What are the Best Tips for Cactus Care?
Cactuses are an amazing family of plants, built to live in low-water, high-temperature climates. They are ideal for many housing situations, as they can handle a fair amount of abuse and survive or bounce back. They are also fantastically beautiful, and have a unique quality to them that makes them stand out against most other houseplants. Even though they are hardy, proper cactus care can help your cactuses stay strong and healthy, flower regularly, and survive for many, many years.
After you buy a new cactus, one of the first things you’ll want to do is get a nice new pot to serve as its new home. Most cactuses have been living in their current pot for quite some time by the time you buy them, and have probably outgrown that living space. One important part of cactus care is making sure your cactus always has enough room to grow. Get a pot that’s just a bit bigger than the one you bought it in, to give it room to stretch out. Make sure to get a pot with ample drainage, though, because cactuses can easily be overwatered and rot: this is why it’s important to get a pot just a bit bigger than the one the cactus was bought in, because too large a pot can lead to overwatering as well.
Another important part of cactus care is making sure the soil you’re using is ideal for your cactus. Normal potting soil tends to be too rich and tends to hold too much water for a cactus to really flourish, so you’ll want to buy special cactus soil if you can find it. If you can’t find it, you can approximate it by combining equal parts potting soil with sand, and adding some larger gravel pieces to give the soil extra drainage.
When you do move your cactus, either in the beginning or later as it grows to a larger pot, be careful with how you treat it. It is during repotting that cactuses are at their most fragile, and good cactus care means taking this into account and being gentle with them. Break the pot from around the cactus, if you can, rather than digging it up, which can cause root damage. Gently place it on a bit of new soil in the new pot, and fill in the extra area with your special cactus potting soil. Then let the cactus sit out of the sun, and don’t water it more than a little bit, to give it a week or so to adjust to its new setting.
Cactuses have two real seasons: an active season and a dormant season. During the active season, your cactus care regimen will be more time consuming than during the dormant season, and during the dormant season you’ll need to leave the cactus largely alone. To water your cactus during the active season, water until the pot is mostly saturated, with a bit of dry soil left on top. Then leave it for a few days or a week until the soil is completely dry, and water it again at that time, checking occasionally to make sure the drainage is open and ample. During the dormant season, water your cactus no more than once every few weeks, and water it sparingly.
Written by Brendan McGuigan
