Succulents; not only humans are smart!

Carl Linnaeus laid the foundations for the modern scheme of Nomenclature. His Systema Naturae describes the hierarchical classification of plants and animals.

To simplify things a little bit botanical names always consist of a genus and a specie name sometimes added with a sub-specie name; for example Acacia sieberani woodii (paperbark tree).

But genera (plurial of ‘genus) belong to a family. The succulent family Cactaceae is composed of about 100 genera with around 2000 different species.

Example: Cactaceae (family); Ferocactus (genus) acanthodes (specie).

Other succulents are botanically divided in approximately 50 families with over 600 genera and an estimated 15000 natural species (except cultivars and hybrids) of which around 10,000 are native to Southern Africa including Madagascar.

Other parts of the African continent with a significant number of native succulents are South Morocco and the isle of Socrota. The Canary Islands, India and Australia also have a number of ‘indigenous’ succulents. In Europe one can find the endemic areas of some sedum- and sempervivum species.

The America’s are home to the Cactaceae (except for one genus; Rhipsalis); and Agavaceae (a.o. genera Agave and Yucca) originating to a wide diversity of local environments within a stretch of 10,000 kilometres; altitudes ranging up to 4000 metres; climates with temperatures ranging from -18 degrees Celsius to +45 degrees Celsius; from dry rocky deserts to foggy deserts and (sub-)tropical rainforests and from fertile soils to soils with a high salt content. More or less the same diversity applies to succulents from other parts of the world.

Despite their different backgrounds it is very well possible to let a wide variety of succulents, including cacti, live harmoniously together in one garden provided that the involved gardener can organise (by simulation) some measurements/precautions in which certain plants will adept to their new environment.

In the description of the different families, genera and (where applicable) species we will indicate these measurements in the future.

In general it’s always worthwhile to find your way in the endemic habitat of plants in regards to soil structure/contents, local climate and local ecological aspects such as the nature of other plants.

A plant has, in its natural habitat, always a reason to grow just there. Not only humans are smart!

Landscaping a rockery

Creating a garden is not always as easy as it looks like; expecially when you intend to create a special garden.

A rockery is a speciality garden and to make it right you’ll have to go through a lot of trial and error but the end result (end result? a rockery is a never ending story) makes it worthwhile.

To avoid starting up problems/errors a few general guidelines:

1) Soil must have good drainage.

2) Create slopes which, in cases of flood rain, let the overload of water drain away.

3) Arrange rocks in such a way that sensitive plants are protected against wind, rain and sun

4) When choosing plants you must have a good idea of what you want; large plants, small plants, colours. Advise: do not buy and plant all at once. Better is to start with a few focal points and  - as in the ongoing process ideas can change – buy and add with intervals the ‘filling up’.

5) Choose plants which are suitable for the local environment. Some plants can also kept in pots which you can cover up with rocks. Handy in case you move to another location and also a necessity for some plants in certain local environments. Maybe it’s even advisable to keep all the plants in pots so you can shuffle them around for a month or so in order to get a better idea of the look of your rockery from diverse angles. The disadvantage of plants in pots is that you will have to re-pot them every 2 to 3 years and that they won’t grow that fast as in the open.

6) Composition of the garden is essential. Always try to find a balance between shapes, colours and flowering seasons. A rockery should be attractive the whole year.

7) The art of making a rockery is that you are able to create a personal one with an own sphere. To achieve this you should visit and look into as many rockeries as possible and talk with the makers. This is a big help for you can learn of the trials and errors of others and you get a better insight in your own idea with all possibilities and especially the impossibilities. It surely will avoid a lot of misery although you will never be able to avoid all. And sometimes it’s good to go against every logical thinking. In this orientating process your original idea will mature into a unique rockery, whatever the size of it.

See also Landscaping a rockery PART 2

About succulent cuttings. It’s all in the fingers!!!

Propagation by seed is the most rewarding method because you see the seed germinating and the plants growing. But except for the extra amount of work this method is also time consuming. Cuttings have the advantage that they already have a certain, more mature, size thus faster fully growing plants.

Herewith some general guidelines:

 Cuttings can, in general, best be taken at the end of the dormant season. Those of cacti and cacti like euphorbias between October and the end of February (we’re in South Africa, remember). Let the cuttings dry for at least some days and plant them in a soil mix of 90% coarse sand (eventually mixed with some fine grit) and 10% sift compost. Moisterise (not wetten) this mix with kelpak (SeaGro) (50cl kelpak in 10 l water) and let this mixture dry for a few days. Kelpak, by the way, is a seaweed product from Simonstown which stimulates the root-growth. Plant the cuttings up to one-third of their length in this mixture (in pots; deep seed-trays) and do not water for the first week or so. Put the pots/seed-trays with the cuttings in a large tray with water and let it moisturise from down under for 10 minutes. Not more. Mist-spray the cuttings every morning and evening lightly and as soon as the soil tends to dry out next soak-from-down-under for 10 minutes.

