Repotting Worries

[TexasPricklyPiglet]

I just repotted my T. schmiedickeanus ssp. andersonii. It has a large taproot and the container I bought it in looked a little short, so I decided I needed to repot it. First of all, the soil was damp, so I'm nervous that I will cause some damage to it. Also, it is insanely difficult to get a proper pot to accommodate that insane tap root, while being a little snug around the sides of the cactus itself. Also, after my research, I found the T. schmiedickeansu (and I'm assuming its ssp.s) are probably able to intake water through their spines. This all makes for the perfect storm. I can just see it now. My poor, beautiful, amazing plant will just be rotting away because I am a novice and don't know what all I am doing. What my plan is is this:

1. Do not water my cactus for the next 1-1 1/2 weeks unless I see evidence that it needs it.
2. When I next water my cactus, I will have to not water overhead.
3. CAREFULLY measure out only enough water to quickly drain through the soil and water only once a week until I can be relatively sure that the soil is completely dry.

If anyone has any suggestions or amendments to this plan, please lend me your expertise. I would really appreciate it.

[TexasPricklyPiglet]

Okay, so I was just too darn worried, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I rooted up one of my dying basil plants that I think died because I used regular top soil to grow it in that was just too dense, and I think I under-watered it. The pot it was in was just perfect. Then I rinsed it out thoroughly and scrubbed it with a clean sponge. Next, I repotted my T. schmiedickeanus ssp. andersonii in it. It is a much more appropriate size. Plus it is a turquoise color, which is just so cute. I feel much better now. Plus, this repotting was done pretty close in time to the last repotting so I didn't cause too much more stress on the poor plant's root system. The above plan still applies though. I am not going to water it for a while.

[Steve Johnson]

Sorry to be so direct, but you need help before you end up losing some very nice cacti. I'll give you the short course:

1. Free-draining mix with plenty of coarse mineral -- forget heavy soils composted with a lot of organic materials. I'm a huge advocate of pumice, and a number of experienced growers do well with straight pumice. I personally use a pumice/decomposed granite mix, but only because the DG makes my pots heavy enough to prevent them from tipping over in the wind. You can find a number of good sources for horticultural-grade pumice on eBay. Here's one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5-GAL-HORTICU ... 4ac8424206" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This looks to be the best candidate. However, you may want to check out other sources:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R4 ... e&_sacat=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Although you may be tempted to consider perlite and vermiculite, it's pretty horrible stuff for cacti -- stick with pumice.

2. If you go with straight pumice, you'll need to fertilize your cacti every time you water. I don't know San Antonio at all, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and you're in a humid subtropical climate. Such being the case, I don't think the pumice would dry out too quickly for you in summer. But if you're not sure, I don't think adding some soil to the mix would hurt either. Commercial potting soils aren't the best these days, although if you can pick out as much of the organic crap as you can, the soil should be okay enough for a cactus mix. A 70/30 pumice-to-soil ratio is about right, but you don't have to be precise about it. If you go with a mineral/soil mix, you won't have to fertilize as often.

3. Always repot cacti in dry mix, then let them settle in for 2 weeks before giving them their first watering.

Don't want to overwhelm you with TMI, so I'll start you off with this, then we can discuss watering and fertilizer care later. While I'm not an expert, I'm much closer to it now than I was 2 years ago. I'll be glad to help you however I can. By the way -- all cacti take up water only through their roots, not the spines!

[CactusFanDan]

Cacti are tough cookies and Turbinicarpus are amongst some of the toughest. I've had Turbinicarpus seedlings the size of a match-head survive 8 months without being given any water. So that gives you a sense of how tough adult Turbi's are. And oppositely, they're quite rot resistant. I had a mature T. schmiedickeanus ssp. klinkerianus which survived being sat in a very wet soil mix for over a month (not my mix, one I bought it in).

Anyway, I'm assuming you potted it into a nice, free-draining mix. In that case, I'd leave it for 2 weeks without any water. That gives plenty of time for any root damage to heal properly. I saw your plant in the general forum and it looks good, a bit thirsty and nice and compact. After the two week period you can water it. My current favourite watering method for all my cacti is to dunk the pots in a bucket of water to make sure the entire soil mass is thoroughly hydrated. However, if I want to water less thoroughly, then I water over the top of my plants, giving enough for water to see water draining out of the bottom of the pot. Turbinicarpus are no exception: they're thirsty, thirsty plants in the growing season.

Interesting that you mention they can take up water via their spines. I've never read that, although I know it occurs in corky-spined tropical cacti, like Discocactus horstii. Nonetheless, water is only going to be taken up by the spines in tiny, tiny quantities and probably won't make any significant difference to the cultivation of this species.

