The 3 Key IngredientsGrowing Show-Quality Plants from Immature and Inexpensive Little Plants
Introduction: Growing quality plants properly has been my passion since getting interested in the hobby back in 1996. Although I’ve never been into staging plants (some of my pals would tease me for bringing my quality plants in plastic pots) I would enter plants in cactus and succulent shows in Southern California, such as the InterCity Show (the annual show and sale of the Los Angeles Club, Gates Club and the San Gabriel Valley Club) and the CSSA Annual Show (the annual show and sale of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America). I’ve got lots of blue ribbons, rosette ribbons (given to those plants that deserve higher praise than a blue ribbon) and trophies (designating the “best in show” of a particular genus) to show for it.
This article was inspired by some of the buyers from the plant auction we at the Caro Desert Nursery did last October. People really loved the plants they purchased and were impressed with the quality of the plants. I got asked “How do you grow such spectacular plants?” so many times I felt compelled to share my knowledge with others, since apparently I’m doing things that result in excellent plants.
As we all know, there are many factors that go into growing plants well, such as:
But the 3 Key Ingredients (3KIs) are the most important ones. These are:
The plants are grown most successfully when you give them the maximum of each of the 3KIs that they can stand. That is to say, the most exposure to the sun, the most heat, and the most water/fertilizer each plant will stand. It is your task to determine the maximum amounts of the 3KIs for your plants.
At this stage, I almost feel compelled to give some specific advice, much like Sunset magazine would, whereby they might give tried-and-true amounts of water or fertilizer or daily amount of sunlight that these plants should have. Our challenge as growers of these wonderful plants is that the environments of the deserts of the world are quite varied. For example, I have in my collection plants that grow at sea level and others that grow at 14,000 feet above sea level. I have some plants that like a maximum of 85 degrees while others love it at 110-120 degrees. Some plants will thrive if I give them unfiltered sun for 14 hours a day, while others want 50 percent to 80 percent shade during the midday sun and into the afternoon.
In short, it’s impossible to give a generic amount of any of the 3KIs. That’s the reason for the article. To improve the success rate of your growing, you’ll need to read on and adjust to make your plants grow to the best of their potential.
Words to Live By – Or at Least to Grow Your Plants By“You should be more concerned with the quality of growth than you are with the quantity of growth.” These words were spoken to me by Woody Minnich in about 1997 when I was just starting to collect plants. Woody is a successful grower, nurseryman, and field explorer who has traveled to an untold number of locations in Mexico, South America, and Africa. Woody, an excellent photographer, is one of the most sought-after lecturers in the world.
Like many others, I wanted my plants to grow large and beautiful, but quickly. The problem was we had purchased our house in Glendale, CA, which was on the north side of a hill, before we had begun to collect plants. This meant that during much of the spring and fall, and all of winter, most of the plants were in full shade. The “floating triangle” (to be explained in full later) was vital to maintaining good growth. It was important when we lived in Durango, Colorado, and it is now, living in Southern California.
Defining a Well-Grown Plant We all want well-grown plants in our collections, but what exactly does that mean? Do we decide this by what the plants look like in their habitat? What we want them to look like? What judges at a plant show will like? My favorite answer to all these questions is, “It depends.”
It depends on your goal for your plants.
These two Haworthias have been grown in a good balance of light, heat, and water (what we are calling the 3KIs.) The plants are aesthetic and healthy.
Some growers strive to grow their plants like they grow in nature. This is referred to as growing “hard.” We don’t like to grow plants too hard, since many plants don’t look good in their habitat. Many barely survive most of the time. Aside from that, it’s impossible to imitate the condition of their roots. That is, although the ambient temperatures might be well over 100 degrees, and the surface of the soil even hotter, if one were to dig down even four inches with a shovel, the soil would be cool to the touch. The root temperatures of our plants, therefore, are going to be much hotter than those that grow in habitat, since we grow our plants in pots.
This article is written with the goal of growing the plants so they are healthy and growing at a rate that they can easily maintain, which allows them to fight off pests and diseases. Most importantly, the plants must look gorgeous!
Where to Begin – The 3KIs: A Floating TriangleYou could think of the 3KIs as sort of a floating triangle. The three corners of the floating triangle should be balanced as much as possible. When one corner of the triangle goes up, the other two corners of the triangle should too. By the same token, when one drops, like the sun will on a cloudy day, the amount of heat and water should too.
a little"leggy" or etiolated, in other words, the leaves are elongated and unnatural looking. The sun corner of the triangle was lacking in comparison to the other two corners. You should let the sun be the corner of the triangle that dictates what you do with the other two corners. Since you can’t add sun if it’s cloudy outside, I suggest you base the control of the triangle by monitoring the sun.
First of all you must try to establish how much sun the plants will stand. Learning about their natural habitat is a good starting point. Do they grow in full sun for 13+ hours per day, like most Ariocarpus do in the Sonoran Desert during summer? Do they grow among tall grasses like many Gymnocalysium and Uebelmannia? Most authors of books on these plants will give some data about the natural habitats.
