Unique Mexican Succulent - Echeveria: home care

Echeveria is one of the hardiest evergreen succulents of the family Crassulaceae. Differs in special decorativeness and unpretentiousness.

In nature, it can grow among the rocks, even with strong knowledge. There are more than 200 species of this "stone flower".

In the article we will tell about the rules for caring for the plant, about growing in the garden and preparing for winter. You can also see photos of the beautiful flower and find answers to such questions: the reasons for stretching the trunk, why paint the plant and how to do it at home, what diseases and pests is exposed to echeveria?

How to care?

Lighting

Echeveria prefers bright light in large quantities. Stocking up with sunlight, the leaves become dense, fleshy, elastic. In winter, to increase daylight hours, you need to use additional lighting with special lamps.

Important: the leaf plate is covered with a wax coating or a slight pubescence that protects the flower from direct rays.

Watering

How to water the plant? Watering for this succulent requires a minimum, only when the substrate dries by 3-4 cm.

In spring and summer, it is enough to moisten the substrate once every 7-10 days.

In winter, watering is reduced, it is enough to water the flower once a month.

Immediately after watering, drain the water from the panso as not to cause the roots to get wet.

It is also unacceptable that water gets into a leaf outlet. Do not spray the flower, you can cause rotting of the leaves.

Where is the best grow?

Pots are best installed on the south, southwest and southeast side of the house. The flower does not grow in the shade, flowering is problematic (how to get the echeveria arrow released and what to do next when it has faded can be found here).

Young seedlings must be gradually adapted to the bright sun, it is better to place the planting containers in places with diffused light. In the summer, it is advisable to rearrange the pots for fresh air in the garden, on the open veranda, balcony.

Temperature

Echeveria tolerates an increase in temperature in the summer to 25 - 27 ºС. During the period of active flower growth, from March to September, room temperature of 18 - 20 ºС is permissible, if the pots are installed on the southern windows. In winter, with the beginning of plant rest, the air temperature should be reduced to 14 - 16 ºС.

Attention: A sharp decrease in temperature to 5 - 7 ºС is unacceptable, the flower does not tolerate hypothermia.

Priming

The flower is unpretentious to the soil, the main condition is that the substrate should be lightweight, loose, with good drainage. For planting, it is better to buy special land for succulents and cacti. You can prepare the soil mixture at home.

The composition of the substrate for echeveria:

• Leaf land - 2 hours
• Sod land - 1 h.
• Dry clay - 1 hour
• Sand - 1 hour
• Drainage.

The composition of the drainage includes pebbles, small pieces of polystyrene foam, broken brick, charcoal. The drainage layer is usually a third of the height of the pot. You can prepare a simplified version of the mixture - mole and coarse sand, in a ratio of 1: 1.

For disinfection, it is recommended to steam the substrate in a water bath or calcine in the oven immediately before planting.

Pot

Given that the root system of the flower is superficial, the echeveria pots are selected to be shallow, almost flat. The diameter of the pot should match the size of the leaf socket. Florists recommend the use of ceramic containers for better breathability and thermal control of the substrate. Plastic pots quickly heat up in the sun, this can damage the roots.

Before use, the pot should be treated with boiling water or foundationazole for disinfection. It is recommended to clean the drainage holes regularly with cotton swabs so that the water drains do not clog, forming a stagnation of moisture in the substrate.

Top dressing

Fertilizers are applied only in summer and spring, during the growth and development of the flower. It is better to use special mineral complex feeding for cacti. Top dressing is applied after watering once every 2 to 3 weeks. Fertilizer concentration should be weak. From an overdose of top dressing, leaves can change color and structure. During the fall and winter dormancy, soil fertilizers cease.

Organic dressing is contraindicated for this flower, they cause infection of the substrate with harmful microelements.

Pruning

Special trimming echeveria is not needed. Only the peduncle is cut off after fully dried. Sanitary pruning of dry and damaged root processes, wilted leaves during a flower transplant is also carried out. Sometimes, with improper care, plant growth is disturbed, shoots are stretched.

Strongly elongated tops are recommended to be carefully cut. Place the cut should be sprinkled with crushed coal. Later from the internodes new shoots will begin to appear - children. The bush will acquire the necessary compact form.

Transfer

Transplant young echeveria every year. Adult bushes are replanted once every 3 to 4 years. Immediately after buying a seedling, it is recommended to plant the flower in a constant container. The substrate for planting must be calcined and well moistened. Immediately after planting, the plant is not watered for 5 to 7 days.

Before transplanting, watering stops for 1 - 2 weeks. The flower must be moved to the pot by transshipment. The earthen lump must be dried.

