Repotting cacti with buds/flowers- a bad idea?

[Mrs.Green]

I bought a few cacti some days ago and several of these had buds and one of them is in bloom . Normally I wouldn’t repot plants with buds/blooms ( of any species) but these cacti came in huge , unglazed terracottapots and have clearly been placed in these pots before sale. I could easily see the original potsize by looking at the rootballs ( with soil). Off course I don’t know how long ago this happened, but there were few indications of the cacti have been in these terracottapots a long time, since there were no new roots in the surrounding substrate.

The substrate in these huge pots seemed to be mostly perlite( they were filled up withperlite , then placed the cactus on top of that and a bit of soil/perlite around the roots.

Watering the plants in those pots would be difficult , securing that the cacti really got water , without drencing the pots? I am not used to grow in terracottapots, so I was afraid I would eiteher overwater or underwater.

Off course I would love ro see the buds turn into flowers, but I am afraid that repotting them wasn’t a good idea in that case? As a rule, should you try avoiding repotting cacti with buds/flowers?

[MrXeric]

I believe the advice is to not repot when the plant is budding; I've certainly seen my own plants abort the buds after repotting in the past. Specifically I recall Mammillarias and Astrophytums losing their buds after repotting. Conversely, I did buy several bare-root plants online earlier this year (mostly Sulcorebutias and Lobivias) and to my surprise some were in flower when I unpacked them. The buds continued to flower the following week while stored on a shelf in a dark garage, still bare-root, while I waited for my order of soil materials to arrive.

[Mrs.Green]

I believe the advice is to not repot when the plant is budding; I've certainly seen my own plants abort the buds after repotting in the past. Specifically I recall Mammillarias and Astrophytums losing their buds after repotting. Conversely, I did buy several bare-root plants online earlier this year (mostly Sulcorebutias and Lobivias) and to my surprise some were in flower when I unpacked them. The buds continued to flower the following week while stored on a shelf in a dark garage, still bare-root, while I waited for my order of soil materials to arrive.

Thank you MrXeric My gut feeling if I may say so, says don’t repot when in flower/bud but I have bought several different cacti lately, both with flowers and with buds .There wasn’t much choise as I saw it, since they really needed repotting and keeping the cactus alive is more important to me than loosing the buds. But off course, I would love to see the buds develop into flowers. So far it seems to have gone well( fingers crossed) , since it seems to me that the buds have grown a bit. Interesting that your cacti kept blooming under those sircumstances . Maybe they thought that this were their last chance to reproduse ? I.e ‘close to death experience?

[mmcavall]

I have the same concerns here. Very often I want to repot a plant but it happens that buds appear and I don't know what to do. Usually I wait for the flowers and fruits to pass before repoting.
On the other hand, the weather here is nice now in this season (subtropical Fall). Days are sunny but not hot, and there is no rain. Perfect days for repoting activities. The Mammillarias are blooming and usually I wouldn't repot them. But they are not receiving water and will not receive for the next 60 days or so....so, why not repot them? They are quiet , roots not active, not growing...I believe flowers will come anyway...Not sure I'm right. Fortunately with my climate I have much room for errors.

[Mrs.Green]

I have the same concerns here. Very often I want to repot a plant but it happens that buds appear and I don't know what to do. Usually I wait for the flowers and fruits to pass before repoting.
On the other hand, the weather here is nice now in this season (subtropical Fall). Days are sunny but not hot, and there is no rain. Perfect days for repoting activities. The Mammillarias are blooming and usually I wouldn't repot them. But they are not receiving water and will not receive for the next 60 days or so....so, why not repot them? They are quiet , roots not active, not growing...I believe flowers will come anyway...Not sure I'm right. Fortunately with my climate I have much room for errors.

Thank you Mmcavall . Nice to know it’s not only me..wondering about repotting when in bloom/with buds. You live in a very different climate from me, which off course could make things ‘easier’ for you, in this case At the moment it’s very hot( in my opinion) 25 degrees celsius here , which is far to high for my liking!

[7george]

I have the same concerns here. Very often I want to repot a plant but it happens that buds appear and I don't know what to do. Usually I wait for the flowers and fruits to pass before repoting.
On the other hand, the weather here is nice now in this season (subtropical Fall). Days are sunny but not hot, and there is no rain. Perfect days for repoting activities. The Mammillarias are blooming and usually I wouldn't repot them. But they are not receiving water and will not receive for the next 60 days or so....so, why not repot them? They are quiet , roots not active, not growing...I believe flowers will come anyway...Not sure I'm right. Fortunately with my climate I have much room for errors.

You are right, from one point and further mature buds and flowers will not stop their development despite of any disturbance of the plant. But young, small buds usually fade after re-potting so I use period of dormancy for this operation. If the species blooms in winter transplanting can be done after this, spring or summer time. Till then the plant can exist successfully in its original peat-based mix. If you are afraid of root/soil pests just isolate that cactus under quarantine somewhere aside.

