Our Cultivation guide has 4 parts, please enjoy it.
General Guide
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Light
- Bright light is essential for nearly all succulents, (Blue, grey, or white plants especially). Insufficient light makes new growth pale, stretched and weak. As a general rule of thumb plants that are a dark green colour tend to tolerate shade or indirect light. Plants grown in greenhouses are prone to sunburn in direct hot sun or close to windows. Harden them by gradual exposure to increasing intensities or put outdoors during dull, cloudy weather.
Watering
- 'Allow soil to dry out between waterings' is the simplest advice, and very useful. But some types need a dry resting season during which ANY watering can cause rotting. So try to follow the seasons of your different plants. See information further on. Do not leave their pot sitting in a saucer of water (they're not swamp plants).
Coloured and patterned to blend into stony, desert terrain. Lithops are the gemstones of the plant world. So difficult are they to find in the wild that only two species were known in 1900. Dedicated explorers have now discovered a total of 34 species. 14 living in Namibia and 21 in South Africa. (One in both.) Hundreds of named varieties and local forms have also been described.
We hope to be able to solve most of your cacti and succulent plant problems on this page
Mealy Bugs
Mealy bugs usually build up populations underground before becoming apparent above ground. So repot as well as spraying.
Spray with Confidor, or with Conqueror Oil. These two are not related. The latter will damage certain sensitive plant surfaces, especially powdery coated plants. And use it no stronger than 1 part in 100 of water. Test on the species first.
They can be used together for a double-barrelled approach to law and order.
Sluice roots clean of insects with high pressure water, then repot into a quality mix containing slow-releasing insecticidal Suscon Green. Our mix contains this, and we sell the mix at the nursery.
Light. Bright light is needed for most succulents and is especially
important for blue, grey, or white plants. So keep your plants as near to the window as possible. Remember that twice as far from the window gives you only one quarter of the light level. And the growing point is where the light is needed most, that is, at the top of the plant.
