Good time to repot new cactus?

[willow]

Hello all.
We went to a garden centre to buy bulbs for the garden but came out with 2 new cacti. They unfortunately had fake straw flowers stuck on them, but we thought with some careful surgery they could be removed. I got them because I loved their ginger soft spines. They were only£2.00 each! They did not have labels on them so only guessing that they are Mammillaria Carmenae?? Will post a pic soon. They are also in peat. We have successfully performed the surgery, but it has left a scar that Im hoping will scar over and in time might not notice!
Will it be too late to repot into more mineral soil (grit John Innes2 and cat litter) Or better to leave until spring?
I have stopped watering all my other cacti until the warmer weather returns in spring but have given these 2 a very small amount so they can dry out.
I am guessing that they are Mamm Carmenae I am definitely no expert in identifying!! Some of the spines came off with the surgery but not too many .
Many thanks in advance and grateful for advice.
Willow

[willow]

Just one more quick question. Why on earth do they spoil an otherwise beautiful cactus with these awful flowers and great gobs of glue that spoil the spines? Mystified
Willow

[adetheproducer]

Should be ok to repot now I just had some new ones in over the last couple of weeks sone have even had their first watering. We still got good sun in the days.

[DaveW]

"Why on earth do they spoil an otherwise beautiful cactus with these awful flowers and great gobs of glue that spoil the spines?"

Add to that dyed or coloured cacti, simply because they sell. Many people don't think cacti flower that small so will buy such plants that look as though they are flowering, or with amusing gimmicky faces on them. Often people buy plants as gifts or ornaments which usually finish in the bin in a few weeks anyway, therefore don't expect them to last and to soon be replaced with the next in season flowering plant. What happens to all the lettuce and cauliflowers raised - you eat them, so they don't have a very long life either! Therefore why should flowering plants not be treated as a crop by the growers?

The Dutch raise thousands of Mammillaria zielmanniana that are traditionally sold at one holiday time. They are treated just as you would cut flowers and as soon as they finish flowering are binned, if they were not there would be no sales for them next year. Where do all the Christmas bulbs go that are sold? As soon as they have finished flowering only a minority get planted in the garden, the majority go in the bin along with many other plants sold at holidays. If they did not much of the horticultural trade would go out of business.

If those who buy plants from these fields of Echinocactus grusonii did not keep killing them off the world would be overrun with them by now:-

GRUSONII.jpg (112.81 KiB) Viewed 1084 times

Being cactus fanciers we obviously have a different outlook on how cacti should be treated to the casual buyer using them as novelties they soon get tired of.

[willow]

Thankyou for your replies. I will repot and try and remove as much peat as possible!
Davew I never thought of it that way and I suppose it does keep a lot of people in jobs. Amazing photo of all those mass produced cacti!
Thankyou
Willow