I recently got into growing cacti and this parodia/notocactus (according to the ID forum here - the seller claimed it was an echinopsis) has been frustrating me a little bit. For a while it seemed like it kept tipping over and I had it at all kinds of angles trying to right it, and never seemed to succeed.
Today I turned it around and it seemed suddenly obvious that the plant itself isn't growing straight symmetrically - in the pics below you can see one where the base is level and one where the top is level - as if one side is growing faster than the other.
Since it happened to be leaning towards the sun, is it possible this is the issue? Or do cacti sometimes just grow like this? Maybe I'm imagining it and it's just tipping over? I've turned it around, but I'd like to know whether this will help or if it will just continue to tip over. Right now it's a tad root bound so I thought that might be contributing, but I was planning to wait until spring to repot a little deeper (weather in Tel Aviv where I live is similar to coastal Southern California).
Well now you've got me all confused! When I originally posted this in the cactus ID forum I was convinced otherwise: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=45677&p=381224#p381224
Do you by chance have more up-to-date pictures to compare?
Many cactus species naturally lean toward the sun, both in the wild and under cultivation. A southward tilt seems to be prevalent, although there are some cacti in my collection that lean either east favoring the morning sun, or west favoring the afternoon sun. Forcing cacti to grow straight up doesn't work -- as long as your ambient light levels are good enough for your plants to grow normally, let them grow in whatever direction they want.
Ideally, cacti with the sun a low angles should be turned 180 degrees every 10 days or so - as long as they are not in full sun and there is no risk of damage. In that case you do it at the start of the season.
I would say cacti always grow like this. Do not even try to straighten it up. You just confuse the plant by this often rotation. I do not know your location but even you live in the tropics and the sun is typically high at noon some cacti will always lean towards the window or light source. Some of the same genus (or Eriocactus, Brasilicactus) have their tips normally pointing to the sun (South or North) according to the hemisphere.
I try to keep my cacti pots always with the same side oriented to sunlight. This also prevents sunburns in the summer.
Noto_5412.JPG (121.06 KiB) Viewed 2826 times
Any position or orientation is good for a Parodia (Nototcactus) to grow & blooming. These often hang down from the cliffs in their habitats. Just we humans often want to keep it in perfect symmetry or shape according to our aesthetics.
If your cacti mess in your job just forget about the job.
°C = (°F - 32)/1.8
7george wrote: ↑Sat Dec 05, 2020 3:44 am
You just confuse the plant by this often rotation.
No. You can't confuse a plant. It responds to it's environment. I turn my plants which lean too much. It's keeps them straight. I have a few which have already been turned 3 or 4 times since the start of the season and they are not confused.
2 tasuccs: Very nice Notocactus roseoluteus (aff?). Leaning is probably happened due to very soft soil when there's no firm support at the base of the stem. IMHO I'd recommend to change commercial peat substrate to a bit more mineral and/or to add upper covering of the soil with grit. Don't put the base of the plant dipper!
I use my plant labels (tags) as markers to orientate my plants in the same direction for the sun in my staging's if removed. Whilst turning plants may sometimes make them grow straighter it can sometimes inhibit flowering, or in the case of some Schlumbergera's like the "Christmas Cactus" cause the buds to drop if turned after the buds start forming.
Nobody turns plants in nature, they grow orientated as they germinated. However they are exposed to maximum daylight in the open whereas in cultivation as George says if they are grown in windowlight from a single direction turning occasionally may be the only way of stopping an excessive lean. The danger of turning plants in greenhouses or in the open where sun intensity is much higher can be burning since one side is used to the sun but the other is more tender. However this is not always a problem with the lower intensity of light in a room.
Whilst turning plants may sometimes make them grow straighter it can sometimes inhibit flowering,
No. Not that I have noticed. I have a Neoloydia grandiflora which is turned regularly to keep it tmore or less upright. It has three offsets now and flowers on all of them.
or in the case of some Schlumbergera's like the "Christmas Cactus" cause the buds to drop if turned after the buds start forming.
From my experience, another myth. Buds drop due to temps and or light changes or possibly even water or N. but not moving them.
Nobody turns plants in nature, they grow orientated as they germinated.
True but we don't always want them to look like the distorted beaten -up natural look.
anttisepp wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:40 am
2 tasuccs: Very nice Notocactus roseoluteus (aff?). Leaning is probably happened due to very soft soil when there's no firm support at the base of the stem. IMHO I'd recommend to change commercial peat substrate to a bit more mineral and/or to add upper covering of the soil with grit. Don't put the base of the plant dipper!
Again, no. Nothing to do with the soil. It's only the light.
Turning can produce temperature changes for buds on that side since the sunny side is warmer than the shaded side Mike. It depends on how sunny a climate you are in. No doubt it is warmer in Australia than the UK.
Because a Neoloydia is not affected by turning does not mean all cacti are not. Also the problem in greenhouses can be burning if the normally shady side is turned to the sun. No doubt your plant has been regularly turned so it in effect has no "sunny side".
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