The blossom of the succulent plants is not a frequently happened event in most people's experience. Compared to the succulent "body", the succulent flowers demonstrate another type of beauty - extremely vibrant and sometimes even heroic - it means the end of life for some species. This character always cause some hypertense moments of the succulent lovers. In this blog, we will provide you with more facts about the succulent blossom and also tips on dealing with it.
Is the succulent blossom actually dangerous?
First of all, blossom is a process that require a lot of energy from the plants. As a result, the succulent plants will have to face the stress from relatively deficient energy. Without good care, the blossom may terminate halfway, or result in a poor status of the plant.
Some genera, e.g. Sempervivum, Orostachys, Crassula and Aeonium, contain species that will decease after the blossom. Usually only the blooming plant (if clustered) is affected.
The good news is that many popular genera like Echeveria, Sedum, Pachyphytum and the genera of Aizoaceae (e.g. Lithops) are not much affected by the blossom.
What to do with the blooming succulents?
If the goal is to admire the beauty of flowers or pollinate to harvest seeds, there is nothing specific needed to be done with the flower stalk. At the same time a good care should be given to the blooming plants: adequate light will help with the photosynthesis to produce the organics and a little succulent fertilizer (monopotassium phosphate preferred) can be a great supplement.
The flower stalk should be cut off near the base to prevent the death of certain species from blossom (the earlier the better) or simply to save the nutrients for the leaves. The flower stalk can be cultured in water and it may still bloom. If there are leaves on the flower stalk, they may have the potential to be used for leaf propagation.
How to get the succulents to bloom?
Firstly the succulent plants need to be at a healthy status before they can bloom (some succulent plants bloom under stress to sacrifice themselves to save the seeds, which is not discussed here). The factors that can promote the blossom include but not limited to:
- Adequate sunlight
- Proper diurnal temperature variation
- Sufficient water (but never too much)
- Fertilizer that contains P and K (monopotassium phosphate preferred)
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Photo credits:
"repeat after me" by BPPrice is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
"Succulent Bloom" by Monkeystyle3000 is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
"Succulent in bloom" by Ronald Douglas Frazier is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
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