A watering question that has been puzzling me......

[Di]

I have read in different places when watering cacti or succulents, only to wet the soil, not the plant. In the past, I put my guys in the bathtub and use my shower on rainforest/rain type thing and water the whole plant. Mostly the soil of course with the other attachment. In the wild, they get rained on so why is it bad to water the whole plant? Some of the fuzzy cacti I recently potted, I got soil on them. Hard to pick it off. Will it hurt if on their next watering, they get a good shower to get it off?

Thanks in advance,
Di

[swords]

I spray my plants quite often, I've started "watering" some of my Mesembs (Lithops relatives) only by just spraying and not actually watering the soil. They are doing better than when I was watering the soil and not misting. Some plants live on the coast and rarely if ever get real rain but get coastal fog and morning dew and only really get water via "misting" in the wild.

I think maybe one reason for saying not to mist is because many people already keep their plants too wet and spraying more water only tempts fate to rot the plant off at the soil line or split from absorbing too much water. There is also the old saying that you shouldn't get any sorts of plants or yard grass wet in direct sun as it can burn them. Perhaps that is another reason they say not mist succulents being that most people site them in direct sun?

[Di]

I spray my plants quite often, I've started "watering" some of my Mesembs (Lithops relatives) only by just spraying and not actually watering the soil. They are doing better than when I was watering the soil and not misting. Some plants live on the coast and rarely if ever get real rain but get coastal fog and morning dew and only really get water via "misting" in the wild.

I think maybe one reason for saying not to mist is because many people already keep their plants too wet and spraying more water only tempts fate to rot the plant off at the soil line or split from absorbing too much water. There is also the old saying that you shouldn't get any sorts of plants or yard grass wet in direct sun as it can burn them. Perhaps that is another reason they say not mist succulents being that most people site them in direct sun?

Thanks for the info. I will use my spray bottle and try to spray the dirt off them. As they are all indoors, they get no rain. I will keep them out of the sun for a day so they can dry off. I thought I hadn't potted one right as it was so dirty near the bottom, only to discover it was a pup covered in soil. Do you have any idea why they are called pups?

[daiv]

Spraying water on your cacti won't hurt them - even in the sun. The stuff in the water might - over time anyway.

I get mine wet all the time and don't have any trouble. However, those plants will the nice blue coatings or fuzzy wool may actually end up having those features washed off from watering.

I think in some conditions, water on the plant body promotes excess corking at the base, but this is actually something I'm still observing and wouldn't insist that this is actually the case.

[iann]

A lot of strange ideas abound about growing cacti, and they tend to be repeated around the internet by people who've never so much as killed a single cactus

Wetting your plants wet won't hurt them. I leave many of mine out in the rain when its convenient to schlepp them out for a thunderstorm. Some of them live outside permanently and some all summer. For most species its probably best if you avoid having water sitting on them for too many hours, certainly not for days. Watch out for those with a dimple in the top

There are some that I avoid watering right on the cactus, but only to avoid messing up the wool. I like wool

[swords]

Yes Daiv, I suppose I should add that I use either Reverse Osmosis or distilled water for my plant spraying. Who knows what nasties are in my tap water, so I save that for me and the cats to drink!

[CelticRose]

You wouldn't want to get the plant wet if you have hard water because it will leave spots. Other than that, the cacti outdoors around here get wet every time it rains and I haven't seen one melt yet.

[Di]

Thanks for all your input. I laughed about Swords comment of the plants getting the good water and the human and cats getting tap water. My critters all get my Brita water. I drink tap. I have been on vacation this week and it has poured rain every day. Maybe the next rain day, probably tomorrow, I should put my plants out that need the soil removed.

Thanks again guys. I love this board!

Di