cactus soil mix in utah

[jaredhiggs1]

I have been looking around and can't seem to find any of the alternatives to rough sand/gravel people are talking about such as the right kitty litter that won't dissolve. I live in Ogden Utah and was wondering if anyone could help me. Also I am making a raised box cactus garden and wondered if just top soil purchased from Lowes or Home Depot would work mixed in with gravel and rock. Any advice would be awesome as well!

[cactushobbyman]

Kitty litter also know as Napa 8828 oil absorbent. I use Chicken/Poultry grit. Out side I would a mixture of different size gravel, some grit, some Napa and sandy loam top soil. Drainage is the key, if you use sand, very coarse at a low ratio.

[iann]

Napa #8822 Not sure which kitty litter brand matches.

In open beds, mixing topsoil and grit should be OK. Mostly grit though. Decomposed granite is helpful if that's easily available, but has more fines than just a coarse grit would.

[Saxicola]

Generally the best cat litter to use is the cheapest, NON-CLUMPING kinds that are unscented. I don't use it for my plants, but I have cats and I regularly get the cheapest kind at PetSmart (in a red and blue bag) and it doesn't break down. Neither does Johnny Cat or Walmart's cheap store brand. Try anything you buy out first by soaking a handful in a bowl of water for a day, but those kinds or anything similar should work. I'm positive you can find the right cat litter where you live.

As the others say, Napa 8822 is good too. However that could confuse them so you have to ask for Floor Dry 8822. We aren't just giving you those number for fun by the way. Some Napa's sell another kind of floor dry that is not 8822 and won't work. When they bring up the bag just look it over and the 8822 will be pretty obvious if it is the right stuff.

The best thing of all that you could use (better than sand and gravel) is pumice. It looks like perlite but is heavier and doesn't float like perlite does. I grow most of my collection in pure pumice.

[A. Dean Stock]

In Ogden you can just use a good source of sandy gravel which is not hard to find in your area. I'd raise the beds at least a foot or two. There is a U of U grad student from Layton that grows many cacti just in his back yard with very little modification other than using some local gravel in the beds. If you choose native cacti that are available from a grower quite near you, I doubt that you will have much trouble growing outside. The local Opuntia macrorhiza and it hybrids with O. polyacantha would be good bets. In addition, Opuntia fragilis and its hybrids along with Escobaria missouriensis and Pediocatus simpsoni would do well for you. There are cacti specialists in Salt Lake City that grow in their yards with very little in the way of soil amendments. It just depends on what you plan to grow.

Dean

[jaredhiggs1]

Thank you everyone for your replies! I really appreciate it.

[DaveW]

You can grow plants in open ground in mixtures that would be death in pots since soil in a large mass behaves quite differently regarding drainage to that in small containers.

[jaredhiggs1]

Ok so I realized I live near a gravel pit and so got a little and tested for limestone and apparently it has plenty of that in it. will that work for my cactus garden or would that be a problem?

[A. Dean Stock]

That should work ok. What do you plan to grow??
Dean

[adetheproducer]

Ok so I realized I live near a gravel pit and so got a little and tested for limestone and apparently it has plenty of that in it. will that work for my cactus garden or would that be a problem?

I use Limestone in a lot of my mixes, I mainly grow the mexican minatures, so lophophora, turbinicarpus, astrophytum, ariocarpus... but these are all from limestone rich areas. I do grown some south american species which do not tollerate limestone so I use more sandstone and granite in the mixes there. Granite is very good stuff check with your local stone mason or monumental mason see if you can get off cuts and waste bits and crush them up with a hammer.

[jaredhiggs1]

I plan to grow some awesome cold hardy cacti. Opuntia fragilis, humifusa, polyacantha, phaeacantha, aurea, basilaris, etc., Echinocereus triglochidiatus, coccineus, Pediocactus simpsonii, Coryphantha viv., Maihuenia poeppigii, and Maihueniopsis darwinii. It's gonna be awesome!

[A. Dean Stock]

Your anticipated list of species to grow sounds great. Don't forget your local Echinocereus mojavensis, and Opuntia macrorhiza. You may find some forms of O. basilaris that are cold hardy but many are not. Out of 30 or so I tried, less than a dozen proved to be cold hardy. Good luck !!
Dean

[CactusFanDan]

Maihuenia poepigii might not appreciate limestone in the soil mix. In fact it just might not like life in Utah at all. It's a very weird species, which I find needs to be watered every few days year-round here to keep it happy. They really like to be kept moist all the time, most unlike every other terrestrial cactus species.

Maihueniopsis darwinii should be right at home, although if you get very hot weather it might be unhappy, particularly if it's moist at the roots in very hot weather.

Personally, I don't bother with limestone, but others swear by it. I just don't see the need.

[JimHSoars]

Jared:

Consider Escobaria missouriensis and its varities. Although it's quite small, it's very cold hardy.

- Jim

[jaredhiggs1]

Another question for you my friends. I have built a box garden and added several inches of sand gravel mix in the bottom. should I use just plain top soil or sandy loam or whatever for the rest mixed with gravel and sand? I'm just confused by all the different ideas of what a good soil consists of.