How to Grow and Care for Lifesaver Cactus (Huernia)

Huernia zebrina

With spreading, spineless stems, lifesaver cactus (Huernia zebrina) is a unusual succulent.

Gracing a windowsill, trailing from a dangling basket, or serving as floor cowl, the shiny crimson facilities and tiger-striped petals of the flowers are uniquely mesmerizing!

Lifesaver cactus is an evergreen succulent that has branching, leafless stems lined with spikes.

These spikes might seem like spines, however they don’t seem to be sharp to the contact, and regardless of its widespread identify, H. zebrina is just not a real cactus!

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Also called lifebuoy huernia, owl eyes, little owl eyes, and zebra-striped huernia, the stems have 4 to 6 angles, and are inexperienced, turning reddish purple when uncovered to intense gentle or cool temperatures.

Able to be taught extra about this distinctive succulent? Right here’s what I’ll cowl:

These succulent crops attain three to 6 inches tall and have a creeping progress behavior, spreading to 12 inches huge or extra.

On the base of the stems is the place the intriguing flowers seem, in pairs or small clusters.

These blooms are pretty massive – measuring between one and three inches huge – and are star-shaped, with yellow and crimson tiger stripes or mottling, and a shiny spherical ring on the heart, inspiring the plant’s widespread identify.

Prepared for a much less picturesque element?

For the reason that flowers are pollinated by flies, they give the impression of being – at the least, glancingly – like rotting flesh.

However these flowers don’t stink, in contrast to these of a number of the kin of this species.

If they’re pollinated, the flowers will give approach to massive seed pods that may ripen, dry, and break up open.

In these areas, H. zebrina populations happen amongst rocky limestone soils or exhausting loam soils in dry scrubland.

H. zebrina is assessed botanically inside the Apocynaceae or dogbane household, associated to members of the family which will appear surprising – hoyas, string of hearts, and milkweed!

Inside the dogbane household, lifesaver cactus is grouped into the taxonomical subtribe Stapeliinae.

And mature specimens can be used as hanging and trailing succulents in hanging baskets.

You may also embrace it in a blended succulent planter, or in the event you’re feeling relatively whimsical, in a succulent fairy backyard!

Outside in USDA Hardiness Zones 10b to 11b, lifesaver cactus will be cultivated in a container, or planted in a xeriscape as a floor cowl so long as you present glorious drainage and safety from considerable rainfall.

Find out how to Develop

To efficiently develop lifesaver cactus you’ll want to offer the fitting gentle, water, and soil.

You’ll additionally need to learn about its temperature necessities, significantly in case you are rising open air for half or the entire 12 months!

Let’s begin with gentle.

Mild

Lifesaver cactus wants 4 to eight hours of direct daylight to thrive.

Whether or not you’re rising indoors or out, that direct solar publicity ought to be in the course of the morning and night, relatively than when the solar is at its hottest in the course of the day.

If you happen to’re maintaining it open air for all or a part of the 12 months, make sure you select a spot so it receives filtered gentle in the course of the warmth of the day.

Indoors, a south going through window is your finest guess, though you might want to hold a sheer white curtain at sure occasions.

Are you utilizing a develop gentle as an alternative of or as a complement to direct solar publicity? Ensure the plant is receiving at the least 800 foot candles as an equal to that direct solar.

Unsure measure foot candles? Use a lightweight meter!

Soil and Containers

Lifesaver cactus wants a considerably gritty potting medium to offer good drainage, and it ought to have a pH of between 6.1 and seven.8.

When selecting a container, the very first thing to search for is that it has drainage holes, a should when tending to any succulents.

These crops don’t have deep roots, so shallow succulent planters which might be wider than they’re deep will work completely, plus giving them the lateral area to increase right into a clump.

For rising medium, you’ve got choices – lifesaver cactuses aren’t significantly fussy so long as they’ve good drainage.

You might need to make your personal succulent combine, utilizing roughly 50 p.c cactus and succulent soil with roughly 50 p.c extra grit corresponding to pumice added.

I like to make use of Rosy Soil Cactus and Succulent combine, which is offered in four-quart baggage through Walmart.

Rosy Soil Cactus and Succulent Combine

If you happen to stay in a very arid location, you may need to skip including additional grit to the succulent and cactus soil, since it should dry out extra rapidly than in areas with additional humidity.

Water

Permit the rising medium to dry totally or virtually totally between waterings – there’s a little bit of flexibility right here. If you happen to use a moisture meter, the needle ought to level to the dry vary.

If you happen to maintain your plant sitting on a saucer, ensure that to empty it after watering, to keep away from root rot.

Temperature and Humidity

Lifesaver cactus will thrive with humidity ranges between 40 to 50 p.c.

And whereas some gardeners declare to have the ability to maintain these crops open air at temperatures all the way down to 42°F, to be secure you must deliver them indoors whereas temperatures are nonetheless above 50°F.

In case your lifesaver cactus is uncovered to temperatures round 50°F, make sure you maintain the potting medium or soil dry, since cool, moist circumstances can result in rot.

The place to Purchase

You’ll be able to typically discover lifesaver cactus out there at shops focusing on succulents or from on-line distributors.

Lifesaver Cactus

For instance, you should buy an H. zebrina specimen in a four-inch pot from Wekiva Backyard Foliage through Amazon.

Along with the species plant, there’s a cultivated selection, H. zebrina ‘Variegata.’

With the identical fascinating flowers, this cultivar has yellow and inexperienced mottled stems.

Variegated lifesaver cactus isn’t as simple to seek out because the species plant, so examine with sellers focusing on stapeliads if this one is in your succulent want listing.

