A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Cactus & Succulent Bargain at Wally World!

I couldn't make another dish garden, because 23 people signed up for the Luncheon & I'd only bought mini 20 cactus plants for the Garden Club event. As it turns out I had 3 left from my personal project, so I was able to use them.

If someone brings a last minute guest she can have my table favor, as I really don't want to see another cactus for a while! (The little invisible slivers that some of them attacked me with just about drove me nuts! Rubber gloves helped, but I kept forgetting to put them on!)

So, now I'm all done with my cactus projects!
They're all gussied up & ready for Wednesday...


As a matter of fact, I can take most of December off, because every bit of my shopping is done & everything is wrapped!
(Including the ribbons & pretties!)
All they need is a tree to go under, so I can have my couch back!
(This is the first time I've ever had this much done BEFORE the 24th!)

Patty!!! Those look fantastic!!!
What lucky people at your luncheon!

I think it's great that you're finished with all your shopping and wrapping. You can sit back and enjoy the season now, without that hanging over your head!

Patty, beautiful!!! WOW you are ALL done??? Wanna come on up and help me too???

Help! I have a Christmas cactus that was very big and beautiful... I put it in a new pot with that new potting soil from Miracle Grow that retains moisture. Now my plant is dropping it's leaves and it looks like it is rotting ... Did I mess up by doing this and how can I fix it so my plant does not totally die? I have had this plant for over a year now and it has trippled it's size. And this is the first time that the whole palnt would have bloomed... Please help my save my plant, before it is too late!!! Thank you, Christina

Reading through this post makes me want to build a cactus garden now. Only trouble is I'd have no where to put it. Maybe I'll make one for my mom for christmas.

Christina, margaret e. pell is the cactus lady around here... Oh Margaret, where are you?

I'm not a cactus person... I tend to overwater green things unless they're Orchids, so cactus plants hate me, because they like water even less than Orchids do!
I only bought these because they were so cheap ...and I can't wait until Wednesday, when I can unload them (& get my 10 bucks back from the Club Treasurer) before I kill them off!

It's my understanding that cactus soil needs to be kept VERY dry...
Judging from that, my guess is that the potting soil you got "that retains moisture" may have been a big mistake, since Christmas cactus IS a cactus! (I found cactus Mix for mine at BiMart, so I'm thinking that they probably still have it at the store there in Klamath Falls too.) Tonya mentioned that cactus thrive on neglect... I think you might be loving your Christmas cactus to death!

What kind of a "new pot" did you put it in? Margaret mentioned on page 1 of this thread that a pourous (terra cotta) container is best, & I take that to mean "non glazed".
My question for Margaret is: When a pot is glazed on the outside, but not on the inside, is that still OK for Cactus?

Also, the 11 pages of the link that Papito mentioned on page 1, How to Construct a Cactus Dish Garden , gives some pretty good clues on cactus care.
Sure! ...As long as I can bring the basketS of ironing I have backed up here, & you can catch me up on that!

i do concur with christina about margaret being one of our best cacti people
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="3" face="COMIC SANS MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">i'm not margaret, but the answer, is the bottom glazed too? if it is, then no, don't use it. if it isn't, then go ahead and use it, it will be fine, it just won't dry quite as quickly.

"Oh Margaret, where are you?"
At work, reading, cleaning the house(ok, that one is pretty lame), cooking, letting my kids/husband know I'm interested in them, too... Laundry. That was a big one today. Sorry.
"When a pot is glazed on the outside, but not on the inside, is that still OK for cactus? [dunno]"
Well... The problem is the water, not the pot. You can grow cacti in plastic if you can refrain from watering often and still remember to water sometimes, as long as the soil does not hold water. It's just a lot easier to grow them in unglazed terracotta. I like to "tend" my plants, so I have adjusted the soil and pot size/type so that just about everything, except those with dormancy needs, can get watered at least every other week. I grow everything from a philodendron in an 18" tall and wide plastic pot (it's about 5' tall with a 2' spread) to 2 year old cactus seedlings in 2" x 2" terracotta that won't get watered again until spring. Cacti and any (but not all) succulents are resting now. Put them in what pot you want with a quick draining soil (I use a nice organic potting soil about 1 or 2 to 1 soil to drainage material [a mixture of coarse, NOT fine sand, aquarium gravel, small lava rock, small pebbles, whatever. I have a personal bias against pearlite, but some people like it]), water them once until it drains through, then not again until March.

Ironing!?!?! But that's rediculous! Why would you do that?

Boy! We caught a couple ladies on a roll there!

Thanks for all your comments, Jiffy & Margaret... you two are real warehouses of knowledge, once you get going!

My daughter gave me a terra cotta cactus dish that she doesn't want anymore. (The reason I know its a cactus dish is because there's a desert scene **with cactus** glazed on the outside!) I don't know much about it... other than it's NOT Vermiculite, which I was glad to see discontinued from potting soil & other household products (like air fresheners for vacuum bags). After living in Libby, Montana when that stuff was being mined, I have a real hate for that killer! There's a lot of Pearlite in the cactus Mix I bought, but usually when I want a "lighter" soil, I pick apart Styrofoam peanuts & add it to the potting soil... cuz I'm too frugal to pay for stuff like that!

Trust me, I don't "want" to, but I do it anyway cuz my hubby wont!
Actually, he has to wear dress shirts at work. I don't care how "Wash N Wear" the label says they are, they need touching up along the buttons & collars, or he'd go to work looking like he doesn't have a wife!

Cacti need a summer/winter cycle to bloom. Without it they will grow fine, may even pot out a flower once in a while, but won't do the really spectacular blooms they are capable of. I keep mine by windows where it is much cooler at night in winter than on summer nights, and I don't water them. Many cacti can stand brief freezes if they're dry. It never actually freezes by my windows, but it does get cool. They also get fewer hours of direct sunlight, as we all do in winter. Yes, we turn the lights on inside, but they aren't bright enough close enough to the plants. At least, I had some georgeous flowers last spring/summer with this treatment. Now that I have a digital camera, I'll take pics next year. And, above all, cacti are at least somewhat forgiving You did not give your ladies dead cacti, but what happens next is up to them. They looked beautiful, as do your dish gardens!

Thanx, Margaret. If these plants survived ME for a month, the least the ladies can do is to not love them to death!

Mine go from Thanksgiving to Valentines' Day dry, except the seedlings which get a bit once a month.
My dislike for perlite is this: it always, eventually, floats to the top of the soil and discolors, looking ugly and leaving the lower soil levels without drainage material. I grow lots of my cacti/succ's in small pots and the weight of all the grit and stuff helps keep them from tipping over. Mostly, I just find it unsightly on the top. That's all.