Succulents are a type of plant especially appreciated in gardening and decoration for their striking and peculiar shapes, very different from those of most other types of plants. In addition, many of them originate from desert or very arid environments, so they are very resistant plants that tend to require little care, in addition to being very easy to multiply.
If you want to learn the succulent care and what are the main characteristics of these beautiful plants, join us in this Green Ecologist article.
Most succulents share some characteristics, let's see them:
It must be borne in mind that succulents are not a single family, but many of them, and they 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 a few things. In short, these are the main care of succulent plants need:
Most succulents come from desert environments where they are exposed to very high temperatures and a very intense solar influence. However, to have 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 protected from the most intense hours of sun. One way to know that they are getting too much sun is if you see that the leaves are 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 watering. In fact, the vast majority of succulents do not tolerate excess moisture in the substrate, and if you puddle them when you water them or water them too often, it is very likely that their roots will rot and the plant will die. In most cases, a watering every 10 or 15 days, or 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 catch the water it needs without suffering from excess humidity afterwards.
We also recommend that you learn from these guides to recognize When to water plants and How to water succulents - tips.
Succulents are not at all demanding with the nutrients of the soil, 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 dosage and frequency indicated. An excess of compost will not do them any good either. The ideal is to use substrate for cactus or succulent plants, or at most a mixture of this with a universal substrate.
Here is a guide for you to know How to make a substrate for succulents.
Finally, we offer you more tips for caring for succulents:
Also, do not miss this other guide to Transplant succulents: when and how to do it and this video from our YouTube channel about the succulent care.
If you want to read more articles similar to Succulents care, we recommend that you enter our category of Cultivation and care of plants.