What does fertilization mean to succulent plants until you see it?

Zhengwen

Photo: curator

As a diehard horticulturist (as opposed to a technocrat), Lao Jiang has been adhering to the indigenous spirit of China's 5,000-year-old agricultural power. I have always believed that "soil is the only reliable source of plant nutrition, and only soil is the medium necessary for plant rooting and growth." Soil has the ability of self-protection and regulation. When there are pests and diseases, the plants will die, and eventually the pests and diseases will lose their breeding ground. When the pests starve, the soil is still healthy. The soil is sterile and plants will not grow until the nutrients brought in by rain and air restore the vitality of the soil. Goats that eat grass eventually fall to the grass and become nutrients for the grass. Full branches of fresh fruit, although the consumption of soil nutrients, but after maturity, but will get all back to the soil. In nature, there are no pesticides or fertilizers, but natural soil has powerful forces that humans cannot replicate..." Although he was not religious, Old Jiang had read the Bible's chapters on agriculture several times.

It wasn't Old Jiang showing off. In fact, he really couldn't write anything. However, since this chapter had already been decided, it was still necessary to gather a few words. Let me briefly talk about my own understanding of fertilizers and drugs.

1. Effect of fertilizer on succulent plants

Plant growth, fertilizer is necessary, 100,000 why tell us, plant growth three elements, is the British found, through the ashes obtained after burning plants, scientists analyzed a large number of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and trace amounts of other elements. Therefore, the conclusion is drawn that the three elements of plant growth are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Nitrogen is mainly concentrated in the branches and leaves of plants, so by supplementing nitrogen fertilizer, it can promote the growth of plant branches and leaves, and flourishing leaves is the credit of nitrogen fertilizer.

Phosphorus is concentrated in the reproductive organs of plants-flowers and fruits. By supplementing phosphorus fertilizer, it can promote flower bud differentiation and fruit development of plants. The fruits are due to phosphate fertilizer.

Potassium is mainly concentrated in the rhizomes of plants. Supplementing potassium fertilizer can make the stems of plants strong, the roots developed, increase the lodging resistance and increase the ability to resist external attacks. It's rooted in potash.

In addition to the cloud-like trace elements, the role of fertilizer is generally no more than the above three points, as for the family cultivation of succulent plants do not need additional nutrients, ginger always holds reservations. It is believed that good soil preparation, coupled with regular pot and soil replacement, will make slow-growing succulents require little additional fertilizer. Unlike grass flowers, succulent plants have several leaves a year, resulting in very little consumption. Less consumption means less eating, and there are months of dormancy in the year. So, for nutrient needs, what's already in the soil is enough.

I have never seen succulent plants lack fat, but I often see fat burning roots. As mentioned above, the osmotic pressure of succulent plant roots is mainly aimed at excessive fertilization. When old ginger first raised meat, it has been superstitious about the effect of fertilizer. I didn't expect it to rot once. As a result, the effect of fertilization was not achieved. Turning over the basin and changing the soil had gained experience points.

But nothing is absolute; immutability is relative, and change is absolute. Fertilization is superfluous without cross-pollination requirements. But if there is a need for cross-pollination, the situation is completely different.

Plants need a lot of nutrients to blossom and bear fruit, not just the phosphorus we mentioned earlier. The flowering and fruiting of a plant is an important life cycle, so at this time, all the tissues of the plant will cooperate with this important action of bearing offspring, including: the stem will be thickened to prevent the flowers and fruits from being too heavy and lodging. The roots dig deeper, helping to absorb more nutrients. Some plants even shed their leaves properly to avoid blocking insect pollination and fruit lighting.

To sum up, plants need more nutrients to support flowering, which in addition to the accumulation of early, more is the need for timely external supplement. Wild reed is not better than artificial cultivation. Although wild reed will grow 3 or 4 flowers and produce dozens of flowers, not every flower has the chance to pollinate successfully. On the contrary, this proportion is even zero when it is more. (This is determined by the structure of lily flowers) and domesticated is different, pollination success rate will be much higher, sometimes even a flower sword knot ten or twenty seed pods. The same is true of apricot plants. Therefore, home-grown succulents need more additional fertilizer to meet the consumption of cross-pollination.

Flowering fertilizer is mainly phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, supplemented by other elements, and it is best to apply it in liquid form for rapid effect. You can choose professional flower fertilizers such as flower friends and flowers, or you can apply potassium dihydrogen phosphate directly. The application ratio is controlled at about 1:2000, that is, 1 gram of fertilizer with 2 kilograms of water. Here to explain again, some immortals will think that the ratio of 1:1000 is more appropriate, but that is in the greenhouse and greenhouse cultivation environment, plant growth can only use this concentration, family environment, plant absorption of nutrients is far less than the greenhouse and greenhouse, so can be as light as possible.

Fertilization time selection in the flowering period, that is, the beginning of the flower sword, once a month, along with watering together with the application. Apply until the pods are ripe. Individuals who need to control flowering and coordinate flowering time can apply less or no fertilizer.

Old ginger knows so much about fertilizer. If you go on, there will only be nonsense left. Stop here. Talk about drugs.

2. Effects of drugs on succulent plants (excluding growth drugs)

Succulent plants have few pests, even if it comes from South Africa. The harsh environment of the African continent has created a strong adaptability of succulent plants. It is estimated that it is due to exotic species. The overall impression that the house-raised reed and apricot give me is that chickens do not peck ducks and don't bite ducks. Common red spiders and scale insects are nowhere to be seen. Occasionally, a small black insect will fly out of the soil, which is harmless.