It got too much water causing it to split.
Once you know that, set out to simulate their natural habitat. You will get the most growth out of a Copiapoa, for example, if you give them the maximum amount of sun. In the Atacama Desert in their native Chile, they are beat upon by the sun all day long. There is little other vegetation out there to give them any shade. In reading about the habitat of the plants, you’ll discover clues about the amount of heat too. You’ll learn that Copiapoa grow near the coast where the Pacific Ocean never lets the temps get very hot. Unlike Ariocarpus, Astrophytum and Aztekium, our beloved Copiapoa don’t get that much heat back home. They are used to 12 to 14 hours of intense and uninterrupted sunlight, but not the extreme heat.
The Copiapoa cinerea on the left was grown in very low light for years. When I got it, it was all about the same diameter as the base is now. Since then, I've given it more light, but it will never be a "well grown plant". The one on the right has been in a good balance of the 3KIs all its life.
Watch the Weather ForecastSince the sun corner is the guiding corner of your floating triangle, you may as well let it be your guide in raising and lowering the other two corners. When you see the forecast calls for lots of sunny days in the near future, make sure your growing area is going to be good and hot, then water and fertilize to your heart’s content. Conversely, if the weather forecast calls for cloudy days, better not water, and better make sure the growing area doesn’t get too hot. We all know that a growing area can get pretty hot even on a cloudy day, so watch the thermometer and keep it from getting too hot. We have removable panels on our greenhouse walls and exhaust fans on thermostats for that purpose.
Dormant PeriodsPlants have periods where they go dormant in their natural habitat. The question is does the advice above apply during those periods, or should one just allow the plants to shut down as they would naturally?
Let success and failure be your guide. We’ve had good success with growing the plants year round. The floating triangle of the 3KIs works winter, spring, summer and fall, in most cases. There is no sense in wasting perfectly good growing opportunities during extended sunny periods.
FertilizerMost good growers I talk to aren’t overly concerned with one brand of fertilizer or another. The key factor seems to be that all three elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are even, such as 10-10-10. These numbers represent the percentage of each element by weight in the fertilizer. Here’s a quick description of what they do:
Nitrogen: Helps plants to produce more chlorophyll, thus quicker growth. Phosphorus: Helps to grow strong roots, flowers and setting seeds. Potassium: Helps with roots, but also helps with the photosynthesis process and guards against diseases and gives drought protection.
Read the label, and mix your fertilizer solution at about 1/4 strength for tomatoes or vegetables. (Some very good growers mix theirs a little stronger, while some mix theirs as diluted as 1/10 normal strength.
How Often to Fertilize?While many will say to fertilize with every watering, we’ve had good luck with fertilizing twice, then watering without fertilizer. This watering without fertilizer should be on the heavy side, making sure enough water runs out the bottom to wash away any salts that may have accumulated during the waterings in which fertilizer was used.
Controlling the Heat“By far the best way to grow cactus plants is in a cold frame,” says Joe Clements (formerly the director of the Cactus Garden at the Huntington Botanical Garden, presently the director of the Botanical Garden at Pitzer College, Claremont, CA and the who dropped this pearl on me. While living in Glendale, California, we grew almost exclusively in cold frames. Wow, what a difference. Our plants grew so well! Since then we’ve lived in areas that get too cold in winter, so cold frames were not practical since they’re hard to heat. If you live in a more temperate climate, give them a try. They’re not hard to construct. One suggestion: Don’t be tempted to make the sides out of wood. Use the same material, such as polycarbonate, as you do on the top. Sure, you could save some cash, but you could be getting a few more hours of sun on your plants, which means more good growing time.
Greenhouses are perhaps the most versatile ways to control your plants’ environment. A greenhouse lets you control the temperatures, the light and even the humidity, so you can then simulate the environment of the natural habitat of your plants. Greenhouse heaters, exhaust fans, thermostats and multiple thermometers will be good tools in helping you not only create a good simulated habitat in your greenhouse, but also in creating multiple habitats.
Most of us want to grow different genera and species of plants, which means different growing conditions. It is possible to create different conditions inside a single greenhouse, even a small one. Here are some factors you can use in creating different conditions, or mini habitats all inside one greenhouse:
Your Plants Are Going to Love the 3KIs! Much of the enjoyment we get out of our hobby is in controlling the environment in which our plants grow. It’s so rewarding to see the resulting plant and realize it was because of your efforts in controlling, and in some cases, in creating an ideal environment for your beloved plants to thrive and flourish. Using the 3KIs and visualizing a floating triangle will result in some excellent, well-grown plants in the shortest amount of time. May your plants never be the same!
Author: Rene Caro – Caro Desert Nursery – www.CaroDesert.com Photos: Rene Caro
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