Read about how to transplant echeveria at home.

We recommend watching a video about a plant transplant:

Why paint them?

Painting fresh flowers - a commercial move manufacturers. Florists often use special coloring waxes, polishes for leaves, sparkles, luminous paint, thick dusting, spray paint for decorating flowers.

Unpretentious and seasoned echeveria and other succulents are often treated with such paints. Given the fact that echeveria in natural conditions grows in the desert among the sand, it can live for a long time under a layer of paint. Experts noted that even colored flowers continue their growth and throw out new sprouts.

Painting at home

1. A healthy adult bush is selected.
2. Paint is sprayed with a thin layer of a special airbrush.
3. It is advisable to color only the edges of the leaves so as not to completely clog the sheet plate.

It is important to remember that the paint clogs the stomata of the leaves, the exchange of air and water evaporation is disrupted, the leaves practically do not breathe.

Many flower growers do not recommend experimenting with a flower. There is a great risk of plant death. There are many hybrid varieties that have variegated leaf colors. For example, Peakotsky's echeveria leaves have a red edging, Lau variety is distinguished by a natural waxy gray coating on the leaves, Metallica grade is marked with bronze leaves with a white or red border.

Is it possible to grow in the garden?

Decorative echeveria is usually not planted in open flower beds. It is grown in pots as an indoor culture for interior decoration at home. The flower is often found in rocky compositions with other succulent plants in greenhouses and botanical gardens.

What to do to prepare the succulent for wintering?

Tropical flower in the open field does not winter. At home, echeveria needs a rest. In winter, the pots move to a bright, cool place. The optimum air temperature in this period is up to 12 - 15 ° С. Watering is minimized, it is enough to moisten the soil 1 time in 3 to 4 weeks.

What does it look like with good care and under adverse conditions?

Echeveria most often grows in a compact, undersized shrub. The trunk is branched, fleshy, almost invisible. The leaves are arranged very tightly, in a spiral, connected to a socket.

In violation of the temperature regime, the outlet may become loose, leaves lose their elasticity, lengthen, become pale. It is required to reduce watering and rearrange the pots in a lighter place.

From the dampness of the substrate and increased humidity, the stem can blacken, the leaves begin to fall off. It is necessary to stop watering for 1 to 2 weeks, rearrange the pots in a warm place. The flower is cold and damp..

Leaves can be deformed from frequent top dressing, for a while you should limit the amount of fertilizer.

If the leaves become small, rarely grow, transplantation is required. Perhaps the pot has become small for the root system. Also, the leaves become smaller and thinner from excessive drying of the substrate. It is necessary to strengthen watering.

Photo

Check out what the echeveria looks like in the photo with good flower care at home:

Why is the trunk extended?

A small trunk can be stretched if the air temperature during the rest period exceeds permissible norms. What if eheveria grows tall? You should rearrange the pot in a cool, bright place. From a lack of light in the winter, the bush is deformed, internodes begin to stretch upward, the trunk is very bare. Need pruning and rearrangement of pots to the south side. The flower needs additional illumination for 3-4 hours a day.

Bloom

In apartment conditions, echeveria blooms in spring or late summer. Long flowering, lasts for a month. Long thick peduncles grow from the lateral leaf sinuses.

The flower stalk can be bare and leafy, depending on the variety. Inflorescences are umbellate, combine bell-shaped flowers, five-petalled.

The flowers are usually bright orange, reddish, pink, yellow shades can be found. Inside the flower has a more saturated color. The flowers are small, up to 1 - 2 cm in length.

Diseases and Pests

Pathogenic bacteria and harmful insects appear due to improper watering and the location of the flower.

• With root and stem rot, an urgent transplant is required. All rotten roots and processes are cut out, the substrate changes. Quarantine and insecticide treatment are required.
• Gall nematode is a root disease. Transplantation is necessary, root treatment with hot water - 45 ° С.
• Soil and leaf treatment with soapy alcohol solution or phytoerm will help get rid of the root worm.

  To prevent infection of the flower, the plant should be watered with a weak solution of any insecticides.

• She lowered the leaves. If the flower looks wilted, the leaves are wrinkled, lowered, lost their density and elasticity, the soil may be dehydrated. Good wetting of the substrate with the addition of liquid complex fertilizers is required. Leaves fall from stagnation of water in the roots and low air temperature. Partially change the substrate, rearrange the flower in a warm place.

Caring for a plant is not difficult, by any grower. Echeveria reproduces well, takes root, and grows in apartment conditions.

Watch the video: Echeveria AfterGlow (December 2024).