Cacti

[Buffy]

I started to grow these back in August, have about 8, doing very
well, one still has flowers, the question I want to ask is when do I stop
watering them, or do I?, because everyting I've read about them, says
they are dormant through the winter months and to stop watering from November
to March, but mine seem to be still growing, so can anyone help?

 

[DrRob]

Depends a lot on the cacti and the conditions that they're in. Some go dormant as the days shorten.

 

[Chad]

I just saw this thread...I know quite a bit about cactus (we seldom say cacti here in Arizona so forgive me if I don't even though I know the difference between cacti and cactus). Living here in the heart of the desert I grew around them. Do you know what kind you have?

 

[MBOU]

I work in part of a garden center and now I'm contemplating going and buying myself a cacti lol, usually i just manage to kill them

 

[Chad]

It's easy to overwater them. When I was a kid I really hated them, I thought the desert was such an ugly place. Now I find it very beautiful and find the similarities between marine species like corals and some macro algae to be astonishing.

 

[Buffy]

I'm afraid I only know one, the others did not have a card saying what
they were, the one I do know is Notocactus Warasii, I can try and describe
them if that will help, one is furry, oh I know another one, it's an Aloe, another
is very long it does'nt have spikes, one has flat stems,the other two are ball
shaped and one has orange flowers and the other white.
I hope this has helped.

 

[Chad]

There are a group of cacti that we locally call barrel cactus. Other locals call them glove cactus but they operate on basically the same idea. When it has plenty of water the ribs are more full and the groves in between them more shallow. They don't get much water (maybe once a month) in the cold months and maybe once every week or two weeks when warmer. You can kind of tell by looking at them when they need it. Cactus swell with water and contract. Cutting them open and using the liquid to cool yourself is a desert survival tactic.
They do like drainage, meaning if water sits around the roots they tend to rot. And as is common with cactus they like lots of sun.
That's pretty much all I know about barrel cactus.

 

[DrRob]

I've kept those before. As Tcamos said, well drained soil, water freely in summer, when they look dry in winter.

The aloe is a succulent, rather than a cactus, and generally won't appreciate drying out completely so much, but still likes a well drained soil.

I used to make my own cactus compost with a mix of potting compost and sand or grit to give the drainage.

 

[Chad]

Aloe Vera is a huge pain in the butt! It grows like crazy and is annoying to try and maintain. We had it as a kid, used it on sun burns but I hated having to weed the bed and trim it back when it would propagate. Blah!

 

[Buffy]

I've had the Aloe for about 30 years, never watered it once, mainly
because I never thought of it, the leaves on the outside died, but it
grew again from the middle, I have the plants in a plastic container
with a compost that's specially for cacti, and gravel on the bottom and
the top, they seem to like where they are as they are growing like crazy.
I'll just water them monthly during the winter then. Thanks for your help.