Piante grasse cactus spine

Tag: neem oil

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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Cacti and diseases: stop anxiety, sometimes we can’t help but let Nature take its course

Let’s talk about cacti and diseases starting from a simple photo. The plant that inspired this article, and which you see above, is (or rather, was) an Ancistrocactus (=Glandulicactus) mathssonii. I had obtained this specimen with my sowing about ten years ago and fortunately eight or nine other “brothers” of this plant are still in perfect health, growing and flowering regularly. This particular plant, although treated exactly like the other specimens of that sowing and planted in the same type of substrate in which my other mathssonii live (clay, marl and 60% aggregates), a couple of years ago took a fungal pathology and within a few weeks it was dead. I think it was fusarium, but today it doesn’t matter, because the disease has run its course and what remains is… the armor of this cactus, that is a beautiful interweaving of thorns that embraces the void left by the stem which, over time, it dried up until it decomposed and disappeared altogether. The observation of what remains of this plant, which for a couple of years I have kept along a low wall not far from the greenhouse, where I usually move the diseased plants (by diseases, in this case, I mean generically pathogens and parasites) to prevent them from infecting other specimens, led me to some considerations on the cultivation and treatment of plant diseases.

Considerations that I have condensed in the following article an excerpt of which was also published in the British Cactus and Succulent Society newsletter. (…)

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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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Diseases and pests of cactus and succulents: how to recognize them and how to prevent their attacks

As much care as we can give to our cacti and succulent plants, some drawbacks with parasites, pests, infections and fungi can always happen. Unfortunately, it must be considered, particularly if you have many plants. With proper cultivation, however, the problem can be significantly reduced and the number of losses caused by animal parasites and bacteria can be considerably reduced. It may seem obvious, but the first and most effective tool for the fight against pathogens and harmful insects is prevention. Prevention is done through a cultivation regime as natural as possible that respects the cycles and times of plants without forcing their growth. Just in this way cacti and succulents grow healthy and robust to the point of being able to cope with adversities on their own. In the last few years, thanks to natural cultivation and treatments based on pesticides reduced to a minimum, I have no longer observed any attack on my plants by animal parasites. Sometimes I may have some losses due to Fusarium, but they are single specimens, never large scale infestations.

In the following article, we will see in detail what consists of prevention; which are the pests and diseases that can affect cacti and succulents; such as the symptoms of their action on plants, and how to carry out treatment and care in case of problems. (…)

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