Winter care for your xerophytes (cacti & succulents)

** If you find our blog posts informative and beneficial, do encourage us to create more such informative and beneficial posts in future by liking them, sharing them with your friends who might also benefit from them and commenting your observations/thoughts on the level of research involved in preparing these posts. Also, do let us know what topics would you like us to cover in our future blog posts **

In a vast country like India, the seasons vary significantly in various regions in terms of their intensity. The winters in North India are quite nippy with temperatures going as low as five degrees Celsius in most areas. The winters in other zones India are relatively less intense with temperatures in South India remaining to be in mid-twenties. Additionally, the phyto-period available to xerophytes also decreases in winters since the days are much shorter. However, one thing remains constant across zones – the difference in the peak average summertime temperatures and average wintertime temperatures is quite significant.

So how to ensure the xerophytes that we endear so much, are protected optimally in the winter season? Based on our experience of managing these in the harshest of winter climes for the last couple of decades, here are a few inputs.

Stay clear of SHADY areas. Literally!! What this essentially means is that the xerophytes need to be at the sunnier and warmer spots in your garden where the direct sunlight provides them ample phyto-intensity and also phyto-period. So the first rule would be to provide them enough phyto-exposure right from sunrise to sunset.

When in doubt, DO NOT WATER. Very tricky – even a drop of water has the potential to kill a plant worth every drop of our sweat (aka precious plants 😊). This aspect needs to be covered from various angles – physiology of xerophytes, media that we grow our xerophytes in, phyto-period available to xerophytes, role of technology and type of water

• Physiology – We have to always remember that plants do not gulp water like mammals or birds do. Plants always absorb moisture. The winter cold ensures that the rate of evaporation from the media is considerably lesser than the summer months. This means that the moisture in the media remains for much longer duration than in the summer time. Also, with the ambient temperatures being low and sometimes the sky being cloudy for days on, the evapotranspiration rate in the xerophytes is not the same it would be in summer months. Genetically, the xerophytes are wired to survive in extremely adverse climes. Hey, that is exactly why they are called xerophytes 😊. With the onset of adverse climes, some xerophytes tend to also go into dormancy – which is a state where they either stop or slow down their growing process to minimal levels. Think of dormancy state in plants the same as hibernation in case of animals and reptiles – a state characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate.

• Media – simply put there is no ‘best’ media for xerophytes, or rather the best media for xerophytes is the one that replicates their habitat growing media. ALL living things want to survive – the most fundamental truth. Xerophytes also want to survive no matter how adverse the growing media is. But when badly selected media (clayey, stony, etc) is coupled with high concentration of organic manure (leaf mold, vermicompost, neem khali, bone meal), the xerophytes are kept under shade without much phyto-period available to them and then we water them to our heart’s content sometimes letting the water accumulate on some rosettes or in the sunken apical meristem; the xerophytes do not stand much chance and more often than not, do not survive.

Whatever the media, restricting moisture build-up and ensuring good phyto-periods after watering the plant play critical roles. Depending upon the intensity of winter in your area, a fast-draining media with good aeration is best suited for most climate requirements be it winters, summers, monsoons. In our opinion, based on the growing experience of a couple of decades, well washed and dust free perlite works best to ensure media aeration and root growth of xerophytes.

• Phyto-period. Simply put, this is the time period available to plants (to all, but we are talking about plants here 😊) during a 24-hour cycle of the day. Why is phyto-period important. Think of it like this – this is the period that ensure the plants are able to make ‘food’ and less or no phyto-period means no ‘food’. Since we spend so much of our hard-earned money in buying and growing xerophytes along with time and energy, we must take out time to understand where they come from and what kind of conditions they grow in. What are the typical winter temperatures summer temperatures in their habitat along with the phyto-exposure. Did you know that some xerophytes actually spent their lives being buried under the top soil in their habitat to avoid excess phyto-exposure – only a miniscule part of their structure is actually exposed to the sun. Hence, the placement of your xerophytes in your garden is of critical importance. This placement will ensure proper phyto-exposure to the xerophytes.

