Subject says it all. My cactus garden (planted in a very large forest
bonsai pot) is looking decidedly peaked this year and I suspect an
excess of rain. Anybody else having potted cactus issues? I've ruled
out root rot by cautiously exploring the sandy loam with a chopstick -
all the roots I'm finding are strong. I gave the pot it's usual annual
fertilizer treatment with fish emulsion back in May, then the monsoon
started - maybe the cacti want more feed? The jade plant is the worst
off - the leaves are actually cyanotic with plenty of brown pitting,
even though the roots seem to be in good shape.

Comments? Suggestions?

In article ,
Wooly nobody@nunya wrote:

Subject says it all. My cactus garden (planted in a very large forest
bonsai pot) is looking decidedly peaked this year and I suspect an
excess of rain. Anybody else having potted cactus issues? I've ruled
out root rot by cautiously exploring the sandy loam with a chopstick -
all the roots I'm finding are strong. I gave the pot it's usual annual
fertilizer treatment with fish emulsion back in May, then the monsoon
started - maybe the cacti want more feed? The jade plant is the worst
off - the leaves are actually cyanotic with plenty of brown pitting,
even though the roots seem to be in good shape.

Comments? Suggestions?

Yes, they can be over-watered.
You may want to raise the pot off of the ground for better drainage, or
move it under some kind of cover for a bit so it can dry out.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

Omelet wrote:

In article ,
Wooly nobody@nunya wrote:


Subject says it all. My cactus garden (planted in a very large forest
bonsai pot) is looking decidedly peaked this year and I suspect an
excess of rain. Anybody else having potted cactus issues? I've ruled
out root rot by cautiously exploring the sandy loam with a chopstick -
all the roots I'm finding are strong. I gave the pot it's usual annual
fertilizer treatment with fish emulsion back in May, then the monsoon
started - maybe the cacti want more feed? The jade plant is the worst
off - the leaves are actually cyanotic with plenty of brown pitting,
even though the roots seem to be in good shape.

Comments? Suggestions?


Yes, they can be over-watered.
You may want to raise the pot off of the ground for better drainage, or
move it under some kind of cover for a bit so it can dry out.

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.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

"Wooly" nobody@nunya wrote in message
...
Subject says it all. My cactus garden (planted in a very large forest
bonsai pot) is looking decidedly peaked this year and I suspect an
excess of rain. Anybody else having potted cactus issues? I've ruled
out root rot by cautiously exploring the sandy loam with a chopstick -
all the roots I'm finding are strong. I gave the pot it's usual annual
fertilizer treatment with fish emulsion back in May, then the monsoon
started - maybe the cacti want more feed? The jade plant is the worst
off - the leaves are actually cyanotic with plenty of brown pitting,
even though the roots seem to be in good shape.

Comments? Suggestions?

I never water my jade until the leaves start to shrivel. They thrive on
neglect and I am happy to accommodate them.

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.

Wooly wrote:
excess of rain. Anybody else having potted cactus issues? I've ruled

Not cactus themselves, but we've lost a couple of agaves due to the
rain. Other potted agaves look stressed.

fertilizer treatment with fish emulsion back in May, then the monsoon
started - maybe the cacti want more feed? The jade plant is the worst

These are desert species that get neither rain nor fertilizer.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

Victor Martinez wrote:

These are desert species that get neither rain nor fertilizer.


Eh, they get some rain - but not acre-feet of it in the space of two
months, I'm thinking. Fertilizer they do have, in the form dust and
soil that migrates on the wind, as well as animal droppings and such.

I do refresh the soil surface with fresh sand in late fall before I
bring the pot in for the winter, but I don't water from mid-November
until the pot goes back out in April so any nutrients in the fresh sand
pretty much stay in the fresh sand. The teaspoon of fish emulsion in a
gallon of water, most of which runs through, has to substitute for the
droppings

In article ENtxi.424$jy6.151@trnddc01,
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.

--
Robert Allison

It's actually not a bad suggestion. ;-)

For succulents, I just let the soil totally dry out between waterings.
Helps to prevent soil fungus.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

In article ,
Wooly nobody@nunya wrote:

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.

Good luck. :-)

If you can get some cheap umbrellas and wind won't take them away, maybe
they can be stuck in the pots somehow?

Might sound silly, but I've seen clear plastic umbrellas so you'd not
get the sun restrictions?

Just trying to toss out ideas!

My succulents are all inside the greenhouse right now so are not
affected by rain.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson