flower grows, transfer it to a larger pot in the spring.

Caring for succulents at home

These plants do not require care, but you still need to know what rules to follow. All types of succulents have the same maintenance conditions. They all need good lighting, so the best place for them is a windowsill, and from the end of spring their place is on the balcony. They need moderate watering, once a week in warm weather, once a month in cold weather. Water for irrigation should be taken at room temperature. To ensure a comfortable winter, the temperature should be between 13-15 degrees. They are grown in flat pots with good soil drainage. Succulents need a substrate with a moderate level of humidity. Ready-made mixtures sold in stores often contain peat, which is not at all suitable for succulents. They require a mixture consisting of leaf, turf soil and coarse sand in equal proportions. Don't forget about soil fertilizers. In winter they do not need to be fed, which cannot be said about the growing season. Fertilizer is applied in the spring once a month. Purchase fertilizers from flower shops. It is not necessary to replant the plant annually. It all depends on his appearance. So, if the succulent is full of energy, grows, blooms and does not get sick, then you should not disturb it with transplants. If the plant has stopped growing, the skin has lost its elasticity or its usual color, and the plant itself is wrinkled in the spring, then urgent measures must be taken to replant it in another soil. Replant in dry soil mixture and water after a few days.

Propagation of succulents at home

Succulents are propagated in two ways: seeds and cuttings. If you notice that succulents are starting to actively throw out new cuttings, it’s time to start propagating the plant. This is not difficult to do, since even a small shoot or leaf that has fallen into nutrient soil has every chance of survival and germination. Cuttings are very easy to root. In spring or summer, cut off stems and leaves. Let them dry for a while; if the cuttings are large, then let them dry for 1-2 weeks. Then pot them in your succulent mix. They are watered infrequently; do not cover them with film or glass. Some varieties produce lateral shoots, which must be placed in water for a while, and then planted in the ground.

Propagation by seeds predominates in the natural growing environment. Seeds are distributed in different ways. Some seeds acquire flight adaptations to fly with the wind. Seeds that spread along with water flows are characterized by waterproof shells and light fabric that allows them to float on the surface. Small hooks on the seeds allow them to cling to birds and animals. Some fruits (for example, those of Cereus, Mammillaria and Opuntia) serve as food for animals. Undigested seeds end up in the soil along with animal droppings. Milkweeds catapult their seeds when their fruits burst.

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Diseases of succulents at home

If succulents are not properly cared for at home, they become susceptible to diseases and pests.

Of the harmful insects, the most common are mealybugs and root aphids. The wax threads or grains of scale insects look like small cotton swabs. They sit between the veins and in other dry places. If insects attack, try knocking them off the plant with a stream of water. If it doesn’t help, then you’ll have to resort to an insecticide. Root aphids attack the roots and can lead to the death of the plant. Here you will have to renew the soil and treat the roots with chemicals.

For prevention, before scale insects and scale insects come to life in the spring or red mites quickly multiply, you need to inspect the plants and immediately destroy the pests. As a preventive measure against mold fungi, at home you need to create optimal conditions for plants to grow. To care for succulents, diseased plants are isolated, exposed to the sun and monitored for dryness and sufficient fresh air. Plants with viral or bacterial diseases should be removed as soon as possible so that they do not infect other flowers. The light yellow color of young shoots is often the result of a place that is too dark. Intense exposure to the sun leads to the appearance of a reddish color. Root loss in succulents indicates overwatering.

The main property of succulents in their homeland - the arid territories of America and South Africa - is the ability to store a significant amount of water in their organs and use it sparingly during periods of sweltering heat.

Plants with succulent thick leaves where water accumulates - leaf succulents (agave, sedum, aloe, young, lithops). In most stem succulents (many types of cacti, milkweed), the leaves have transformed into needles or small scales, and water collects in thickened stems and roots. Caring for succulents comes down to infrequent watering, fertilizing and infrequent replanting.

Lighting

Succulent plants are very light-loving, and it is recommended to keep them in the brightest place in the apartment, where there is a lot of fresh air and no drafts. When placed on northern windows, they need additional lighting. Ripsalidopsis prefers partial shade.

In summer, it is useful to take succulents out onto the balcony or into the garden, protecting them from direct sunlight at midday. In winter, most of them are dormant and feel good at temperatures from +5 to +15 degrees.

Watering

One of the main rules for caring for succulents is proper watering. During the dormant period, water little, but do not allow the roots to dry out completely. Leaf succulents at this time need more moisture and heat than stem ones. In spring, moisture is gradually increased; it is more useful to spray first, and at the first signs of growth, switch to regular watering. Water for irrigation should be settled and at room temperature. Rebutia and Schlumbergera are very susceptible to excess moisture, and aloe can withstand without watering for a long time.

Before replanting, the plants are not watered for 3-4 days; it is not advisable to moisten the succulents after replanting, placing them in a place protected from the sun.

The soil

Replanting succulents begins in the spring. The earth mixture is prepared to be quite nutritious, loose, permeable, with a large amount of sand, consisting of turf soil, rotted compost, sand and expanded clay in equal parts. It is useful to add 1/10 of crushed charcoal from the total volume of the prepared soil mixture. You can purchase ready-made soil mixtures in the store, for example, Cactus substrate, Akadama, Biagro soil for succulents.

Adenium obese and astrophytum are planted in a substrate containing clay, spurge and rhipsalis prefer acidified soil, and lithops need crushed stone as part of the substrate. For the industrial cultivation of tirucalli milkweed, a hydroponic installation is used; its caustic milky juice is tried to be processed into oil.

During the period of budding and flowering, succulents are not replanted. Part of caring for young succulents is annual replanting; older succulents are replanted once every 2-3 years, when the roots become cramped in the pot, but it is advisable to replace the top layer of soil with fresh soil mixture at the beginning of each spring.

Feeding

Caring for succulents comes down not only to watering, but also to fertilizing. During winter dormancy, fertilizers are not applied. Fertilizing is carried out during the spring growing season no more than once a month. The composition of fertilizers differs from the standard for indoor plants in that they have a lower concentration (about 2 grams per liter of water) and a reduced content of nitrogen, which causes root rot in plants. Flower shops offer a sufficient range of preparations for feeding succulents - Stimovit, Pokon, ETISSO, Master, Humic fertilizer for cacti and succulents.

Aeonium arborescens and Echinocactus Gruzon are fertilized every 2 weeks in the summer. Selenicereus, whose large flowers appear only at night, needs weekly feeding. Aporocactus prefers irregular fertilizers, while haworthia and sedum manage with virtually no fertilizing.

Features of succulent propagation

Succulent plants are propagated by seeds or vegetatively (by cuttings or grafting). Cut cuttings should lie at room temperature for several days in a place protected from the sun. When the sections dry, they are placed for rooting in sand, perlite or peat. The substrate should be dry, cuttings of cacti should be deepened a little, other succulents should be placed deeper, then lightly watered and transferred to a greenhouse or windowsill. When the substrate dries out, cover the cuttings with a glass jar or film, ventilating daily. On warm days, the cuttings can be lightly sprayed, but it is not advisable to cover them wet. If roots have formed, remove the cover and begin regular watering.

Cacti are mainly propagated by grafting, but the grafting technique is very complex, and it is practiced by fairly experienced flower growers.

An unusual phenomenon is Gymnocalycium Michanovich with a pink, red or yellow body sitting on top of a green fellow, a cactus without chlorophyll, capable of growing only grafted onto another slow-growing cactus.

Lithops - “flowering stones” - reproduce by seeds.

Succulent plants are undemanding in care, and a novice gardener can safely choose them for their home.