First, yes I know plumeria plants are not succulents; however, many followers of this blog collect the colorful flowering plumerias so I’m including them in this blog post. The plumeria plants in southeast are still blooming and we expect them to continue blooming through September in our area. South Florida is in the middle of the tropical rainy season with many thunderstorms dumping inches of rain every day.
The adenium plants, plumerias, prickly pears, echeverias and all our plants are receiving rain every day (no we do not grow under a greenhouse what-so-ever). However even with daily rain we still water the plants once a month and the remainder of the time rely on the time released fertilizer during the summer. It’s important to remember that water leaches out nutrients from the soil quickly. Since you should be using potting a mix with less than 15% soil the nutrients will be deplete after a couple short months.
In the desert areas, where you get much less rain, we highly recommend increasing watering of your succulent and tropical plants now through early September. Fertilization of the plants increase the growth, health and resistance to problems.
The adeniums (desert roses) and other plants are in their main growth period for the year. If you have not transplanted your adenium plants (if needed) do so now before the end of the month or wait until next year. In small pots the adeniums will push up exposing more of the roots (caudex) as it grows. Under the soil the cramped roots will get twisted so when you do re-pot the adeniums you will have interesting shapes.
We purchased several inexpensive inline automatic fertilization kits and installed them about 2 years ago. No we do not sell the kits. The ones we use are called by EZ-Flow. We use two 2 gallon EZ-Flow kits per plant section (one with Dyna-Gro Grow and one with Tekt during the summer). Each watering we alternate the fertilizer so each section gets a dose once every month. EZ-Flow has all types of kits including ones that connect to a hose lines (3/4 or gallon size will work great for most hobbyists). They are simple to install!
The only plants not out in the open are the Hoyas which like less direct sun than other succulents and cactus plants. The hoya plants are receive 70% sunlight for 8 hours a day in a screened in area. They are doing great. Yes, AdeniumRose Company has increased the watering of the hoyas too! Plan to see a release of hoya plants in late August or early September.