In recent years, more and more gardeners are experimenting with growing plants known as succulents.
However, in the process, what they are learning is that there is a huge difference between growing succulents and traditional houseplants. One of the primary differences is feeding succulents.
Along with watering, light, soil, and houseplant fertilizer (including succulents), they have other needs as well. These plants originate in natural conditions, and feeding is extremely limited.
Since succulents are grown indoors along with typical houseplants, succulents don’t require much fertilization, and fertilizing cacti and succulents that are domesticated should also be limited to replicate their native conditions.
In the following article, we’ll take a look at how and when you should feed your succulents and houseplants.
Why Should You Fertilize Your House Plants?
One of the reasons why you should be feeding your houseplants is because, like any other living thing, they do get hungry.
This is especially if they’ve been in the same soil for a while. Over time, watering eradicates nutrients, and since the plants are in containers, they cannot spread their roots for more food.
Signs of distress include stunted growth, yellow leaves, chlorosis, which is yellowing in the leaf veins. So to avoid this from happening, use fresh fertilizer to give your plants a boost.
However, before doing this, check to see that the problem isn’t to do with something else like a disease, insects, or improper watering.
Once you eliminate the other possibilities, you can go ahead and get your plants back on the road to good health using fertilizer.
The first three fertilizer attempts should be made at half the recommended strength. Use half the amount suggest on the label, especially if it’s a granular product. If it’s a liquid plant fertilizer, mix it at half the strength.
This ultimately feeds houseplants at a time when they are starting to gear up for active growth, and they don’t yet need large amounts of nutrients to fuel healthy and prolific growth.
When Should You Fertilize Your House Plants?
In most cases, feeding succulents is limited to just once a year, according to some experts.
However, this rule is often broken. Too much fertilizer weakens the plants, and any additional growth is likely to be stunted, and this is ultimately something that you’re trying to avoid.
So while there are different opinions about when to feed succulents, the rule of thumb is that they should be fed minimally as compared to houseplants.
One of the methods to feed succulents is called fertigation and is a method where a certain amount of food is included in the watering system, and this is done on a monthly basis. When considering feeding succulents, consider this information.
Ultimately, the idea is to feed succulents just before and during its growing season. According to experts, this is during late summer. If you’ve got a second going through intent, give it fertilizer treating that time.
The schedule is appropriate for most succulents. However, if your succulents are experiencing stunted growth or looking weak, then fertilizing them again in early summer may perk them up. Try as much as possible to research the type of succulent that you have to learn how to take better care of them.
When it comes to fertilizing different types of succulents, it’s hard to generalize because it varies from species to species.
So, as a rule of thumb, you should fertilize them in early spring when growth begins to pick back up.
Summer is a good time as well. However, if you have species dormant during the winter, then you shouldn’t bother to fertilize them in this time.
You should only have to fertilize your succulents a few times a year sp space it out by a month or so during the growing seasons.
Another important note is that you should never fertilize them when the soil is dry as it could cause your succulents to be burned. Instead, mix the fertilizer into the water before watering your plants or add them in after you have already watered.