succulent care

Most succulents share some characteristics, let’s see them:

• All of them they store water in its leaves, roots or stems, which acquire bulky and fleshy forms.
• tend to be plants very resistant and also of undemanding care.
• They have a reduced metabolism, and a very short flowering period.
• Unlike other plants, they open their stomata to breathe at night and thus lose less water.

Keep in mind that succulents are not a single family, but many of them, and have a huge number of species. Because of this, their needs can be quite different depending on the specific species. However, most of them share some things. Briefly, these are the main care of succulent plants they need:

• Light: the vast majority of succulents need large amounts of sunlight, even direct.
• Land: They are not fussy plants with nutrients, so they just need good drainage.
• Irrigation: They do not tolerate excess watering or flooding.
• Climate: most of them are from warm climates.

Most succulents come from desert environments where they are exposed to very high temperatures and intense solar influx. However, to keep them at home they do not need to be exposed directly to the sun, and in fact, many of their species will dehydrate if you expose them to very intense sun.

Thus, the ideal is to keep them in very bright locations, but sheltered from the most intense hours of sun. One way to tell that they are getting too much sun is if you see the leaves drying out or turning brown or reddish.

Since these plants are capable of storing large reserves of water in their leaves or stems, most of them hardly require irrigation. In fact, the vast majority of succulents do not tolerate excess moisture in the substrate, and if you flood them when watering or water them too often, it is very likely that their roots will rot and the plant will die. In most cases, a irrigation every 10 or 15 daysor at most a weekly watering in the warm months. Also, many species of succulents are hanging or aerial. In these, it is best to practice immersion irrigation, which allows the plant to take the water it needs without suffering from excess moisture later.

We also recommend you learn with these guides to recognize When to water plants and How to water succulent plants – tips.

Succulent plants are not at all demanding with soil nutrients, so the priority when choosing the substrate is that it offers good drainage. If you fertilize your succulents, use specific fertilizer for this type of plants, and pay attention to the indicated doses and frequency. An excess of fertilizer will not do them good either. Ideally, use substrate for cacti or succulent plantsor at most a mixture of this with universal substrate.

Here we leave you a guide so you know how to make substrate for succulent plants.

To finish, we offer you more succulent plant care tips:

• Succulents tend to take a long time to flower, sometimes even many years. In addition, many of them will never bloom if they are not in optimal conditions, so if you want to be able to see their flowers, make sure that all the conditions listed above are met.
• Unless it’s a tropical succulent that specifically needs it, don’t spray or spray your succulents. This will provide the leaves with moisture that they not only do not need, but can favor the appearance of fungi.
• Succulents are very easy to propagate due to the suckers they tend to produce at the base of the mother plant. If you separate them carefully with a fork, trying not to damage them, you can plant them in a new container to make room for another plant just like it. Learn more about how to do it correctly with this other EcologíaVerde article on How to reproduce succulent plants (you can also see the video guide below).

Also, don’t miss this other guide to transplant succulents: when and how to do it and this video on our YouTube channel about the succulent care.

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