[RorBurg56]

The only issue I have had repotting a flowering/budding plant was with an old and pretty beaten specimen, which actually killed it, although it was my first plant and I think I drew the process out longer than it needed to be. Since then I repot anything I get whenever I get it and as long as I kinda "pull the carpet out from under it" and get everything done efficiently with maximum care to roots, buds/flowers do not seem to notice.

[DaveW]

All repotting carries some risk if only slight of loosing the plant. After germinating from seed cacti never have the trauma of pricking out or re-potting in habitat. Repotting in bud only adds the risk of the buds aborting, therefore loosing the flowers that year and having to wait until next year for flowers.

However as some have said most of us have frequently re-potted plants in bud with no trouble. In fact some plants will even flower with no roots since cacti store enough water in the body to support flowers that year without roots.

[Mrs.Green]

All repotting carries some risk if only slight of loosing the plant. After germinating from seed cacti never have the trauma of pricking out or re-potting in habitat.

Here you adresses something I have thought a lot about. I read a lot on this and other cactifora and I do wonder about all this uprooting of cacti mentioned. Please note that I not trying to ‘teach’ experienced growers how to do things, far from it, I just wonders and want to learn. I do see the sence in uprooting and checking the roots (possible rot, bugs etc. ) but on the other hand, uprooting the plant must be stressfull and stress weakens the immunesystem. A weakened immunesystem would render the plant more susceptible for pests and diseases, right?
I realise that cacti is a bit different from other plants but they are still plants . Even hardy plants that grow as weeds in my garden would react ro be uprooted and replanted ( even in the same spot , when raining) So I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that cacti handle uprooting without problems?

[From0to10in2weeks]

Hi,
I’ve made two observations in this regard in recent weeks. First, I had bought a Notocactus schlosseri and it developed some small buds in the first few days I had it at home. Then, I repotted it and all growth stopped. A few weeks later, one of the little buds started growing again and developed into a flower about 2 weeks ago. Let’s see if the others regain life again as well.

Then, I purchased a M. elongata that was flowering and had buds all over it. I repotted it and all flowering stopped. Also, none of the buds developed further.

Best.

[Steve Johnson]

"Transplant shock" is certainly a factor with cacti, but how much of a factor it is will depend on a couple of things:

• Is the plant healthy to begin with? Cacti in the peak of health aren't prone to serious problems caused by transplant shock, and they also have a certain natural immunity to pests and diseases. From what I've seen, mealybugs will go after sick cacti before they would attack healthy ones. Not sure if this is universally true, but something to think about.

• Potting medium -- soil-heavy mixes tend to suffocate the roots, making it difficult or impossible for them to establish and start growing after the cactus has been repotted. A nice lean mix with plenty of mineral (pumice, Perlite, granite gravel, or believe it or not -- calcined cat litter) provides the drainage and aeration which minimizes transplant shock as the roots are establishing.

I've been growing the vast majority of my cacti in a 60% pumice/40% granite gravel soil-less mix since 2012, so for me transplant shock isn't an issue, and I have zero problems getting cacti with buds that fail to bloom after they're repotted. However, a soil-less mix isn't for everyone, so as I just said, growers should make sure that they're using mixes which are lean enough to keep the roots of their cacti happy. Hint: For good or ill, everything starts out in the roots.

Here's another hint -- repot cacti shortly before the growing season begins while their roots are still dormant. Here in SoCal, I've found that February is a good time as they sleep through whatever might shock them if I did the repotting in spring or summer. Maybe not the best idea for people living in places with really cold winters, but since Mrs. Green is keeping her cacti as houseplants, she may want to consider what I'm suggesting.

[Mrs.Green]

"Transplant shock" is certainly a factor with cacti, but how much of a factor it is will depend on a couple of things:

• Is the plant healthy to begin with? Cacti in the peak of health aren't prone to serious problems caused by transplant shock, and they also have a certain natural immunity to pests and diseases. From what I've seen, mealybugs will go after sick cacti before they would attack healthy ones. Not sure if this is universally true, but something to think about.

• Potting medium -- soil-heavy mixes tend to suffocate the roots, making it difficult or impossible for them to establish and start growing after the cactus has been repotted. A nice lean mix with plenty of mineral (pumice, Perlite, granite gravel, or believe it or not -- calcined cat litter) provides the drainage and aeration which minimizes transplant shock as the roots are establishing.

I've been growing the vast majority of my cacti in a 60% pumice/40% granite gravel soil-less mix since 2012, so for me transplant shock isn't an issue, and I have zero problems getting cacti with buds that fail to bloom after they're repotted. However, a soil-less mix isn't for everyone, so as I just said, growers should make sure that they're using mixes which are lean enough to keep the roots of their cacti happy. Hint: For good or ill, everything starts out in the roots.

Here's another hint -- repot cacti shortly before the growing season begins while their roots are still dormant. Here in SoCal, I've found that February is a good time as they sleep through whatever might shock them if I did the repotting in spring or summer. Maybe not the best idea for people living in places with really cold winters, but since Mrs. Green is keeping her cacti as houseplants, she may want to consider what I'm suggesting.

