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#1
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First Time Cactus Owner =D Help Please
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 |
#2
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First Time Cactus Owner =D Help Please
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 |
#3
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Though if you have a winter-flowering cactus like "Christmas Cactus", epicactus and the like, you will need to find out a specific regime for it. Some cactus can be, would welcome being, put outside in summer, say, June to mid-September. My mother grew one about 5 feet tall like that! I'd avoid repotting it if you can. I've lost them like that... The most important factor in growing cactus is giving them good light. In poor light, they can grow quickly seeking the light, but what you get is a weak, hollow cactus that then collapses and goes rotten. |
#4
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First Time Cactus Owner =D Help Please
On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:43:44 -0400, echinosum
wrote: Though if you have a winter-flowering cactus like "Christmas Cactus", epicactus and the like, you will need to find out a specific regime for it. My Christmas Cactus lives on a window sill in a downstairs cloakroom. For the last year it has thrown out about 3 -4 new flowers every 5 or 6 weeks. We just soak it in water once a fortnight but I shall give it a little Miracle-Gro shortly. -- (¯`·. ®óñ© © ²°¹° .·´¯) |
#5
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First Time Cactus Owner =D Help Please
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! In winter it depends how warm the room is. Mine kept frost free get almost no water in the winter until about now when they start growing again. I water from above and in summer they get watered almost like other house plants but are never left standing in water for long. 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. What shape is it? Flat pads, globular or tall columnar with ribs? Repotting in February-March with the plant is dormant and soil dry is safest, but cacti will survive OK when under potted for a year or more. They are used to growing in the soil trapped in cracks in a rock. 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! One part of JI No 2 and one part of Sharp Grit upto 5mm mixed together, and then some nice gravel to put on the top. You can increase the proportion of gravel for tricky plants - if the water runs straight through then rot is less likely to be a problem. Thanks a lot! Will hope to be getting a few more cacti when I know im a perfect owner of one! You might like to try growing some from seed if you have the patience. They are a bit slow taking 3-4 years to come into flower. Rebutias and Notocacti are about the easiest ones to flower when still small. And you might want to find your local branch of the British Cactus and Succulent Society - they are always keen for new members and plants/cuttings/seeds are much much cheaper than in garden centres. http://www.bcss.org.uk/branches.html And some cultivation hints from my own home branch http://www.teesside.bcss.org.uk/BCSS...T/cultivat.htm Good luck. Regards, Martin Brown |
#6
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First Time Cactus Owner =D Help Please
echinosum wrote:
Though if you have a winter-flowering cactus like "Christmas Cactus", epicactus and the like, you will need to find out a specific regime for it. I have a winter cactus that spends all year looking half dead, then bursts into beautiful flower at exactly the right time of year, then goes back to looking half dead. I don't do anything to it other than very occasionally (about once a month, although it lives in the bathroom so it probably absorbs atmospheric droplets) throwing a tiny bit of water on it. I'm not a big cactus fan, I think we have a hate-hate thing going on. :-) |
#7
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#8
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http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...se/cactus1.jpg
Heres my cactus if any of you know what type it is! By the way, I didnt get it to flower, I bought it that way =P |
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