Gardening: Digging in with Baby Toes, Tiger's Jaw and Crow's Claw
23.02.12
"The reason they're called succulents is that they're 95 per cent water and a lot of people think 'it's hot, I'm watering the roses, I'm watering the vegies, I'll water the succulents. Don't, because most of them actually survive with one storm in summer.
"At the moment, our succulents in the garden, our cactus, are being watered by the rain.
"They actually won't need any water now for the next six months so be really careful not to overwater succulents. In fact I'm a little inclined to say don't water them at all."
You do have to watch out for problems such as scale insects, however, which they are prone to.
"If you don't get in control of them early on, they spread really, really quickly," says Horton.
Ross says scale is a result of humidity.
"Along the coast our humidity is very high, especially over the next couple of months and that scale that I mentioned, there is one that attacks succulents.
"It's a little brown scale and people need to be aware that they might need to spray with one of the horticultural oils, either eco-oil or pest oil for the scale."
Source: New Zealand Herald
