How to water succulent plants? How often should succulent plants be watered thoroughly?

In recent years, many people will plant a pot of succulent plants such as cacti on their desks to express their pressure, but do you know how to properly water succulent plants? Succulent plants need to be watered, but when watering, sprayers are applied to the surface of the medium. if too many water droplets are left on the leaves or bodies, the bacteria may multiply or the leaves may be burned by the sun.

Taichung Huabo Zhi Farm Museum on the 6th invited Zheng Zhongliang, manager of the Koo Yan Yun Conservation Center, to give a speech on "survival warriors succulent plants in a harsh environment."

Zheng Zhongliang said that succulent plants are defined from the perspective of "morphology". If the vegetative organs such as stems or leaves of a plant are specialized into a hypertrophic shape that can store water and survival resources, and living in an environment with extreme climatic conditions, it can be defined as a succulent plant. However, although the leaves of Phalaenopsis are very thick, they are generally not included in the scope of succulent plants. Sweet potatoes and so on will not be classified as a member of succulent plants.

Zheng Zhongliang said that some species of succulent plants have an obvious phenomenon of "convergence and evolution." the so-called convergence and evolution refers to two organisms that are far away from each other, which evolve in a similar pattern because they are in a similar environment. For example, Euphorbiaceae jade and candlestick Euphorbiaceae have fleshy stems similar to those of cactus. Generally speaking, watering once a month is the best.

Zheng Zhongliang also said that at present, there are about 1750 species of the cactus family, of which about 1600 species are succulent plants. Cactus plants are distributed in southern North America and Central and South America. Although Kylin is a cactus plant, it still retains unspecialized leaves, so it is not classified as a kind of succulent plant. As for how to tell the cactus? He said that it can be distinguished from the unique leaf needles and thorn seats of cactus plants. Leaf needles are generally called "thorns," which are specialized by leaves, while thorn seats are specialized by branches, and leaf needles are all developed in the thorn seat.

Zheng Zhongliang said that succulent plants, in addition to the cactus family, such as stone lotus and longevity flowers of the crassulaceae, ice flowers and stone jade of the apricot family, aloe and jade dew of the solar orchid family, triangular overlord whips, jade jade, green corals of the Euphorbiaceae, and Euphorbiaceae belong to the category of succulent plants.

Zheng Zhongliang explained that the special characteristics of succulent plants that survive in extreme climatic conditions include "succulent stems and leaves with thick cuticle thickness". It can avoid excessive evaporation of water, can resist strong sunlight and wind, etc.; "there are waxy, plush or thorns on the surface of stems and leaves", which can keep warm and avoid dirt. "specialized water collection mechanism", such as the thorn seat and leaf needle of "Golden Black Hat", can intercept and absorb the fog into its fleshy stem when it is foggy at night; the habit of flowering in the rainy season can avoid excessive consumption of water resources.

In view of the succulent plants that the general public often buy in the market, Zheng Zhongliang suggested that the medium of succulent plants should be used, such as red jade soil, fine sand, small crumbs, and a well-drained granular medium mixed with a small amount of cultured soil, while fertilizers can be used slow-acting synthetic fertilizers and placed on the surface of the medium. When watering, apply the medium spray wet medium, wait for the medium surface to dry and then replenish water, do not let a large amount of water stay on the succulent stem or succulent leaf surface, otherwise it may let bacteria multiply, water droplets may become convex lens sunlight concentrated on the leaf surface and burn leaves, succulent plants should be full-day sunshine, but should also avoid long-term rain.