This method is most suitable for (almost all) cacti and cacti-like euphorbias and is also applicable for most other succulents. In a later stage, when we describe the different groups of succulents, we come back on this subject.

One remark: when taking cuttings from cacti-like euphorbias and other succulents (including caudiciforms) with poisonous sap special precautions have to be taken. Keep the cutting under a running tap until the all sap is secreted from the wound. Always wash hand afterwards. And never take those cuttings in the heat of the day; always as early as possible in the morning. Wear protective clothing.

Cuttings of succulents, other than cacti and cacti-like eurphorbias, (such as crassula sp., mesembs, etc): directly after cutting in soil-mix as described above and mist-spraying at least 3 times during the day. Soil has to be damp (NOT wet).

The cuttings of some cacti species take their time to make roots, sometimes even up to one year of more. Others are rooting within a few weeks. Always be patient and watch your plant-material. It’s a way of communicating. The plants will tell you a lot. It’s a kind of ‘body-language’.

Once we had a student (Technikon-horticulture) here for his practical. From the books he knew exactly how to propagate. We gave him the chance to do it his way and one of our staff did it his own way. The result: Student less than 1 out of 10 cuttings/seeds growing; staff member more than 9 out of 10. Lesson ‘numero uno’ with propagating: it’s not all in the heads or books but in the fingers. If the fingers are not ‘green’; theory will not work.

It’s like how a great ’chef’ distinguise him/herself from ‘cooks with books’.

Indigenous versus Indigenous

Thought during an early Sunday morning:

Sometimes visitors insist on buying indigenous plants. But what is indigenous? Is, for example, a quiver tree (Aloe dichotoma) indigenous to South Africa or to Namibia? For sure is that many succulents in the Richtersveld and other parts in South Africa, including the quiver tree and other ‘indigenous’ aloes, originate from Namibia but that these South African ‘habitats’ are distribution areas. Another example: if it comes to the point; the Western Cape hardly has any ‘indigenous’ (read: endemic) trees but is home to many fynbos-  and succulent species. One of the baobab species (Adansonia digitates) is indigenous to Zimbabwe and the far Northeast of South Africa but does that make the tree indigenous to the Western Cape. The sausage tree (Kigelia africana) is more ‘indigenous’ to Tanzania than South Africa but it also grows well at many places in the Western Cape. A more local (Western Cape) example is the Euphorbia crispa. This plant is ‘sourced’ to an area near Clanwilliam but one of the distribution areas is here in Klaas Voogds (unfortunately poaching has practically diminished their numbers!!!). To make a long story very short: we always tell visitors that if we talk about ‘indigenous’ we talk about plants which originate from Southern Africa which includes, more or less, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and even Madagscar.

End of discussion!

Second thought:

Many customers want to see (buy) a ‘halfmens’ (Pachypodium namaquanum) which originates from Namibia but is also distributed in Namaqualand (South Africa). This is a protected plant and one need to have a permit to possess, to propagate, sell, etc. To do our garden and nursery business we have a total of 9 official permits of Cape Nature Conservation but forget about that. Many nurseries sell ‘halfmens’ but what they sell is not the Pachypodium namaquanum but the Madagascar relative Pachypodium lamerei and that is a fast growing member of this family. A ‘halfmens’ grows, in optimal conditions, about 1 centimetre per year. The annual growth of the P. lamerei sometimes exceeds 50 centimetres. Reminds me of a nursery which was selling these Madagascar ‘half humans’ as “Sudanese halfmens”. If one, at any nursery, can buy a real ‘halfmens’ with a length of one metre or more one may, in 95% of these cases, question the source of this plant. Poaching is, unfortunately, a ‘national hobby’ and although, via media publications, one might have the idea that only foreigners are involved (including a CEO of a European botanical garden which was busted in the ‘veld’); the naked truth is that the ‘bulk poaching’ is done by real professionals, emptying acre after acre of their valuable vegetation for the export. Since economics is involved authorities seem to close their eyes for this phenomena.

About buying cacti and other succulents

The majority of people buying cacti and other succulents don’t really care if their purchased plants die after some time; they just buy a replacement. These are fortunately not our customers (and that is very un-commercial!!!).

The real passionate gardener, hobbyist, etc. buys with the intention to enjoy his/her plants for a long time. These are the people we like to welcome in our nursery and they are invited to be critical and during many of such occasions we experience an educational interaction to the benefit of all.

First something about our own experience. In the beginning (we didn’t know that much about the subject and we are still learning) we bought quite a few Aloes at one of the botanical gardens in the Western Cape. The plants were nicely labeled with with their full botanical names. Almost all turned out to be hybrids. At a specialist succulent nursery we bought 12 cacti of which 8 had a ‘hidden’ (underground) disease.

