PRESENTER FOR NOVEMBER: Peter Walkowiak “HOW TO GROW SUCCULENTS;
Tips from a Grower

This presentation will address all stages and materials that go into growing succulent plants successfully. During this talk, questions will be encouraged, and he will have gift plants for great questions. This will be a learning, informational talk.
Topics to be covered:
Soil – Fast-draining, easy-to-wet soil. Materials to use and stay away from.
Water – PH, acidity vs alkalinity, fertilizer, when to water.
Exposure – sun vs shade, air movement.
Growing techniques – pruning, size of pots, saucers.

Peter will be bringing display plants to help demonstrate the points in his talk for your enjoyment. There are many things that we do, myths that are detrimental to plant growth and vigor, and these will be discussed.

Peter graduated in 1985 from Cal Poly Pomona with a B.S. Degree in Ornamental Horticulture. He worked as manager, production manager and section manager for three wholesale nurseries for 14 years. He ran a landscaping business for another 14 years, the last five years of which he specialized in succulent landscapes. He started collecting succulents while at Cal Poly and his collection now numbers in the thousands. This led to propagating plants from seed and thus, the seed was sown for the nursery that he now owns and runs for the last fifteen years.

He is the past president of the Palomar CSS and was on the board for the San Diego CSS. He was on the Board of Directors of the C.S.S.A. for the last ten years and served as the Nominations Chair  and Convention Sales Chair. He was show chair for Palomar’s one and San Diego’s two shows and co-chair for the Intercity Show.