Cacti & Succulents Garden

Soil is a mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. If you have watched the movie "the Martian" (2015), you may remember Matt Damon used Martial dirt (minerals)  fertilized with human waste, which contains bacteria, and water to grow potatoes on Mars. Let's look at the components to have better idea of soil. Typical Soil Profile 1. Minerals Minerals include sand (size > 63 µm), silt (size > 2 µm) and clay (size < 2 µm). Generally, sand helps to drain water, and clay helps to retain water. The ratio of them will determine the soil texture. You may have heard "loam soil". Loan has sand-silt-clay of  40–40–20% by weight. Loam is considered ideal for gardening and agricultural uses because it retains nutrients well and retains water while still allowing excess water to drain away. And typical loam soil constitutes: Water (25%), Gases (25%), Sand (18%), Silt (18%), Clay (9%), Organic mat...

Both Aloe and Agave are succulents. They both have a rosette of fleshly leaves with spines. All agaves and some aloes are stemless (or nearly stemless). Both have varieties having small rosette and large rosette. Have a look of the picture below, can you tell which is which? Well, the left one is aloe bloomii, and the right one is agave americana. Although they look similar,  the aloe and agave are only distantly related, with their last common ancestor thought to exist around 93 million years ago, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth. Aloes are native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula; agaves are native to America continental --- across the Atlantic Ocean. Some aloes can grow into a tree up to 30' tall. Agaves will stay on the ground, with rosette size varying from 6" to 15'. Another important difference is their flowers. Agaves only bloom before they die. It takes 5 to 40 years for agaves to be mature. Then the growing point (center) develops into a tall flower...

Jade plant is one of the most popular succulents. Official name: Crassula Ovata Origin: South Africa and Mozambique The name "jade"  borrows from  the green-colored gem. As the plant grows big, the green stem turns woody, which make it look like a mini-tree. Therefore, jade plants are often trained into a bonsai (盆栽). An example is shown below. There are more than 1000 varieties of jade plants. Here I introduce some common ones. True Jade The one in the first picture is considered as "true" jade plant, which has shiny green oval-shaped leaves. If it is exposed to direct sunlight, the leaves will have red tips. (sunlight impact can be fined in another post https://succulents-minwei.blogspot.com/2017/09/planting-and-caring-cacti-succulents.html) It has small white or pink flowers. Tricolor Three colors:  white, green, and yellow, narrow color stripes. It has pink flowers. Variegata Quite similar to tricolor, but the color stripes...

Pests are the No.2 enemy to cacti & succulents lovers, following overwatering (mentioned in another post https://succulents-minwei.blogspot.com/2017/09/planting-and-caring-cacti-succulents.html). Moorten Botanical Garden_Palm Springs CA The most common ones in bay area are slugs (also snails) and mealy bugs. 1. Slugs & Snails Slugs and snails like to stay in damp shady area. They feed on leaves and fleshy stems. They attack not only succulents, but also cacti in some occasions. They leave ugly holes and tell-tale slimy traces. Below are two examples. The best solution is to move the plants to sunny area and reduce watering frequency. If possible, don't place the pots directly on soil. I have posted a DIY project to make plant pot shelves (https://succulents-minwei.blogspot.com/2017/09/diy-plant-shelf-from-pallets.html). During moving, check the bottom of the pots to remove the slugs & snails. Also check the backside of leaves. The problem should go ...

Here is an idea to make succulents rosette as a living centerpiece, in less than 5 minutes. What do you need? As shown in the picture below: succulent rosette, a stemless cocktail glass, white marble chips and white decorative sand [1], potting soil (not shown in the picture) a pair of gloves, tweezers, small spoon, a small piece of landscaping fabric, scissors [1] You can buy white decorative sand for about $10/lb. I get the white marble chips from Home Depot, 50 lbs for less than $5. When I need white sand, I pack a few pieces into a plastic bag, smash them with a hammer, done in seconds. Be safe. Step 1 (less than 1 minute) Starting with put white marble chips into the glass with tweezers, about 1" depth. Step 2 (2 minutes) Use scissors to cut the landscaping fabric to fit size. The fabric needs to cover the white chips, preventing them getting dirty from the soil and allowing water to drain. Once you get the fabric on the chips, add a layer of soil ca...

Since we have so many succulents, small pots were everywhere in our backyard. I decided to organize them, not only for better look, but also for easier care/watering. There are many benefits to build the plant shelves by yourself. First of all, of course you can save tens. even hundreds of dollars. Secondly, you can build the size you want to fit your space. Thirdly, you can improve your DIY skills. Lastly, you lower the carbon footprint if you follow my plan by reclaiming pallet wood. Step 1 Let's start from dismantling pallet. Find a pallet in good condition. You need a pair of working gloves, a nail puller and a hammer. Be safe and try this workout. Once you finish, you will have some 2x4 (about 4' long) and 1x6 or 1x4 lumbers. You are ready for the next step. Step 2 Use a circular saw or miter saw to cut 2x4 to build the legs. You may customize the height and lean angle the way you want.  Step 3 You are almost done. The rest is to add ...