From Newbie to Connoisseur: The Beginning of My Personal Journey with Succulent Plants

I will begin this Blog entry by telling how I started growing these plants called succulents, like most people, the idea of ​​a cactus in my head was simply a ball of thorns without much charm, nothing that caught my attention too much. in particular, but then I remember that it was in 1995 when I received as a gift a small globular-shaped plant in a 3-inch square pot. I remember that at that time it seemed like a very curious plant because it had no thorns and it looked like a small pumpkin, later I started researching the species in question and found that its scientific name was Astrophytum asterias. This small plant captivated me for its symmetry, its bright greenish color and its globular shape, although of course I had no idea what it was. how to provide it with the necessary care, so what I did was install it next to a window in my room so that it received adequate light.

I then proceeded to water it every week as they told me I should do and at first it began to look healthy and growing, I enjoyed seeing it every day in the afternoon light, but unfortunately the pleasure did not last very long since after 15 days When I was observing it carefully I realized that in the center there was a strange opening which I proceeded to touch with my finger and I felt that the plant was too soft which became worse as the days went by, ending the plant in a kind of orange and greenish pulp which was the result of the plant having rotted.

The feeling of seeing the consequences of my bad cultivation was a kind of disappointment and frustration at the same time as I was not able to provide my little plant with what it really needed. Searching for information and asking questions, they told me that I had surely exceeded the amount of water it needed. the plant so I proceeded to not give up and got another plant like it 2 weeks later, this time they told me to water it less and so I did, now instead of watering it every week I watered it every 3 weeks and after 2 months it happened What rotted again, the conclusion was that my plant was not receiving enough light from the window, which was causing it to not grow healthy and the humidity to remain in the substrate for too long.

Once again I bought a third copy of this plant and decided to change the place in which I would place it, to do so I installed a shelf on a wall that faced the outside patio in which the plant would receive a greater amount of sunlight, in In this location everything seemed to be going well but after 3 more months it happened one day when I was not at home and a rain wet the plant so the next day I tried to place it in a sunnier position to dry the substrate more quickly so I left it for several hours in the sun, the result was that my plant burned on its surface because it was not used to such an amount of direct sunlight. As the days went by, the burn scars became more noticeable and the damage occurred again. that the plant would rot. Naturally at this point the issue of my new hobby was becoming highly frustrating and at the same time exasperating since I was turning something that was intended to be fun into a constant source of disappointment by not being able to successfully maintain what I initially considered. It was a simple cactus with very basic cultivation requirements, aha...

Despite the frustration I embarked on a fourth attempt, in my fourth attempt to grow this plant I acquired on this occasion three specimens of this same species and 2 more of the same genus of cactus (Astrophytum) but of different species which were called Astrophytum myriostigma and Astrophytum ornatum respectively.

By the way, opening a brief parenthesis, at this point the reader may have wondered, why didn't you simply search the Internet for detailed information on growing succulents?

Well the answer to this question is that at that time (1995) the amount of information that we can have today on the Internet did not really exist and that social networks or access to the Internet as simple as we have today did not yet exist... yes , it's been a long time hahaha

Closing this brief clarification, I continue with the story, I was then determined to improve the cultivation of my cacti and as I mentioned previously I had now acquired three species of cacti to try to keep them in good condition, it happened that with 2 of these species the cultivation was easier and the fastest growth (Astrophytum myriostigma and A. ornatum) during the following 3 months, however the cultivation of A. asterias continued to present challenges since of the three specimens that I had previously acquired, one of them succumbed to rot again, So basically the first two years were about having constant losses of Astrophytum asterias, although I was acquiring more species of cactus, most of the other species remained in an acceptable state.

Of course, until a long time later I would find out that the species with which I began this learning journey is not exactly one of the easiest to cultivate hehe.

But little by little, based on observation, trial and error, talking with other people who grew these plants, advice from the supplier who sold me several of these plants, etc. I began to understand the requirements to successfully maintain this group of interesting plants called succulents in cultivation. Among the points that I later took into account to develop my cultivation technique, I learned that the best way to do it is by acquiring in-depth knowledge and understanding of the necessary cultivation technique, which covers important factors of which I will mention the following:

Container, substrate, irrigation, climate, light, size and type of plant

All these points together were what gave me little by little the key to cultivating different types of plants from arid areas in a quite acceptable way, I would say, today I maintain sufficient production for my collection of the species that caused me pain. head when I started with this adventure and I grow it even in one of the most technically complicated but most beautiful ways for me, keeping them in pieces of microhabitat simulation terrariums, which I call TTM, but that's another cactu story...