Everything there is to know about succulents
John Sauer, an expert in succulents, recently visited Polokwane and shared trade secrets on how to best look after them in your garden at home.
POLOKWANE – In a water scarce country, there is no need to change your whole garden, but rather, introduce succulents.
These are the words of John Sauer, an expert in succulents who recently visited Polokwane at the Women’s Day Builders Market with Terry Moller.
During his visit, Sauer shared some secrets on succulents and said there is a vast variety of them in South Africa but that knowledge is limited.
Sauer explained that succulents are great for smaller gardens as they are a great family of plants that will allow you to tend to a little garden of your own.
“Not everyone knows that succulents have beautiful flowers and like all plants that need water, succulents like water but want to dry out as well,” he said.
Sauer suggests watering succulents once a week in the summer and once every two to three weeks in winter.
“With any plant, one can use the fingertip test to see if the plant needs water or not. If you put your finger in soil and it is wet, do not water it. If it is dry, water them. Only give plants water when needed,” he said.
Sauer added that there is a misconception that succulents need eight hours of sun but that this is not the case.
“Not all succulents need full sun. You will find they grow in between rocks in nature and only get sun a few hours a day. Another misconception is that they don’t need fertiliser. This is also untrue,” he said.
Moller added to the conversation by saying that succulents get their name from the water content in their leaves and gave several benefits of having the Spekboom in your garden.
“A Spekboom is a wonderful plant as it purifies the air. You can also eat the leaves by putting them in salads. They also help with noise reduction and can create distance in a small garden due to its foliage,” he said.
