Why do succulents turn red? Pink? Black? Various colors? Students who have raised or are raising succulents must be very interested in this. Why are succulents so colorful? This is A magical change in the internal pigments of succulent plants, because certain factors cause the plants internal pigments to undergo chemical reactions, thereby changing the proportion of its own pigments and achieving a discoloration effect.
So what causes succulents to turn red and discolored?
There are two main reasons why succulents turn red, namely temperature and light. As we all know, the color of a plant is an external manifestation of the presence of internal pigments. Chlorophyll makes the leaves appear green, and lutein makes the leaves turn yellow in autumn. Similarly, changes in the color of succulents are also affected by changes in pigment components. Below we will analyze the mechanism and process of the above two reasons in detail.
Light: Light is the most common way to change the color of succulents, and it has the fastest effect. The simplest experiment is to place green succulents that have been exposed to sunlight for a long time in a sunny place. After a while, you will find that the color of the succulent leaves begins to change. Of course, not all will turn red, and the color will vary depending on the variety of succulents. For example, Black Prince will turn black with increasing sunlight, Fire Festival will turn red, Peach Beauty will turn pink, Huangli will turn yellow, Otome Heart leaves will have red tips, etc.
In autumn, due to reasons such as weakening atmospheric concentration and increasing visibility in the air, the intensity of sunlight will increase, and the intensity of ultraviolet rays will also increase to the highest peak of the year. Therefore, autumn is also the best season for succulent plants to change color. Careful students will find that the color of succulents raised in the open air will be very bright, sometimes even dark red; the color of succulents in greenhouses is just right, the color is very bright and relatively mild; while the color of succulents behind glass windows appears More elegant, more fresh. This is caused by the intensity of ultraviolet rays. Glass will block ultraviolet rays to a considerable extent and hinder the discoloration of succulent plants.
So, autumn, the season with the highest UV intensity, is also the best season for succulents to change color. You can adjust the duration and intensity of light the succulents receive according to the color depth you want, whether its rich, gorgeous, or fresh, its all up to you!
Temperature: Anyone who has experience in cultivating succulents knows that in low-temperature environments in winter, succulents will undergo darker color changes. At first, they will turn red locally, and then the red color will gradually deepen. Even turns black. The reason for this phenomenon is due to the self-protection of succulent plants. First, low temperature promotes the synthesis of anthocyanins in plants. Anthocyanins can absorb ultraviolet rays from sunlight better than green pigments, provide heat to plants, and play a role in keeping out the cold and keeping warm. As the anthocyanin ratio increases, the meat in your home will turn red.
I don’t know if you have tried it. In winter, if you take a pot of pork outdoors to freeze, it will turn red in color within two days (this method is not recommended as it will cause great harm to the pork). Similarly, in autumn or spring, when the temperature difference is large, for example, the weather forecast is 8-20 degrees, under such conditions, if you take a pot of meat outdoors, within three days, the whole pot of meat will turn red. Looks like a monkeys butt ~ On the contrary, succulents placed indoors will generally be at a relatively constant temperature. At this time, the meat changes color more slowly, and because the glass window blocks most of the ultraviolet rays, the color will be lighter. This is also the main reason why indoor succulents are mainly green in color.
There are many other reasons for the discoloration of succulents, including genetic problems, stress, variegation variation, etc. These are not problems encountered in conventional planting environments.
To summarize the above, the main reasons for the color change of succulents are temperature and light, and the mechanism of action lies in the change of pigment components in the plant. Therefore, an extreme problem arises. Many students want their plants to be colorful, and then use some more extreme methods, such as the above-mentioned methods of putting them outdoors to freeze in winter and exposing them to the sun in spring and autumn. Some even put it in the refrigerator at night to cause a huge temperature difference to change the color of the meat. Most of the meat in our hands comes from greenhouses. They are all seedlings coming out of the greenhouse. Regardless of resistance or root system, they have not yet reached the conditions for survival in the natural environment. Therefore, in order to make the meat beautiful, we use some bad things. method may lead to more harm than gain.
Don’t blindly make succulents red and discolored, regardless of their life and death, and let them endure ultra-low temperatures or strong sunlight. Everything must be done flexibly within the basic conditions for succulent plant cultivation!< /p>
