"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
Hey Maddie, I suspect your cactus was overwatered, perhaps by Lowes.

No honey, I've had it for over a year. It came in a shipment of cacti and I
grabbed it. I tried not to overwater it this winter, but I suspect that the
warm, dry house was the inevitable cause of it's death. I just wonder why
they mush out and dry up and appear to be still alive. Two weeks ago it was
solid and fine. This literally happened in the last two weeks when I wasn't
paying attention.

I will say that I am not replacing lost cacti this year at all. I won't be
working in two more weeks, and the plant budget will be cut severely. What I
have that has survived thru the years and winters will be what I have for
now. It'll be good for me not to be up under the temptations of the plants
all the time g I'm putting in notice Friday.

I water all my cactus once a month during the winter months. All get
some some sun, then *some* are placed out on the deck (without
saucers) during the summer months when I feed them with some diluted
fish emulsion. I prop the pots up on two sticks for fast drainage.

I have all my cacti in fast draining soils and clay pots and no saucers and
they thrive outside. It's inside they suffer horribly. I don't have a cool
enough room to put all of them where they can get the winter light. That
means, I have too many......................... As much as I love them, I
have to quit this impulsivness because I always lose at least six or seven
plants every winter. This time, I lost more plants than normal because of
my erratic schedules. Maybe once I get back to normal routines from not
working I can be more attentative to the plants I have remaining. I hope
so. (that golden barrel was sooooo beautiful!! and HUGE sniff )
My pencil cactus survived some sunburn last summer. In Oak Ridge,
TN

mine did fine, but I lost the largest pot of them, the smallest one is just
fine.............I've lost a lot of plants this
winter..................................time to reassess my plant passions a
bit better. (Zhan's Korean crinum bloomed downstairs where I placed it under
fluorescent lights for the winter, and I wonder if that would have been the
better spot for the larger cacti? )

I bet your redbuds and dogwoods around your home are bursting all over the
place too! With the time I hope I'll have later, I hope I can get a handle
on the weedy pathways between my garden boxes and do that clearing I have
needed to do forever. This is our 10th year and I still haven't cleaned out
the fence row that runs west down my slope. Once I clear out those privet
and honeysuckle vines, there will be more light in the sides of the yard and
I might be able to have a fence row strip with sun loving
flowers........we'll see how that goes.

thanks for the input!

madgardener