However, I have heard about pests and diseases on some flower friends 'blogs, mainly the harm of larvae of flying insects such as Qin mosquito to seedling roots. Although I have never experienced it myself, I suspect it may have something to do with the nature of the soil these flower friends use. These flower friends add natural ingredients such as moldy soil, cinder, etc. to the medium, or even use all these materials. Natural things are good for the environment, but it is difficult to avoid the eggs and germs. Over time, it was only natural for insects to grow.

Old ginger medicine experience is not much, many times, a plant has symptoms of rotten lesions, old ginger also prefers to use surgical methods to completely eliminate lesions. In retrospect, in fact, prevention should be the main focus. Now that technology is so advanced, it is too bloody to not make good use of the power of technology and cut things with a scalpel all day long... Therefore, there was a time when Old Jiang had also spent his time doing superficial research on medication. Here is a brief account of his experience.

For ordinary horticultural enthusiasts, the most used anthers are broad-spectrum fungicides such as carbendazim, thiophane methyl, chlorothalonil and expired pesticides such as carbofuran (carbofuran has been banned by the state due to its high toxicity and high residue). For home cultivation, the above several drugs are enough to deal with common diseases and insect pests, but the specific use of which drugs, how to use, but there are other mysteries.

Common horticultural plant diseases are leaf rot, root rot, and fungal infection caused by a series of hazards, each disease if not treated in time, will lead to the decomposition of parts of plant organs or even the death of the whole plant. However, bacterial leaf rot and root rot rarely occur in South African succulents (except when the wound is not treated in time after physical injury). The only threat to succulents is fungal infection, which is manifested in large areas of fungal infection caused by poor ventilation, moisture and poor disinfection of cultivation media, which is commonly referred to as "long hair". Especially the seedling stage has the highest outbreak probability.

It needs to be explained here that the "long hair" on the soil surface is a fungal infection, which is a pathological appearance, while the hyphae inside the medium is an inevitable phenomenon of soil organic matter decomposition, which is a normal phenomenon. Fungal infection uses plant tissue cells as a source of nutrients, eventually leading to plant tissue decay. The hyphae inside the medium are a kind of scavenger bacteria, and also a kind of probiotic bacteria that decompose the organic matter in the medium to help the plants absorb, and will not harm the living plants themselves. (Except for the heat generated during bacterial reproduction) These two need to be treated differently and never killed with a stick.

Through the above analysis, we also need to have a choice in the use of antibacterial drugs. We all know that carbendazim and thiophanate-methyl are broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs, mainly against bacterial infections. Chlorothalonil is mainly used to kill fungi. In the process of family cultivation of succulent plants, chlorothalonil should be used as the main drug for preventive application because it is mainly resistant to fungal infection. In order to avoid the occurrence of drug resistance, carbendazim and methylate can be used alternately. After pruning and shaping, the wound should be treated mainly with carbendazim and thiophanate-methyl, and the effect of chlorothalonil would be much worse. Drug use should pay attention to "prevention first, alternate use, increase concentration, reduce the number of times" this 16-word formula.

Prevention first, that is, prevention before the beginning of the disease control, do not wait until you see the focus to apply medicine, at this time even if controlled, will also affect the plant appearance, and even future health. The period of general seasonal alternation is a critical juncture for preventive application.

Alternate use, that is, to prevent the emergence of fungus resistance, the same drug used up to 3 consecutive times, should be replaced by other. Otherwise, once resistance develops, application is like watering and has no effect. And you lose one drug that can be replaced, which increases the frequency of use of other drugs, causing other drugs to fail because of drug resistance.

Increase the concentration, which is a common drug strategy for animals and plants. For routine diseases and explosive acute infections, increase the concentration by 30-50% on the basis of the concentration in the instructions, which can achieve good results in a short time. Under the sterile environment of high concentration drug manufacturing, the infected individuals can improve their resistance and recover their health early by strengthening management and follow-up maintenance.

Reduce the number of times, this is relative to the increase in concentration, as mentioned above, there are probiotics in the soil. Sterilizing drugs kill probiotics indiscriminately while treating. Probiotics are good for improving soil quality and preventing hardening. Therefore, medication should take this factor into account and do not use drugs too frequently. Probiotics should be given proper growth space. In addition, reducing the frequency of drug use can also prevent the development of drug resistance. It is suggested that the interval of application for prevention should be 2 months, which can be increased appropriately during seasonal alternation.

Finally, two tips:

1. After sowing, if it rains continuously, the soil in the basin is too wet, and the fungus is easy to break out in the basin. At this time, medicine must be given. But since the pot soil is already in a very wet state. The conventional pesticide application undoubtedly adds moisture to the humid environment, which is very unfavorable for seed germination. At this time, the dry powder of the drug can be directly and evenly sprinkled on the basin surface without dilution with water.

2. Conventional sterilization drugs are powders that use talc powder as a carrier.(The white powder we see is actually talc powder, and the ingredients of the real medicine are invisible.) After diluted sprinkler irrigation, white spots will be formed on the surface of plants, affecting plant beauty and photosynthesis, and it is difficult to remove. It is recommended to stand for 2 hours after dilution of the drug. After the talc powder precipitates, only the supernatant is used for sprinkler irrigation (that is, the active ingredient of the drug), so as to avoid the above pollution.

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