Thank you very much Steve Johnson! Sorry for the late reply, for some reason or another I have missed your post

Very good advice and here is another advice Mrs.Green should have followed... When I found this forum I read a lot of the pinned posts ( even though it may not seem so..) ‘Everywere’ I read that you should remove the substrate from newly bought cacti and wash the roots before repotting them in new ( and better substrate). Did I follow this advice in the beginning? No, I didn’t. Not because I was thinking these guys do it wrong, not at all! But I have been keeping ‘ordinary’ houseplants for many years and such a tough treatment isn’t what one normally do with the non-spiny plants.

So I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that any plant would fare well and survive such a treatment without problems. I was pretty sure that such brutality was to risky for a mere beginner in cacti. I don’t have any rare cacti( with a few exeptions) ,mostly the storebought sorts but I do want them to live, nonetheless So I did the stupid thing, repotted the cacti in better substrate, without removing the soil ( or rather peat in many cases). Very stupid of me indeed..

Many of these was bought last fall/winter so I didn’t expect any growth before the sun came back. Ok, cacti aren’t bamboo but I wasn’t happy with the progress, or rather lack of progress in the growing department, when spring/summer arrived. For quite a while I have suspected this was entirely my own fault, not following the ‘wash the roots before repotting’ advice.

I must admit that repotting a bunch of plants isn’t my favourite part of the hobby..so I put off the repotting job. Today I finally started and to no surpice at all, the roots were very dry, very little of the water given had reached the roots, most of it off course went trough the new potting mix. Just as explained many times here on the forum.. No wonder they hardly grew at all..

I realise this is not the best time for repotting but several of them are rather small/young plants . If I should have waited untill next spring I fear at least some of them would have died, as several of them was clearly dehydrated.

So now there are a bunch of newly washed cacti on a table, waiting to be repotted when the roots are dry. Well, lesson learned the hard ( and stupid! ) way!

I was worried about the buds in my initial post, well not anymore! I accidentially broke off a couple of buds on a Gymno and the E.subdenuta’s ( several in one pot) have half developed buds on them. The hole bunch was drenched in hot soapy water, since I suspected root mealies on them. A pity if the buds aborts bud the cacti are more important.

[Steve Johnson]

There's no reason to feel stupid about making mistakes as long as we learn from them.

The growing season here in SoCal usually ends in mid-October, although I think yours probably ends in early September. If that's the case, you still have about 6-8 weeks of growing season left, so now is a good time to repot your cacti. Just make sure that you:

• Repot in fresh, dry mix.

• Once they're repotted, let their roots settle in for 2 weeks, then water them deeply. In other words -- soak, don't sip. We'll save the sips for occasional sipping in fall and winter, but only with species that could use it.

For the growing season, watering frequency is guided by one basic principle: Whenever desert cacti are watered, their roots need to dry out from top to bottom before they're watered again. Some growers are able to feel the "wet" and "dry" weight of their pots by hand, and they'll water their cacti when the pots feel "dry". I never developed the talent for it, so I have to go by watering schedules. My default recommendation is watering every 2 weeks. Regardless of whether you go by a schedule or do it by feel -- remember that even though the top of the mix may look dry a day or two after you water, there's still plenty of moisture down in the mix. Beginners make the mistake of watering too often, and what I just said is a great way to avoid it.

My experience is confined to growing desert cacti, so the advice I'm giving you here doesn't apply to jungle cacti like your Hatiora and Schlumbergeras. Best of luck, and I hope that your experience growing desert cacti will be happier for you over time.

[Mrs.Green]

Thank you Steve Johnson for your kind words I do feel a bit stupid but I did learn! Pottingmix all over the place so a lot more housework on top of all the repotting. What irritates me most though is the fact that the cacti lost a lot of possible growth during the ‘draught’ caused by my stupidity. I am not in the habit of overwatering my plants, possible a bit to frugal with the water. When repotting them this time I found all the cacti to be bone dry. Not just the peat around the roots but the surrounding mix too. The watering part is the hardest for me , I am always afraid of giving to much water, causing the cacti to rot.

I am in fact quite food at judging watering time by weighing the pot in my hand, when it comes to the ‘ordinary ‘ plants with an organic soilmixture. But the cacti, not at all, since the grit in the mix gives a ‘false’ sense of weight.

The jungle cacti gets more water yes, but even there I have been to sparingly with the water, I found out. But they are easier when it comes ro watering, in my opinion, the ‘leaves’ or rather stems tells me if they are thirsty

Thank you very much Steve In retrospect, I may have complained to much of all the problems with pests and so on and may have come forward as more negative than neccesary.. I do really enjoy my cacti and I spend a lot of time just looking at them. Silly happy when seeing any signs of growth or buds

[Mrs.Green]

The mentioned E.subdenuta above with flowerbuds; after hot soapy water bath, one of the bud shriveled but the other went on as nothing had happened and fully opened up.