Upkeep

If you happen to had been hoping for a low upkeep succulent, with lifesaver cactus you’ve obtained it!

For probably the most half, you gained’t have to fret about eradicating spent foliage, as you’d with echeverias.

Nonetheless, do snip off spent flowers as you see them with a pair of unpolluted, sterilized scissors or backyard snips to keep away from spreading illness.

Fertilizing

To supply your lifesaver cactus with vitamins, use a delicate fertilizer formulated for succulents, corresponding to Dr. Earth’s Succulence Cactus and Succulent Plant Meals.

Apply the fertilizer solely in the course of the rising season, following the producer’s directions.

Dr. Earth Succulence

Dr. Earth Succulence is offered in 16-ounce pump bottles from Arbico Organics.

You’ll be able to be taught extra about fertilizing succulents right here.

Repotting

Each two to a few years you’ll need to repot or at the least clean up the rising medium if the plant hasn’t outgrown its container.

If the lifesaver cactus is rising within the improper sort of rising medium, one which lacks drainage, it’s sensible to modify out the rising medium instantly.

If the plant is turning into root sure, with its roots filling the pot, you must transplant to a barely bigger container, whatever the time you final repotted.

Place the foundation ball centered into the brand new pot, and maintain the plant in place in order that the floor of the soil might be a couple of half an inch to an inch under the rim of the container.

Then fill in across the sides of the foundation ball with rising medium.

Gently tamp the medium down, and wait per week earlier than watering.

Propagation 

Lifesaver cactus will be propagated from seeds or from stem cuttings.

Right here’s how:

From Seed

For this challenge you will want some small nursery pots or a seed-starting tray, cactus and succulent rising medium, and – after all – some seeds.

Fill your pots or seed-starting trays with rising medium, leaving a half inch to an inch hole between the floor and the rim of the pot or tray.

Sow the seeds on the floor of the medium one to 2 inches aside, however don’t cowl.

Spray with a mister in order that the rising medium is moist however not soggy.

Place the pot or tray underneath a humidity dome. You are able to do this by inserting a nursery pot inside a sealable plastic bag, or placing a number of pots or a tray into a transparent plastic bin.

Discover a location in shiny, oblique gentle, and maintain them heat, between 77 to 86°F – utilizing a warmth mat if crucial.

After the seeds germinate – inside per week or two – take away the pot or tray from the warmth mat, and steadily transition the seedlings to decrease humidity and extra intense gentle.

Permit the seedlings to continue to grow in the identical pot or tray for a 12 months or extra, till they’re too crowded and require transplanting.

Our information to beginning succulents from seed has step-by-step directions.

From Stem Cuttings

The very best time to propagate lifesaver cactus from stem cuttings is in spring or summer season when circumstances are heat.

When taking cuttings, skip the blades and easily twist branches off on the elbow.

In case you have a protracted reducing – six inches or longer – you may minimize it in half to make two cuttings, simply make sure you bear in mind which finish goes up, and use clear, sterilized scissors or backyard snips to chop it.

Permit the cuttings to callus over in a dry location out of direct daylight for a couple of week.

The eliminated branches might have already got aerial roots, which can assist them take root when planted.

Along with cuttings, you’ll additionally want rising medium and pots.

Beginning on the heart, poke holes into the medium a couple of half an inch or so aside, and insert the stems about an inch or so deep.

Tamp down the soil across the cuttings firmly, to assist maintain the stems upright.

Situate the pot in a location the place the cuttings will obtain shiny, oblique gentle.

Relatively than watering the cuttings straight away, wait till they present indicators of recent progress since they don’t have roots but.

If the branches you might be planting have already got aerial roots, you may go forward and water straight away.

The lifesaver cuttings ought to be well-rooted inside a month or so. At this level, begin watering as you’d an grownup specimen and transition the succulent to elevated gentle publicity.

Our information to propagating succulents has extra data.

Managing Pests and Illness

The one sort of insect pests you’ll have to fret about with these crops are mealybugs that are keen on feeding on their mushy stems.

They’ll be seen on the outer fringe of the foundation ball in the event that they’re current.

Whether or not above soil or under, mealybugs suck vitamins from crops, weakening them, and may ultimately kill these crops if left untreated.

Our information to managing mealybugs has extra details about these pests.

If it’s too late and you have already got an infested lifesaver plant in your fingers, don’t panic!

Neem oil is sort of efficient at eradicating these pests so long as you might be thorough and in keeping with therapies.

Monterey Neem Oil

Want some neem oil? Monterey’s Neem Oil Focus is offered in quite a lot of sizes through Arbico Organics.

Spray down all the plant with neem oil, together with the rising medium, diluted in keeping with the producer’s directions.

The primary illness you’re prone to encounter is rot, on account of overwatering, inadequate drainage, or utilizing a poorly draining or compacted rising medium.

Be taught extra about cope with rotting succulents in our information.

Save a Succulent Life

Bear in mind to offer a number of direct daylight, permit the medium to dry out between waterings, and develop in a gritty, well-draining potting medium.

Add to that some vigilance for mealybugs, and this stapeliad will produce a great deal of spiky stems and crowd pleasing flowers.

Do you’ve got any remaining questions on rising these succulents? Or do you’ve got any rising suggestions of your personal you’d care to share with our readers?

Depart your questions, feedback, and lifesaver cactus images within the feedback part under!

Wish to maintain increasing your succulent data? We now have extra studying for you proper right here:

Images by Kristina Hicks-Hamblin© Ask the Specialists, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for extra particulars. Product images through Arbico Organics, Walmart, and Wekiva Foliage. Uncredited images: Shutterstock.