It’s summer, nice weather, lots of sun and the growing and flowering season for many of your cacti and succulents. In this post we describe the care of your cacti and succulents in the summer and we give you some useful tips for this season to get them looking amazing!
Grow And Bloom Season
Summer is our growing season for most cacti and succulents. If your plants are happy with you, you will see that almost all of them are showing new growth. Species that occur in Africa, for example, have their growing season with us in the winter. A single one will indeed not grow in the summer, but many plants from this continent adapt to the circumstances with us and start growing in the summer. During growth, make sure that your plants get a lot of light, enough water and also food once a month to support growth.
Summer is also the period when many cactus and succulent plant species bloom. Also, some cactus species that have flowered in the spring often go for a second round in the summer. Cactus species that often do this are Astrophytum, Rebutia, Mammalialria and Gymnocalycium.
Cuttings And Sowing
The summer season is also ideal for cuttings from your cacti and succulents. They root easily due to the warm temperatures. Curious about cuttings from your plants? You can also sow this when you have seed from your plants from the first flowering round.
Heat Wave Or Warm Weather
During a period of warm weather, you can give your cacti and succulents extra water, both indoors and outdoors. We normally recommend water once every two weeks. But when the earth has dried out quickly and completely due to the warm weather, you can also water once a week. What your plants also like is if you mist them at the end of the day in warm weather. Do not do this in the sun during the day. This can cause burns and the stomata that absorb the water are closed during the heat during the day and do not absorb the moisture. When it gets cooler in the evening, the stomata open again. Your plants like this extra water and keep them growing during this period. As soon as your plant receives too little water during warm weather, growth will stagnate or become less attractive. As an example, the leaves at e.g.
In The Greenhouse Or Flat Against The Glass On The Windowsill
Do you have your cacti and succulents in a greenhouse? Make sure there is sufficient ventilation and shade in the summer. The temperature in the greenhouse can rise very quickly because the sun is intense and strong in the summer. Make sure you ventilate a lot by opening windows and doors. Automatic window openers can be a solution so that you no longer have to pay attention to this. In addition, it is advisable to whiten the roof of your greenhouse in the summer, or to place shade cloth with a light UV attenuation. This also protects the plants from the bright sun.
During a heat wave, you can also remove extra windows from your greenhouse, install fans and spray water on the floor. All this ensures that the temperature drops and your plants do not get too hot.
Do you have your cacti or succulents close to the glass on your windowsill? On sunny days it can get very hot just behind the glass. The air is often still there. This can cause burn marks on your cacti or succulents. You can easily solve this by moving the plants further from the glass or by placing cardboard between the glass and your plants in very sunny weather.
Now I hear you think, our plants can withstand some heat, little water and high temperatures, right? Why do we have to do this and why do they burn? In nature, our plants can indeed handle it very well. But they are also often in open plains where the air moves. You often have a lot of stagnant air in our greenhouse or behind the windowsill. The plants in nature are also used to having these high temperatures day in and day out. With us it is often a week to a few weeks that it is really warm.
Cacti And Succulents Outside
In the summer, your cacti and succulents love being outside. This will do them really good, they often grow faster and more beautiful and have a nice color. The latter certainly if you put them in a sunny spot. With many succulents you can see this in the color on the leaves and with many cactus species you can see that the new spines that grow during the summer also have a more intense color.
In addition to the fact that summer is a great season for your plants to be outside, there are also a number of important things you should pay attention to. The first is the sunlight. You have to let the plants get used to this. Otherwise they will burn just like us if we sit in the sun for too long. Build up the number of sun hours during the first week or take them out of the sun during the hottest part of the day between.
Summers can also be wet. Make sure that enough water can drain from the pots. If you have terracotta pots with a bowl underneath, take the bowl out of it. Indoor pots without a hole at the bottom are also not ideal because no water can run out.
In short, summer is a beautiful and fun season for your cacti and succulents to look Amazing. Bring on the nice weather!