[TexasPricklyPiglet]

Thank you to both of you for the information and the help. I was also shocked when I read that they can take in water through their spines. I feel much better now. It is sitting in a mix that I think is pretty good. The nursery owner that I bought it from makes his own mix and his plants are quite nice. His is sandier I think. But my mix has some of his in it I don't know, from the research I've done so far, I think that I have a decent mix going. Seeing as how they live in soil with rocks and sand in it in the wild of NE Mexico, I went with something like that. Also, the soil that I repotted it into was not really what I would call wet or anything. It is a humid day here in San Antonio and I guess this soil would be like if you dug up the top layer of dirt in the chaparral; that nice cool damp soil that is underneath is kind of what it was like. It feels nice on a hot day like this. Anyway, I'm not so worried about rot now. I'm going to mark my calendar for two weeks so that I can make sure to water when it is appropriate to do so.

[DaveW]

The corky spined Navajoa's were also said to take in moisture via their spines and it has been postulated that others can too, particularly cacti occupying fog zones.

We don't tend to grow in fancy pots in the UK and used to be able to get what were dubbed "Long Toms" for such long tuberous rooted species.

http://www.thepottingshed.co.uk/pots/long-toms/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Unfortunately they are not so easily found in plastic, presumably because expensive moulds need to be made for limited sales, whereas clay pots were hand thrown therefore the potter could even make "one offs" if required.

http://www.thegardensuperstore.co.uk/ac ... 8eg32dOWRs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Strange to say some tuberous rooted plants will simply curl their root around in normal pots whilst others will stay straight and simply jack themselves up by the root and push themselves out of the pot.

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/MAMMIL ... o_Coah.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Soils in pots do not behave as do soils in open ground, which is why you have to use potting mixes that mimic soil performance in open ground, not slavishly imitate them. One reason you should never pot in straight garden or yard soil.

[TexasPricklyPiglet]

Wow, those long toms would be perfect for what I need. Too bad they are so expensive. I'll just have to make my current pot work for now until I can buy one of these. That's so weird that some plants will actually grow themselves up and out of the pot. I saw the root of my cactus and it was curving around the bottom of the pot just like you said. The pot that I put it in isn't much longer, although it should give it some room to grow, but it just makes me feel better that it isn't like my little cactus is sitting in an ocean of soil.

[DaveW]

Can't find any on American sites so you will have to take up pottery classes and make your own whatever size you want Piglet. Are there no pottery classes near you? In the UK there used to be pottery evening classes at many schools, but most of those seem to have disappeared now. Maybe if you look on the web a local potter can help you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3PQZr6Zgs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TexasPricklyPiglet]

Yes! We have many cultural arts centers here that focus on latino/latina cultural arts, and yep, you guessed it, we love making pottery (and painting it too!) We have all sorts of pottery types over here, with mirror mosaics, animal shapes, you name it. I kind of forgot about that. Maybe I'll have to sign up for something like that soon if I want to get my hands on unusually sized pots. I worked with clay when I was a little girl and I wasn't all that bad, so maybe now that I have more dexterity, I might be able to make some fine pots. Thanks for the tip Dave

[greenknight]

Search for "tree seedling pots", you'll find a number of sources of tall plastic pots intended for that purpose. Not very decorative, but they'll do in a pinch.

[DaveW]

Serious cactus hobbyists don't tend to go for fancy pots over in the UK Piglet, and they don't gain any extra marks in specialist succulent shows since it is considered a plant show not a pottery one. Fancy pots are probably more often seen at local horticultural or Women's Institute shows. As long as the pot is neat and clean whatever it is made out of gains or looses no marks. Also classes are often for certain pot size limits, so unusual or irregular shaped pots may be at a disadvantage because the longest width would be taken, therefore they would only be able to contain smaller plants than either a regular round or square pot.

Growing in small greenhouses where winter heating is needed the aim is to make best use of staging space and conventional pots pack much closer than thicker fancy ones, plus plastic ones pack much closer than clay, and square pots better than round. That may mean getting another dozen plants in the greenhouse, or allowing for re-potting some into larger pots.

This is not untypical as to how we fill our staging's, just imagine getting that many in with fancy or odd shaped pots, plus fancy pots would not be seen anyway. As you see he has an excess of Haworthia's, but then even one Haworthia is an excess, but I suppose it takes all types to make a world.

Click mouse on first picture for slide show:-

https://plus.google.com/photos/11450964 ... banner=pwa" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[greenknight]

The tree pot I mentioned aren't just plain, mostly they're corrugated plastic pots. The only ones I found that weren't were Anderson band pots. Mostly sold by the case for the nursery industry, though I found one place that had a small selection you could buy singly: Tree Pots

[TexasPricklyPiglet]

I can definitely see why fancy pots don't matter in a show. I agree, people are there to see plants, not pots. Yes, my nursery man has mostly square pots in his GH except for the ones that are on the outside like the E. Texensis. They get round pots. I like fancy pots anyway. And I like clay pots much more than plastic. I guess I probably couldn't have a very big collection in the UK!

And thank you Greenknight for the link. Those tree pots would probably do the trick very well. They're really cheap too. I wonder how many I'd have to buy to make shipping worth it. I will end up buying some when the rest of my Turbinicarpus species come up from seed. It is a slow painful wait for me.