Robert Allison wrote:

I heard an interesting suggestion at a nursery a couple of years ago. A
woman had come in that was not from here (from the north). She had
purchased a couple of cactii and had question after question for the
nurseryman about care of the cactii. After politely answering far too
many questions, he told her:

Subscribe to the Phoenix newspaper. When it says it rained, water the
cactus.

Not too helpful in this instance, but I thought it was funny.


That's the basic method I use with my cacti garden, though I do water a
*bit* more frequently since mine are in a pot and not the landscape.
Like bonsai they require more care when they're in a pot, but unlike
many bonsai in this climate they don't require constant watering in the
form of drip irrigation (which failed when I was out of town, hence the
cactus in my expensive forest pot, bleh). Last summer I ran the
sprinkler out back every 14 days or so to keep some of the grass roots
alive, so that's how often the cacti got watered, and they seemed to do
quite well with it.

I do have the pot raised on pebbles, and the drain hole is clear (I
checked), so I guess I'll have to take Om's advice and move the pot
under the patio roof. Less direct sun but that's OK.