Cactus Care Month By Month |
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This brief guide is for those growing their plants under glass with similar climates to the UK.
If in the southern hemisphere reverse everything by 6 months. |
January
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Not much happening in the green house at this time of year.
If you want to sow seeds I find this a good time, use a heated propagator and florescent lights (see our seed raising article).
I keep my green house on the warm side ( 8-10 c) so if there is too much shrinkage on any of the plants I might just give them a little water (I find this necessary with some of the astrophytum asterias, as if left to dehydrate for too long they will take a good while to recover their shape and root).
Keep an eye open for any bugs and take any necessary action if they are found. |
February
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| Sunny days mean increasing temperatures in the green house and a few buds and flowers will be showing on pediocactus, rebutias, mammilopsis and aporocactus etc. These can be given a small wake up drink and on sunny days the vents will be opened to give the plants some fresh air. |
March
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Work really starts this month and is probably the busiest.
We will start repotting plants that have been in their pots a little too long (I read a lot of articles in cacti publications saying repot ever year and in an ideal world and with half a dozen plants this might be possible, but in reality its not going to happen and if the plants are fed well it is not absolutely necessary). Move ones that have outgrown their pots to a larger size - as rule of thumb I like to see an inch or two of soil surrounding a newly potted plant, depending on size.
I would advise you against potting plants into pots that are too big for them as when doing this you have a lot of unnecessary damp soil sitting there doing nothing. If you are pushed for space I recommend the square BEF pots as with these there in no wasted space. These are available on our site here.
A good all round soil mix is 3 parts potting compost (peat or loam) to 1 part course grit and a sprinkling of slow release fertilizer. Some plants require slight different blends with the addition of lime (calcareous mix) (lophophora and white spined plants) and some with no peat (ariocarpus some astrophytums turbinicarpus etc.). If in doubt check out the books and articles on the web to satisfy yourself of your plants needs.
More of the plants will be in bud now and if the weather is sunny and the forecast good I will give all the plants their first watering of the year, preferably in the morning. This won't be a heavy watering but enough to give the plants a wash and get their roots functioning (enough water to wet the soil but not to be running out of the pots).
I will also leave the doors and vents open, as long as temperatures allow, to clear the added humidity. |
April
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Re-potting can continue and all the plants can be given a good watering.
Flowers will be appearing on some rebutias and mammillarias and the plants will be filling out well.
I like to do grafting this month when the plants are obviously growing and although this can be undertaken at any time during the growing season I find this time gives me the best results. |
May
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All plants should be growing well and flowers should be abundant.
The plants will be requiring more water and you should now start a feeding routine. A good guide would be to feed every 2 - 3 weeks, but I prefer to use half strength every watering, then a good flush through with just water every month to remove any build up of salts in the soil.
Keep a constant eye out for unwelcome bugs including a new visitor to our greenhouses: leaf cutter bees (read more in our bug section). |
June - July
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| Plants continue their growth and flowering and require more and more water. On hot days I give the plants a good misting in the evening as I believe this is beneficial and helps deter red spider mites - a pest I believe to be one of the most destructive, turning your show winning plant into a brown scared mess before you are ever aware of them. It will then take years to grow out the damage if possible. If you suffer an attack from this pest, we do stock red spider mite control. |
July - August
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Most of the mammillarias and rebutias will have finished flowering but astrophytums will still be flowering and at the end of the month the ferocactus will be flowering.
During the hottest part of the year the plants growth slows down so water accordingly.
A lot of people recommend shading at this time. We live in the London, Herts area and have never needed to do this. It is also my experience that if the plants are wet at the roots and there is good ventilation no harm should come to the plants, remember to feed plants actively growing. |
September - October
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Flowers start appearing on the ariocarpus this month. For the other plants we start to reduce the watering, getting them ready for their winter rest.
Good time to collect and remove all the old flower buds. Still keep an eye out for those dreaded red spider mites. |
November - December
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The growing year is over and the plants are resting. During cold spells remember to check the heating is working in the green houses. For the last few years we have been putting dehumidifiers in the houses and these have been excellent keeping the glass dry (absolutely no condensation inside the greenhouse) and one of the benefits of this has been no sooty mould growing on the areoles of the ferocactus.
At this time we set aside an area of the green house where we continue to grow plants under grow lights, plants we need for seed, pereskiopsis grafts and the late flowering ferocactus latispinus, lithops optica rubra etc (see growing under lights).
© Divine Cactus 2006
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