On 20/6/08 17:08, in article , "K"
wrote:

Astral Voyager writes

"mt006b1198" wrote:

I am thinking of trying to grow cactus plants...

I was just wondering if anybody could advise me
on how often I should water them?

You can pick up a soil moisture meter for a few quid - such as the one at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Soil.../dp/B000QVSI5M

Though there were some of almost identical design in my local Aldi store
this week at less than two pounds. The scale was marked for the optimal soil
moisture state for both houseplants and cacti.

I also have, but am not sure where they came from, some ceramic waterers as
at:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/astral....mp/waterer.jpg

They come in different designs and water by capillary action through the
unglazed 'nose' from a reservoir in the body. They seem to work quite well
with cacti. You might try a garden centre if little china figures nestling
in your plants is to your taste.

I wouldn't bother with those for cacti. After all, you're not going to
harm the cacti by failing to water them - it's what they're designed
for. Simply water fairly generously once the weather is warm (end May
for me), and don't water them again until the soil is visibly dry.

Then stop watering in time for the soil to dry out before the weather
gets cold again - for me, that means stopping watering in the first half
of September.

They need as much light as possible, and most like a lot of sun. So if
you have no-where to grow them apart from a windowsill, they might
prefer it outside from June-end Aug.

The advice is for cacti, and not for 'other succulents', 'Christmas
cacti', and all the other things that people sometimes loosely refer to
as cacti.

*Please* tell me how to look after my Christmas cactus! I do water it from
time to time and at present, it's putting on healthy looking shoots at the
tips. But the flowering performance is abysmal round about Christmas time!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)