Botanists are in continuous discussion with each other about botanical names and during identification of certain group (genus) of plants. The Aloes are very good example because these hybridise easily and proper identification, in case of doubt, can only be done with DNA-research. THE Haworthia ‘specialist’ of South Africa is very honest when he says that he is unable to generate a proper identification key which covers all Haworthias and that he has difficulties to identify some of the Haworthia-species. With other words: don’t always be too sure about about the botanical names with which plants are labeled. Another issue is that many botanical names are changing nowadays because of DNA-research (f.e. part of the Stenocereus species becomes suddenly Cleistocactus or whatever) and that makes it even more complicated. A self-respecting nursery man will, in case of doubt, always label ‘spp’ after the genus name; f.e. ‘Mammillaria spp.’

How can one check if the plants are healty? This is not always easy but you can take some precautions. Is the nursery clean, relativily weed free and do the plants, on first sight, look healthy? This is the first impression. If the first impression is not good be extra critical.

Some hidden diseases are difficult to identify such as roots which start to rot at their tips. Even if the plants look healthy but you see that they are waterlogged (and not just after a heavy rainfall) be critical. Some nurseries use quite a few fertilisers,pesticides, fungicides and so on to let the plants look healthy but once purchased you will have to apply these chemicals until you are pretty sure that they are adapting to your preferred way of gardening. Once we were at a succulent nursery where the plants were covered with a blue layer caused by the application of copper sulphate.

Golden tip, which prevents you in at least 70 percent of such cases of ‘buying a cat in a bag’, is removing the soil around the neck of the plant. If the tissue is not soft(ening) but feels solid the plant might be healthy. This applies surely for all Aloes, Caudiciforms (especially adenium- adenia- and cyphostemma sp., Lithops, Cacti and cacti-like Euphorbias.

Almost at last but certainly not at least: Most nurseries sell their plants from under a roof or shade net. Advise (especially in Summer): Don’t put the plant right away under the sun, once at home. Let the plant slowly get adepted to the sun. This can be done by providing the plants with morning sun and afternoon shade for the first few days and let them gradually stay longer in the sun until, after a week or so, they are used to the sun. Some plants, amongst others Echinocactus crussonii (Golden Barrel Cactus or Mother’s in Law Seat) need sun protection for the first year until they are established. Keep the plant covered with a shade net (at least between 12 and 4 PM) from the second half of December to the second half of March. A good nursery with in-house knowledge will give you decent information. If the

Damage on a plant caused by snails and (scale-)insects are in general not terminal and can even give the plant a natural charm. In nature you won’t find that many plants (=relatively) which are looking perfect. On the contrary but these plants are strong with some build in resistance.

Cultivation basics 2; handling, planting and (re-)potting

Many first time customers ask us how to handle ‘those spiny plants’. One of our staff handles cacti with his bare hands but he grew up between cacti and other succulents and that seems to make a difference. We advise people to handle cacti with the most used South African implement. That’s the ‘braaitang’ (barbecue pincers). Wrap this implement with corrugated paper of bubble plastic to avoid damage and there you go.

When we plant succulents in our garden we first put the pots on the places where we want to plant and leave them for a few days to get acclimatised to the new environment. When planting we first squeeze the pot a bit to loosen the soil around the plant and than take the plant out the pot and plant it with all the soil in the pot.

In case of larger cacti: take these out of the pot, cut the roots for at least one-third of their length and let them dry first for a few days before planting. Cacti which are too large to handle with barbecue pincers can be handled with a shade cloth. Large columnar cacti: shade cloth over the full length.

Cutting roots also applies to larger (stem) aloes.

As most of the indoor plants also cacti and other succulents in pots should be re-potted every 3 years; eventually in a larger pot. Columnar cacti in relatively deep pots (taproot) and barrel shaped cacti in relatively wide pots.

For cacti and (stem) aloes: Take the plants out of the pots, clean the roots (eventually wash them off), cut the roots with at least one-third of their length and let them dry for a few days first before re-potting them

General exception: Cacti-like euphorbias. Take care with handling (wounds produce poisonous latex -always wash hands afterwards) and do NOT cut the roots. Just let the plants rest for a few days before planting or (re-)potting.

Another golden (basic) rule here at Soekershof: Some cacti are sensitive for ‘neck-rot’; especially in the first year after (re-)planting. Neck-rot is also the most common terminal disease for cacti under the open sky in the Western Cape with the emphasis on the Cape Town area. Once a plant has established itself the risk is minimised provided good care is taken. How to avoid neck-rot? Applying chemicals is not in our books but we have another, simpler, method to avoid neck-rot. Plant the cactus on a small heep, 5 to 10 cm high depending on the size and (future) shape of the plant. After a heavy rainfall the heep, including the joint between roots and plant, will dry first. After a few years the heep will have itself equalised with the surrounding soil and the plant has established itself with some resistance against certain diseases including neck-rot. In our practice the ‘heep philosophy’ works perfectly.

Another golden rule is that we never apply (chemical) fertilisers; even not the organic bounce-back (dried chicken manure). The plants will grow faster but will also be more vulnerable for pests and other diseases.