Cactus just as house/desk pals

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Mox
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:52 am

Cactus just as house/desk pals

Post by Mox »

I have always taken a liking to cacti. My first attempt was a bust - a small leninghausii, too little information to properly care for it, and slightly neglected as I got it a month before I had my skull cracked open and my brain cut up for a surgery that took a long time (and still is) to recover from. It was a notocactus leninghausii, and for some reason I have taken a strong liking to them in particular. I would love input on requirements, soil, watering, potting, or even other suggestions for easy keepers. I live in Arizona, so sun and dry air is no issue. Ironically, unable to keep a cactus alive in Arizona sure punches your ego though.

So from what I understand, decent amount of perlite and/or pumice for drainage is a must, but I have no idea what the base soil should be. There are some listings on ebay for general premade soil though and I have no idea if that's good/trustworthy or not?

Basically I'm not looking for outdoor planting or a garden. Just a few healthy, long lived pals for years. I know it sounds strange (or at least it does to other people) but I do want a few cacti to just hang out in the house. Oooor I'm sure it doesn't sound all that strange here on the forum.
iann
Posts: 17184
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:10 pm
Location: England

Re: Cactus just as house/desk pals

Post by iann »

Long-lived should be no problem. Many people find cacti a bit slow,but no reason you can't have one in a pot for decades.

Soil is always a tricky one. You can buy bags of cactus soil but they tend to contain too much organic material and too little coarse material such as pumice and perlite. You can mix in your own extra pumice and get something that should work for a species like Notocactus leninghausii. You can get premixes on eBay, some of them very good, but it is hard to be sure what you're going to get. Maybe someone can recommend a particular supplier.

General care is easy once you have a cactus in the right soil. Just water it thoroughly, then wait for it to dry before watering again. Much less water in winter, maybe none at all for long periods. The usually rule is as much sun as possible, but maybe scale that back a bit in Arizona! Try just morning sun in the summer, and then adjust. There are some species that require different care, but you probably won't run across them by accident. Maybe you could try some local species, so you can judge by the season what treatment they should be getting.
--ian
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