Post winter watering

[Kipody]

I heard some people say that after winter you should water gradually.
meaning that you should start with a very mild watering and only after some time give the plants a proper soak.
Do you guys find that to be important/true?
Thanks

[Arjen]

In my experience you should never water mildly, soaking your plants thoroughly with every watering makes much more sense.
Of course making sure that the soil completely dries between waterings.
This applies mid-summer as well as in early spring.
However, it is generally a good idea to spray your plants mildly a few weeks before the first actual watergift.
This will give them a bit of a head start in developing advantageous roots.
Another thing to note is that you should only apply fertilizer starting from the second watergift, because the plants will not have developed these roots enough to take it all in on the first watering.

[Steve Johnson]

In my experience you should never water mildly, soaking your plants thoroughly with every watering makes much more sense.
Of course making sure that the soil completely dries between waterings.
This applies mid-summer as well as in early spring.
However, it is generally a good idea to spray your plants mildly a few weeks before the first actual watergift.
This will give them a bit of a head start in developing advantageous roots.
Another thing to note is that you should only apply fertilizer starting from the second watergift, because the plants will not have developed these roots enough to take it all in on the first watering.

Everything you just said is absolutely correct. The only thing I don't do is spray my cacti only because it's not practical for me, and I haven't found an advantage to it anyway.

[jerrytheplater]

I usually spray my plants a few times before watering for the first time of the season. I have cacti that are kept cold and dry in my garage over winter. They can see temps below 0F. They are outside now for over a month on days where it is not raining. Temps are still able to get to freezing still so I have not sprayed them yet, but on todays sunny day I am really tempted to spray.

I have another batch of plants that are kept at my friends commercial greenhouse overwinter. These are kept above freezing always, but bone dry. He put them outside anytime the air temp was above freezing. During very cold and snowy/rainy periods they are inside under glass. Pretty sure he ventilates to keep it from getting too warm. I have these plants home now too for about 2 weeks. They are outside every chance they get. They go in the garage at night. No water yet. I see my Eriosyce senilis has a full crown of flower buds which makes me want to mist it a bit, but I'm waiting.

I was out hiking with my wife yesterday near our home. One part of the trail was called the "Cactus Ledge". Our native Opuntia humifusa is growing there. Over 50% of the pads are plumping up already, so they are growing. Two days ago we had about an inch of rain. One week ago we had at least 3" of rain. Two weeks ago we had 4-5" of rain. So you can see these wild plants are being watered already and are growing. They are in full sun on very thin soil, mainly growing where the rock outcrops meet the soil and in cracks in the rocks. Very warm position.

[anttisepp]

I never spray cacti because they aren't orchids neither bromeliads, no practical use at all.
I water them when they are moved to greenhouse and temps are high enough, never give them "some drops" but good amount of water. Better later and much than earlier and little.

[Kipody]

Thank you all for the feedback
I just watered thoroughly after a 5 month dry period and I suddenly got worried that it might be too drastic of a change.
Glad to know that its OK
Hagai

[jerrytheplater]

I spray to give just a little bit of water. I have dribbled some on plants as well. This is only for the very first waterings when it is still not reliably above 50F during the day and for sure not above 50 F at night. Once they are growing, I give them solid soakings every time I water. All next week looks to be below 50 during the day and raining. Rain starts tonight. I keep these plants outdoors during the growing season.

Pretty sure the Eriosyce grows with fogs daily and almost no rain ever. So in that case, the plant is collecting the fog on the spines and letting it drip down around the plant into the soil.

[Arjen]

I never spray cacti because they aren't orchids neither bromeliads, no practical use at all.
I water them when they are moved to greenhouse and temps are high enough, never give them "some drops" but good amount of water. Better later and much than earlier and little.

Consider for example high andean cacti who rarely get rainfall and thus being soaked, instead they are often in a fog which translates quite well to light spraying.
The practical use, like I pointed out, is that the plants will respond to even the smallest amount of water.
It gives your plants a head start.
I do agree that cacti are not orchids.

[MikeInOz]

I never spray cacti because they aren't orchids neither bromeliads, no practical use at all.
I water them when they are moved to greenhouse and temps are high enough, never give them "some drops" but good amount of water. Better later and much than earlier and little.

I spray my cacti almost every day in summer after the sun has gone down. (when I have not watered) They love it. I mist just enough to leave small droplets of water and not enough so it runs down the stems. They love the increased humidity over night when they respire. In my area we have a dry hot summer. In areas with plenty summer rain it probably doesn't matter.

[7george]

It depends on your climate and also on species you grow. I prefer graduate increase of watering in the spring, because weather here is cool with sudden changes. Some of my home plants have being watered the whole winter with bigger intervals and some get water just starting in May.

[jerrytheplater]

Last week had three days in the mid to high 60's and really sunny. I misted all of my cacti that had not been watered since October or so. I kick myself for not taking before photos, because I can't tell for sure if plants reacted or not. But a few Echinocereus, Sulcorebutia arenacea, and my Lophophora look like they've taken up some. Yesterday was rainy and chilly so the plants were out in the garage. Today was maybe 50F, cloudy with occasional sprinkles of rain, and windy. They were indoors today also.

[zpeckler]

I still haven't done that first watering of the year for my collection! Typically nighttime lows are consistently in the 50s by the end of Match, but thanks to the periodic cold storms NorCal has been getting it's bouncing between a few warm days and then several cold ones where temps go back into the 40s. Just gotta wait it out.

[Steve Johnson]

I still haven't done that first watering of the year for my collection! Typically nighttime lows are consistently in the 50s by the end of Match, but thanks to the periodic cold storms NorCal has been getting it's bouncing between a few warm days and then several cold ones where temps go back into the 40s. Just gotta wait it out.

Same here in SoCal -- the current late-winter storm is supposed to clear out tomorrow, then overnight lows in the mid- to upper-50s starting Tuesday night. Check out you local NWS 7-day forecast for Butte County:

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.p ... =-121.6007

Zac, it looks like next weekend should be a good time to give our cacti their first deep drink of the year. Finally!

[keith]

I heard some people say that after winter you should water gradually.
meaning that you should start with a very mild watering and only after some time give the plants a proper soak."

That's what I do , I don't soak until weather gets warm but it also depends on the species of cactus. I've already watered most of my cactus a few weeks ago but wont water again until it gets warm again.

[MrXeric]

I also don't start watering with full soak after dormancy. My thinking is that a little moisture will get the plants to start growing feeder roots, but it still gets cold early in the spring, so too much water will take too long to dry. Some plants start to push out spines as early as February, so I watered lightly at that point during a warm spell, just a few squirts from a squirt bottle, not enough for water to drain out. I did a second watering during a warm week a month later; about half the collection reacted. I did the first deep watering a few days ago, when we had 3 days straight of 85-90F (30-32C) and only a handful of plants have yet to wake up. I don't expect to water again until the end of the month, if not later.