cacti leaning

[Sallyrat&Sweetie]

Hi everyone:

I tried searching archives first but with no luck.

My cacti lean AWAY from the window in the house. Most windows face south but it is pretty shaded by a city maple. If it was only one, I wouldn't ask about it but I have lost a few that started out this way. I recently lost a saguaro that just went mushy and died ( yes, I have saguaros that I started from seed).

I am most concerned about my oldest saguaro which is almost ten years old ( it is only about 6 inches tall). I am wondering that maybe they need deeper pots but other people I know have larger cacti, smaller pots and less or the same light conditions. Depending on the season, I water anywhere from every two weeks to monthly and fertilize lightly maybe twice a year at the most. I thought about putting them outside this year but it didn't happen and its too late to start now anyway.

I have about 10 different types and I don't know the names. Pretty basic stuff mostly( except the saguaros. Can you tell I'm proud of them? :-). I'll learn the names some day.

Thanks Sally ( in Zone 5a or b depending on which map you look at)

[Cereus-validus.......]

Check out the cactus mall for virtually everything and anything relating to cactus & succulents.

your plants are getting sunburned?

Saguaro make awful houseplants. They are much too slow growing and too temperamental for growing indoors.

There are hundreds of others that are much better suited to your conditions.

If you were really proud of them, you would have learned their proper names long ago.

[Sallyrat&Sweetie]

Thank you for the link.

The saguaros were the only intentional acquisition. The rest of them just landed at my place through various means.

[Jmagerl]

I too grow suguaro's from seed. My baby is 12 inches tall and is 11 years old. I must say they do not grow well indoors. They are a full sun plant. I take mine outside every spring and inside every fall. WHen its inside, I cut back drastically on the water (once a month) and sit the pot on insulating styrofoam (prevent cold roots). The goal is to let it go semidormant because there is not enough indoor light. I have it in a 10inc by 10inch pot. During the summer I water daily and fertilize weekly. It doesnt really need watering daily but its mixed in with a bunch of others that do. ITs not too late to take yours outdoors. It will love you for it. Make sure you aclimatize it first. maybe 2 weeks in a more shade than sun spot (I put mine behind a window screen). THey sun burn easily.

The only problem I have is getting the seedlings thru their first winter. THe mortality rate is horrible. 1 in 10 live.

I've got a few others too that I don't know the names either. One is over 30 years old and is 5 ft tall. Still in a 10 inch by 10 inch pot. My biggest problem is carrying him out for the summer. I have to wear very heavy leather gloves. and then put another pair of leathers gloves in my palm (3 layers of leather covering the palms) before I can cradle the cactus on my hand. even than something will poke thru. I wish they made cactus proof gloves.

[Fragile "Joseph" Warrior]

"Jmagerl" wrote

I used to have a huge cactus that I would move outside, too. Here's a trick I learned: take several layers of newspaper, open them up and then fold them lengthwise into a multi-layered ribbon of newsprint. I'd hook a loop of the newsprint around the cactus and hold the overflow paper in my gloved hands (rather than put my hands directly on the cactus) I usually held two or three of them and had someone else navigate the pot. No more puncture wounds.

[Jmagerl]

I liked your solution but than it hit me, Doah! I have a leather fire wood carrier. I can cradle the cactus in that just like you were doing with the newspaper. Thanks for the tip.

[Sallyrat&Sweetie]

Thanks. Maybe I will try to take them outside for what's left of the summer

When DH first planted the seeds, there was a bad mortality rate but we hadn't lost any for going on ten years. Now, all of a sudden, they are starting to go again. I repotted a few and they seem to be better but maybe I need to repot the rest in larger pots. What is the best time of year to do that?

Also, one of the others I was mentioning leaning used to be a round cacti ( it has elongated in the past year or so). I think it may be an astrophytum ( yes, I looked it up in the Cactus Mall) but none of the pictures are quite right. This cactus has pretty much the whole round part out of the soil and a small single root attachment . I tried planting it deeper a few years ago but it worked its way out again. I'm afraid of burying it deeper until I know what it is and that I'm safe doing so. I'll try and get a picture to post in the next couple of days.

Sally