• Technology – Today, most of us are blessed with better fortunes and technology that did not exist even a decade back. One such blessing is a Smartphone and another one is scientific & award-winning weather forecasting available to us in our Smartphones from some of the best weather forecasting companies in the form of apps. Research a little and install a good weather forecasting app on your Smartphone.

• Type of Watering – The easiest way to take care of plants is to water them. And if they still don’t recover, water some more. Maybe, last watering was not really good so lets water them a little more and then see. Well, this is the type of gardeners and hobbyists that we have most come across. Actually, the easiest way to take care of the plants is either not water them or water them minimally to just ensure moisture in the media. But that is a discussion we will try to cover in another edition of our blog. What we mean with type of watering is top watering or bottom watering or both with a sprinkler/mister or flush on hose pipe. As we have already covered the fact that winters are the time with minimum phyto-periods/phyto-intensity and xerophytes tend to become dormant/hibernate – the best watering in our opinion is one where we just mist the plants to clear their leaves/bodies of dust. While this lends glow to them as they become sparkly clean, it also ensure the pores for expiration are clear and at the same time provide enough moisture for the plant to absorb through the leaves. We just need to ensure that we do this on a sunny day during the early part of the morning to ensure the there is enough phyto-period to dry out any water collected in the rosettes or the sunken apical meristem in case of some cacti and Euphorbia.

Pro Tip – any water that comes from the bottom of the pots is a big waste of the precious resource. It comes out since media is saturated with water and cannot hold any more of it and hence it is a complete waste. CONSERVE WATER.

So, all this background brings us to the most pertinent question faced by xerophytic hobbyists – when do I water my plants in winters. There is no simple answer to that – water once a fortnight or when media goes dry or when it is sunny for an extended period of say a week; is probably the best answer. Water only when you think the plant is not going to survive for lack of moisture. But when you water your xerophytes in winter, please keep the above points in consideration.

Avoid Dew/Frost. Dew in winters is more harmful than beneficial to plants. Evening dew that forms after the sunset is actually more harmful since it tends to get frosty in severe winters. This frost in severe winters tends to burn the soft tissues on the xerophytes that adds just another stress factor to the xerophytes that are already struggling to cope with the winters or are in dormant stage. Morning dew tends to accumulate all the dust on the xerophytes and tends to leave smudge marks when it dries. Multiple smudge marks on leaves of xerophytes that we grow with such passion are a big dampener.

Weeding. All seasons are good seasons to de-weed your xerophytes. Weeds growing in your pots are equally harmful to your precious xerophytes as they compete with your prized possessions for nutrients and moisture levels. Winter months are thus the best to de-weed your xerophytes, more so the weeds that are actively in growth periods while your xerophytes are dormant. They will soon have an elaborate, deep and strong root structure that will eat up all the nutrients from the media in the pot and would become even harder to dislodge in subsequent months. While de-weeding, ensure that the root structure of the xerophytes in the pot is not damaged as that would then be most liable to rot specially if watering is not managed properly.

Repotting. Only unless absolutely necessary or if you know the plants are still in their active growth stage. If absolutely necessary, best way is not to disturb the root structure (specially tap roots), just placing the entire plant with its root structure in place in a bigger pot and filling up the empty space with media. Ideally, in winters, one should not resort to watering for 7-10 days after repotting – allowing time to fibrous roots to start forming and the plant to settle.

Feeding. If you know your xerophyte is dormant, do not add any nutrition in its media.

Support: If you still have any questions or observations to share with us or get more insights, do reach out to us and we would be happy to share our experiences to help you.

Caution: Entire content on this website is created and owned by PlantStudio Ventures Private Limited. Any unauthorised copy and dissemination for any purpose is strictly prohibited unless permitted in written.

#tps_exotics #tps_xotiks #theplantstudio #theplantstudio_original #theplantstudio_india #theplantstudio_sale #theplantstudio_blog

© PlantStudio Ventures Private Limited

no part of this content maybe copied or circulated without prior consent