Piante grasse cactus spine

Tag: copper

Here comes autumn: what treatments can we do to protect succulents and reduce losses?

With the beginning of autumn almost all succulent and cacti begin to prepare for the vegetative stasis which will last until February/March. In the winter months, cacti (with some exceptions such as Melocactus, Discocactus and epiphytes such as Epiphyllum) and many succulents (with the exception of those originating from the southern hemisphere or areas such as Madagascar) stop growth and go dormant to recover energies and be able to flourish during the following season. In these months the plants should be kept cold and should not be watered. However, it is useful to carry out some preventive treatments to prevent the formation of mold or fungi during these months, thanks to the winter humidity, which, when the temperature start to rise, triggers rot. Warning: preventive treatments with chemical products can be useful but do not necessarily have to be carried out. It is simply a preventive measure, since the best form of defense is always the spartan cultivation of plants accompanied by a good exchange of air during autumn and winter. There are growers who limit these treatments to the essentials, perhaps favoring products with a low environmental impact (I myself have adopted this decision for years) and growers who abuse chemical products in the hope of thus making their plants invulnerable to animal parasites, fungi and mold.

In this article, which completes what has already been explained in other articles (which you will find thanks to the internal links) we see what is advisable to do in these weeks to protect the plants and limit losses due to rot or parasites as much as possible. (…)

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Preparing cacti and succulents for spring: exposure, fertilizing, here’s what to do

Bright blooms, fleshy and brand-new leaves, sparkling spines sprouting from the vegetative apices: for succulent plants, spring represents a real rebirth. Here in Europe, the vegetative stasis that characterizes the winter of most succulent families ends between the second half of February and the beginning of March, when the plants gradually resume vegetation and reactivate the root system. For some families, the restart is evident: this is the case of Cactaceae, which already in February show new spines and often the first flower buds (genera such as Stenocactus, many species of Turbinicarpus, some Mammillaria, etc.). Also, leafy succulents such as Crassula, Echeveria, Portulacaria, Aloe, Adenium are well-known for producing new shoots, new branches and leaves. For other species as the Agavaceae family, the recovery is less evident: it slowly forms fresh sprouts at the centre of the apical rose, destined to be noticed only in a few months, when the separation of the true leaves will take place. Whether the recovery is sudden and flashy or slow and hidden, in March it’s essential to devote some extra care to succulents: in this way, it will be possible to obtain healthy and robust plants that show their full potential development and flowering.

Now let’s see everything we can do at this time of the year, especially if we don’t have a greenhouse and we grow on the windowsill, on the balcony, on a terrace or in the garden. With a warning: whatever you have to do, with succulents and cacti, you must not be in a hurry: hurry to water, hurry to treat, hurry to move the plants… Getting caught up in the rush, the anxiety, the fear of doing something wrong, is the best way to run into mistakes. So let’s see how to avoid them. (…)

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Spots on the stem and rot, here’s what you can do to save sick succulents and cacti

Circumscribed dark spots, yellowish spots, dryness, discoloration of the stems, reddening, small cuts: over time, signs of various kinds and of varying size may appear on the stem of our cacti. In some cases there is nothing to worry about, because they are small wounds caused for example by the thorns of a nearby plant, or because they are simply the signs resulting from the aging of the plant. In other cases, however, it is necessary to intervene immediately, because that spot is perhaps due to some fungal pathology destined to expand until it seriously disfigures or kills the plant. But how to distinguish a harmless thorn prick scar, for example, from dangerous rot? How to understand if that discoloration of the stem is caused by the sudden exposure of the plant to direct sun or by a lack of nutrients, or by the beginning of a fungal attack? And how to intervene to contain the damage or save the plant when the damage has already been confirmed?

This is what we will see in this article, with the help of a series of photographs that portray different situations and different pathologies. Some photos were taken by readers of Il fiore tra le spine and portray their plants: I thank these readers for agreeing to share their photos with me, thus collaborating in the creation of the following article. (…)

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Two useful products for keeping succulents healthy: Neem oil and copper oxychloride

Many cactus and succulent enthusiasts are convinced that the cultivation of these plants necessarily involves the use of chemical products against diseases and parasites. Others consider the use of these products simply as a component of cultivation to be used in certain cases; still others are not too subtle and at the cost of having healthy plants are willing to destroy their lungs, massacre bees and poison the environment. Talking to them is as useful as trying to convince an agoraphobic to take a walk in a desert. But these people, after all, grow for collection and not for love of Nature or a sincere passion for plants. This article, the result of my personal experience and therefore not to be considered as a “lesson” in an absolute sense, may be useful to everyone else. The experience has led me to drastically reduce the use of so-called “phytopharmaceuticals” or “phytosanitary products” (which do not include fertilizers), especially toxic and synthetic ones. I have undertaken this path for some years now for reasons of health protection (mine first and foremost) and the surrounding environment, considering that many pesticides have, among the various side effects, that of killing bees. The issue relating to the death of bees may seem of little importance to the uninformed, but in reality it has enormous importance on a global level from an environmental point of view.

Let’s see in this article how it is possible to reduce the use of pesticides and fungicides, limit ourselves to products with low environmental impact such as Neem oil and copper oxychloride and still have strong and healthy cacti and succulents. (…)

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When the cactus “explodes” from too much water: how to avoid cracks on the stem

Succulent plants, and cacti in particular, have evolved to accumulate water reserves and thus be able to deal with long periods of drought. In their natural habitats, cacti are subject to sudden changes in temperature between night and day, but also to an alternation between periods of total drought and periods of great water availability. In the sub-desert regions of the southern United States (California, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, etc.), as well as in Mexico, Central America and Latin America (Chile and Argentina, for example), during the growing season, corresponding to spring and summer, the hot, dry days are often abruptly interrupted by heavy downpours. If in nature the plants know how to manage these conditions without particular problems, in cultivation it can happen that the transition from the stasis season to the growth season, if accompanied by an overly “decisive” resumption of irrigation, gives rise to the phenomenon of splitting of the stems.

In this article we see how and why this phenomenon can occur, how to remedy it to prevent the plant from contracting rot and above all how to avoid splits. (…)

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