To all you aspiring, charmingly chaotic or secretly lazy plantladies out there: nothing better to release your budding (or non-existent!) plant care skills on than cacti or succulents. They need so little time and attention; it is almost impossible to kill them. Personally, I started my plant collection with some cacti. For some reason I never really got into the succulent game. So, when the lovely people from Plantiful.be contacted me for a collaboration, I took my chance to fill this gap in my plantlady skill-set.
Next to a beautiful collection of succulents and cacti (delivered right at your door in a pretty pot! Easy peasy), Plantiful.be offers plenty of tips on how to take care of your new plant friends. So I thought I’d share some of there pearls of plant-wisdom. Not in the mood to read the deets? It comes down to this: sufficient sunlight, not too much water, dry periods and a bit of food from time to time. No rocket science.
WATERING
- Less is more! The most common cause of succulent victims is overwatering. Only water when you are sure the soil is completely dried out.
- When the plant looks slack and a little shrivelled, it needs more water.
- During summer, every 4 weeks should do, during winter it’s good to maintain a dry period of a few months.
- Make sure to always remove any leftover water from the (ornamental) pot.
- Succulents with thinner leaves need more watering than those with thicker leaves, as the latter can store more water in their leaves
- When in doubt: don’t water!
LIGHT
- In general succulents need enough light, if not their colours will become dull.
- On the other hand: too much direct sunlight for an extended period of time could create burn marks
REPOTTING
- Your succulent friends like a new home every now and then, as their current one can get saturated by chalk and fertilizer residue.
- Renewing the soil gives them plenty of new nutrients to grow and bloom.
- You can repot all year round, unless the plant is in bloom.
- Go for a new pot that is about 20 or 30% bigger, but not more
- Use soil especially for cacti and succulents
- Make sure the clod is dry and only water several days after repotting, as the plant needs to get comfortable in its new home first
MAINTENANCE
- Some succulent’s leaves can die off. Remove them carefully, as they can induce diseases or rot.
- Fertiliser helps your succulents grow big and strong. Use adapted fertiliser for cacti and succulents, only during spring and summer.
- Your succulent is acting weird, and you don’t know what its issue is? Head over to the Plantiful chatbox, the plant doctor will know what to do ;)
Armed with these tips, I should be able to keep the two new members of my plant family (a cute Aloë Longistyla and a quirky Crassula Horntree) alive, shouldn’t I?
And how about you? Tempted to try this at home? ;)
Love,
C.
