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Growing Cacti & Succulents

Basic Cactus & succulent care
Watering

I often get asked many questions at shows. 

 

"Do Cactus & Succulents need watering"

 

Well the answer to this is "yes" and "no", Confused?

 

hopefuly these Basic care instructions should answer the question.

 

Cacti and succulents are well adapted to survive in the harsh conditions from where they come. Cacti have many adaptations to draw moisture from the surrounding environment, including fine hairs to catch moisture in the mist and long tap roots that go deep down into the soil to find moisture. When we put a cactus in a small pot, they rely on us to provide the necessary growing conditions. Cacti do all their growing from spring to autumn (March to October and require watering, starting every two weeks in spring and increasing to weekly in the hotter months. As we get to September, the watering should be reduced to every two weeks and finally stopped altogether in October. Watering is halted between October and March to allow the plants to go into hibernation. Watering during hibernation will cause rotting. Succulents, including Crassula (Money Plant), Senecio, Sedum, Haworthia, Echeveria, many more, behave similarly to cacti, growing between spring and autumn with a dormancy in winter and mid-summer. Succulents store water in their leaves and stems, which can be telltale signs indicating when watering is required. When the leaves or stems become soft, a good watering and only water again once the soil has completely dried out. It's difficult to provide an in-depth watering guide for each species, as would take too long. Water during the growing season and hold off in the winter months, and this should keep your plants healthy and rot-free.

Woman watering a cactus with a white jug in a garden, Growing cacti & succulents.
Watering a succulent plant inside of a small decorative pot. Growing cacti & succulents.
Sand dunes in desert landscape with peaks and rolling hills background.
Pile of sustainable compost ready to be processed for use
Coconut shell with pile of compost to demonstrate where Coir comes from
Close-up of coarse perlite used in mixing compost
Pile of grey, unprocessed pumice to demonstrate product used in compost mix
potting compost, demonstrating all ingredients mixed together
Pile of dark gray soil and small white rocks, close-up shot. called molar clay

Confused?

"What soil do you use"

When i first started to grow cacti and succulents this was the very first question i asked the experts, the answer was never the same.

Everyone has there own mix that they feel comfortable with and after 20 years i'm no different. This is a basic instructions so, to keep it simple and provide a starting block i would start with the following;

  • 50% Loam based compost

  • 50% potting grit

This provides drainage and allows for quick drying of the compost. there are many other products out there that advance the mix to the next level including;​

  • Pumice

  • Perlite

  • Molar Clay

  • Coir

Remember the three important factors;​

  1. Drainage

  2. Drainage

  3. Drainage

With this in mind you will be in a good place to keep your plants healthy and rot free.​

Once you have mastered the soil mix that suits your growing then we can discuss mineral mixes that has no soil but that's another subject.

"Do Cacti need fertiliser?" Yes during the growing period feed a low nitrogen fertiliser once a month at a quarter of the recommended dose. I use Chempak No 8 and seaweed extract as these are easily obtained from garden centres

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