Need help saving my cactus!!

[GreeeeN GRassss]

ha ha can you send me over some of that fine desert soil . is it a good sign that there is fresh root growth starting to show from the pot drainage holes? at least its still showing signs of life?

unclefishstick id rep the shit out of you if i could this little cactus means alot to me.. im a sucker for things with sentimental things..

 

[unclefishstick]

yes,that is a good sign...
remember the rule of thumb about watering them,if you're not sure it needs water then dont water,they can survive far longer without than they can with too much...

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

i wont water it for awhile and hopefully after enough time it will begin to get better, my other cacti have been grown rapidly the past few weeks very notciable new growth..

unclefish does you cacti flower ? some of the most beautifull flowers i have seen came from a cactus?

 

[Easy7]

Atleast 50% sand makes a good cacti mix. Used to grow trichs. Watered about once a week in the summer with a pbp light strength nut. Had southern facing windows and they loved it.

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

http://www.wikihow.com/Mix-Your-Own-Cactus-and-Succulent-Soil

http://home.howstuffworks.com/cactus-care6.htm

some usefull links i found.. should i wait till spring summer time to repot? i dont really want to distrub it as i think with the new rooth growth that its just about settling into the new pot? or should i just go ahead and re pot?

 

[unclefishstick]

i wont water it for awhile and hopefully after enough time it will begin to get better, my other cacti have been grown rapidly the past few weeks very notciable new growth..

unclefish does you cacti flower ? some of the most beautifull flowers i have seen came from a cactus?

which one?

yes,i have been treated to a near continuous show of cactus blossoms all spring and summer...check out my thread in the general gardening section...as you can see i have a large potted cactus collection as well as about 30 cactus in ground representing about 15 species..
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[GreeeeN GRassss]

omg that is just amazing now your just making me jealous, i want all of them they look so cool ye i will deff check out your thread

i also really like the way you grow your potatoes in the wooden frame with the straw i never seen that way before. coming from a country that the main diet is potatoes im very intested..

 

[unclefishstick]

thats only part of the collection...and an older pic...if it makes you feel any better i still manage to kill cactus on occasion...but also had plenty i thought were goners that i just put out in the sun someplace and said live or die,up to you,and just sort of ignored them for a while...and they mostly ended up being fine....its almost always too much care that kills them...

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

hey unclfishstick they are some threads you created huge views and posts lol, your "mammilaria elegans" flowers are very like the ones that popped up on mine. amazing pictures when i have a bit more time ill check thru the rest..

i belive its difficult to get cacti flowering on this side of the world so i have been told anyway..

 

[unclefishstick]

depends on the cactus,im pretty sure thats a mammilaria cactus you have that bloomed,thats why that type of cactus is popular because it blooms so freely,theres plenty of them that blossom freely in cultivation and at a very young age.i have a number of cactus that i might not see bloom for years until they are mature enough to do so.i have several cactus that are probably 50 or more years old at this point,and most are 5-10 years old....some of the flowers are just incredible,some of them are so perfumed you can smell them from 100 feet away....

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

i have always had a love for cacti even from a young age 7 or 8. things happen and i lost some over the years and i never got more but now im getting back into the swing of things.. its not easy getting different varieties here there may be a few in stock at the garden centre..

san pedro has only been made illegal here in the past few years and my local grow shop still has one and its really big touching on 3 foot or near a meter what ever you use.. its pretty cool looking..

 

[unclefishstick]

check out the "clarence's bourbon vanilla" thread...hes across the pond as well and there are several links to suppliers in europe...there are some great cactus nurseries in germany and the czech republic and several large collections open to the public across europe. the whole cactus collecting craze started there hundreds of years ago so i suspect there are many varieties available there that have been selected to do better in european climates aside from the med region where many of them flourish...

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

yeill check it out thanks, i didnt know cactus where so popular in europe more research for me thanks

do you ever take cuttings from wild cactus and plant them in your garden ?

 

[unclefishstick]

only the very common ones like prickly pears,but those all you need is a single pad and they root super easy.everything else that i have that you would describe as native species came from a local nursery with all the proper permits to do salvage work where they are able to go into new construction areas and remove any protected or commercially valuable species or yard rescues where people take landscaping plantings out... i may lose some in ground cactus this winter because several are right on the edge of cold tolerance...i have tried to build protected micro climates and give the more delicate ones some large rocks to act as heat sinks,and they are all well mulched with gravel...

oh yeah,if i forgot to say,grab some gravel to cover the soil surface and protect the base of the cactus,and like i said,i would put your cactus in a sunny south window and stop watering it for a while...over the winter i barely even moisten the medium once a month depending on the species,most of them are fine with just a light spraying with a spray bottle every couple of weeks.

do yourself a favor and get a couple of cactus books,a little looking and im sure you can find one written for your area or find your local nursery that sells them and ask them,local knowledge is always best...like i said,i have it easy,i live someplace where its easy to get them to flourish,i have more problems with there being too much sun rather than too little....surprisingly you cant just jam them all straight out in the sun,many will sun burn badly unless you acclimatize them slowly to full sun....
lol,like i said,find a local,cactus people will babble endlessly about them...

 

[Born Loser]

Gotta love the cactus.
And never let em say it cant be done.
Ive been growing hydroponic cactus for a while. Finally got tired of the upkeep and put them all in soil. I have probably 1000 linear ft of pereskiopsis outdoors, waiting to die this winter. It all came from 3 little cuttings. I have Peyote, potted and grafted. The grafts have grown from pea sized to golfball size in 9 months. I have Trichocereus all over, and kind of got burned out on it too after spending so much time doing extractions...
Fun stuff, but so little time.
If anyone wants a bunch of freebies and has a safe addy to send them to.........

Good stuff here unc.

 

[maryjaneismyfre]

Listen to the guy above the guy above, he seems to know his cacti haha cactus people..rock on!

Take a S.P. cutting for yourself, it'll grow 3 foot a year when its happy in a happy spot with water and rich, well-draining soil. The 'false peyotes' -don't eat em!!!' are beautiful, get that collection going. There is bound to be a cactus nursery someplace near you, I was blown away when I visited my first dedicated cacti nursery. Take the time to sniff them out..You will be rewarded by greenhouse after greenhouse of all these and all at crazy prices.

 

[Born Loser]

Peyotes too sacred for me to 'eat'. That's what drain cleaner, battery acid, and Trichos are for. LOL
Double pink flower, mesmerizing.....
This one flowers a lot.

 

[maryjaneismyfre]

Nice, yeah second that too. My peyotes just grow..I have some that are almost as old as me and some very large grafts, but the only thing that eats my peyotes are the snails! I got a whole bunch of different trichs, strains hybrids and species, I have even lost count of exactly which is which over the years. Yup, cept for the weidermanianus sp?, they are good for the pot!

Great thing about cactus flowers is the seed..

 

[unclefishstick]

you know i honestly dont get the whole everyone who ever listened to dark side of the moon immediately gloms onto the san pedro and peyote cactus thing....i can tell you for certain peyote is not a "fun" drug,its a tool for self exploration and without an experienced guide you're going to get nothing from it aside from a messed up liver...

they are pretty cactus though...they grow naturally nearby,they are a bitch to find unless they are blooming,they just blend right in to the rocks.

 

[bigshrimp]

Datura/Brugmansia are like that for me, very drawn to them, lovely plants, but would never ingest them again without purpose.