Getting started: the next five steps

In my last article, I discussed what I believe would be the good first five steps one should take when contemplating to start a cactus and succulent (C&S) collection, whether on a grand or small scale. One of those thoughts had to do with getting a good book on the subject and reading up first and foremost before taking the plunge. I left out one other very important (and obvious) source of information: the Internet. There is a tremendous wealth of excellent information available on the Internet, to the point where I am quite sure book sales across the board have suffered.

Anyway, in today’s article, I purposely left out captions to accompany and identify the various photos. Call this a little test if you will. I thought it might be interesting for our readers to try to figure out what some of the species featured here are, relying on a variety of sources including past knowledge, discussions with fellow collectors, maybe a book or two, or even the Internet. In order to help you identify the mystery plants, a few hints are in order: There are some relatively easy to grow plants featured here which are absolutely ideal for beginners. These would include a number of gymnocalyciums and a potful of frailea seedlings which can take liberal watering and still look fantastic. Then there are plants that are considered a bit more temperamental, but which I have found to be quite easy to grow in Metro Manila. These would include a turbinicarpus and an obregonia. And finally there are plants featured here that are typically not ideal for the beginner because of the cultural challenges they present in our humid environment. This category includes a few astrophytums, one of the harder-to-grow-well haworthias, and a very rare euphorbia from Somalia, which even expert growers globally have had fits with. There’s also a monstrose cactus in the group, just to spice things up. Happy researching!

Now for the topic on hand. There are a few more guiding principles the novice collector should be aware of as he/she embarks on this succulent adventure:

1) "Down Under" is more important than "Mt. Everest." I wrote about this guiding principle once before in a feature on haworthias, and in particular, the guru grower of succulents, Steven Hammer. I must reiterate this point again. As far as overall plant health is concerned, it’s the part of the plant that you don’t see because it is under the growing medium, which is the most important to think about when rearing your plants – the roots. Healthy roots = healthy plants. Conversely, if the roots aren’t in good shape, there is really no way for your plants to be in good shape either.

In fact, unhealthy roots will ultimately lead to the demise of your wards. A plant may look good from above (i.e., the plant body itself), but if the roots have been damaged, overwatered, severely attacked by root pests or some other calamitous situation that’s not quickly rectified, the visible plant body above will soon lose its vigor and deteriorate. So when growing C&S (or any other plant, for that matter), take the down-top approach (vs. a top-down one). Think about root health and vigor first. If the roots are in good health, the plant will most probably be in good health, too. When buying new plants or checking your own collection, check to make sure the plants are sturdy and well-anchored.

2) Type of pots – clay, plastic or glazed? Many books start with a discussion of growing medium or soil mixes before getting into a discussion about the pot, which will hold the medium and the roots of your plants. I take a different approach and choose to discuss the pot issue first because the pot you choose will then determine the ideal type of soil mix or growing medium. The rule of thumb is that plastic pots dry out a lot more slowly than clay pots. Glazed pots are sort of in-between; while the inner part of these pots acts just like a clay pot and absorbs moisture, the outer glazed portion of the pot keeps moisture from leaving the pot. In our damp, humid environment, it’s safer to use a clay pot since excess moisture can be absorbed by the pot and the growing medium should dry out faster as well, in principle of course. However, one also has to water more often when using clay. I have friends in the hobby who use clay and find themselves watering their plants every other day during our hot summers! I use both clay and plastic for my collection. And I grow many rarities and root-rot prone plants like ariocarpus in plastic. In these cases, I water very carefully and not very often, i.e., once a week at best, once every two weeks in most cases, and I don’t give much water either.

I have several greenhouses and I don’t mix plastic with clay, so that I can keep my watering regimen uniform for each greenhouse; that is, one greenhouse is all clay pots and the others are all plastic. Oh, and before I forget, always use a pot with a good drainage hole at the bottom. Pots without holes to allow excess water to drain away are a death trap for your C&S’s roots.

3) Size of pots. The size of a pot matters. Smaller pots tend to drain much quicker than larger pots. A two-inch pot requires more watering than a five-inch pot located in the same location. If you plan to water your whole collection on a particular day (instead of watering all the smaller-sized pots more often), what I do is I give the same amount of water to a two-inch pot as I do to a four- or even five-inch pot. I find that the pots will generally dry out around the same time. Also, C&S generally do better when you "underpot" them. Don’t use a pot that’s obviously too big for your plants. Doing this will actually be detrimental to the plant as an oversized pot holds more "dangerous" stores of water. Use a pot that looks and feels just right. Use half pots or shallower ones for C&S with shallow roots, like many mammillarias.

4) Growing medium. So many different formulas, recipes and concoctions have been developed by growers worldwide through the years. Some growers believe they’ve unearthed the lost "Ark of the Covenant," like Indiana Jones did, and have discovered the one true formulation for their soil mix which can be used anywhere and by anyone with success. My advice here is this: there is no Holy Grail here; there is no one recipe for success. A growing medium that proves successful for one may be absolutely disastrous for another. So many factors affect the type of growing medium to be used, including type of pot, light conditions, air ventilation conditions, watering habits, and the type of C&S you are growing. All come into play. But a simple rule of thumb here is to mix a medium that would be very porous and well-draining, allowing excess water to drain away. Ingredients that increase the porosity of your growing medium are stuff like perlite, pumice, crushed lava rock, crushed brick, grit or small pebbles, and very well-washed river sand (i.e., sand which has been sifted of small particles and washed so it doesn’t cake and suffocate your C&S’s roots). The first three have the advantage of also storing water for your plant’s use, and letting excess water simply drain away.

For the non-porous, nutrition-giving portion of your mix, one can use good loam (sandy loam is best), which doesn’t cake like clay, coconut coir, leafmould or compost. The percentage of the "porous" materials which you incorporate into your soil mix again depends on the factors cited above and the type of plant to be cultured can go from 75 percent non-porous, 25 percent porous to 25 percent non-porous and 75 percent porous. A little experimentation may be called for with some common, easier-to-grow C&S first, before you take the deep plunge.

5) The watering can. Many growers believe this is the trickiest item in the cultural regimen, and I have to agree. More C&S are killed from overwatering, although under-watering is also a bad thing, but not quite as immediately life-threatening as the former. In an ideal world, most C&S like to get a good drench, and then the water fairly quickly dries out from their growing medium so that the roots don’t get water-logged. C&S roots can literally drown from having too much water around them. In dry, temperate climates, one can get away with more watering, but in damp, humid environments like ours, one has to be even more vigilant.

If at all possible, I would experiment as follows: Take a four-inch diameter pot and fill with a mix composed of 50 percent porous and 50 percent non-porous growing material. Water until water starts to drip from the pot hole. Then place the pot in a sunny, airy location where you intend to locate your plants. Check the soil after one week to test how moist (or dry) it is. I would then structure my watering regimen based on the results. Remember, most C&S don’t require watering until the growing mix is just almost dry to dry. Never water a wet plant. And you’ve heard this before – when in doubt, don’t.

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Thanks by the way to all those who have e-mailed me their thoughts and comments on Succulentophile. Your contributions are very much appreciated. In my next column, I’ll finish this topic with the last four or five guiding principles.

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E-mail the writer at Succulentophile@yahoo.com.