On 21 Mar, 12:57, Hayden wrote:
Hey there everybody, im new to the forum, im only 13 years old and
descided to buy myself a cactus. I have had 1 before but when I was like
7, that was under my mums control and now is too dead for me to recover
un-expierienced. But anyway, back to the fresh new one!

I have a few questions, if you can help answer 1 of them it would be
perfect!

1. How often should I be watering mine, ive been doing a tiny bit onto
its dish around twice a week and it sucks it all up!

2. When should I be re-potting mine? Mines only a small cactus (Not
tiny, But about a little over half of a full sized ruler.

3. How can I make soil for my cactus? Ive been reading that the ones in
garden centres arnt as good as making your own. Id kind of like a
simplish way of doing it!

Thanks a lot! Will hope to be getting a few more cacti when I know im a
perfect owner of one!

Hayden

--
Hayden

Hello, Hayden,
It's always nice to see someone young starting with an interest in
plants. not knowing what kind of cactus, I will go out on a limb and
tell you that you should water your cactus about once every two weeks
and not let the pot sit in water after you've watered it. They like
very sunny windows, and during winter, they like it a bit cooler, but
not freezing, but if that's not possible as your house is warm, just
make sure you don't water it too much. As for potting it up, cactus
grown as houseplants like their toes (roots) to be rather tight in
their pots. All of my cactus (and I have over 100 of them!) are in
clay pots with a good drain hole. As for making soil for your cactus,
two parts of course sand with one part of some dirt mixed together and
little bitty rocks on top to keep the soil dry once you water is
always a good thing.

I use kitchen tongs to hold the cactus so I don't get stuck, and
if you really want to repot it, now is the time. Let your cactus dry
out first, mix up your sandy dirt, then half fill the new pot with the
cactus soil. Tip out the cactus and use your tongs to pick it up
gently and set it down in the center of the pot making sure the cactus
is poking it's body out past the rim of the pot and fill in the spaces
with the rest of the sandy soil, firming it up carefully and then
topping it off with those little bitty rocks about an inch deep. (I
get the little rocks where they sell fish and aquarium supplies in
bags for the bottom of the fish tanks and bowls. Or if you have an
inexpensive store with a nursery section, a bag of what's called
landscaping rocks which are usually rather small like brown peas. One
thing, though, never pot a little cactus in too large of a pot. Not
unless you're going to have a cactus garden in a large shallow dish
and a bunch of different cactus and succulents in together. I have
some little pots about three inches wide with attached saucers that
drain nicely and fit on a window sill. The largest from there would be
a six inch pot, which is plenty of size and depth for "bumping
up" (the horticultural term for repotting most all container plants).
I have huge pots for the older, larger cactus. And just to let you
know that you'll have years of enjoyment, I have had two cactus for 27
years! One is a Mexican Cereus cactus that is in a rather large thick,
black nursery tree pot that holds about 20 gallons of sandy soil and
she's about six foot tall and has seven arms, weights about eight
stone and it takes a hand dolly to move her in and out every year.
And come late August, blooms at night, one flower at a time for only
that one night. I have another cactus, that is one of the slowest
growing ones, called a "Monstrosa" and it's never bloomed for me yet,
but it's in a clay pot that holds about five gallons of sandy soil. I
can only one day hope it will bloom for me! I move all of mine
outside to enjoy spring and summer and early fall when all chances of
frost are past here in Tennessee. I hope this helps you with your new
hobby. Watch out for those spines! and if you happen to get a few in
your hands, some cellophane tape or duct tape will pull them out very
well. I know how to handle them, but I still sometimes get stuck!
Good luck and I hope this helps.

Maddie over in Western Tennessee, USA