This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Old Lady cactus care
Just got a tiny Old Lady cactus and have a couple questions. I already killed two aloe vera plants through over-watering and am not looking forward to a repeat. Firstly, into what size pot should it be repotted? Or will it not get any larger?
Watering. From online research I've read to water it once a week to only when the soil is dry, to don't water during the winter (it's sitting inside under a grow light), to wait a week or so after repotting to water. Please advise. Thanks!
Watering. From online research I've read to water it once a week to only when the soil is dry, to don't water during the winter (it's sitting inside under a grow light), to wait a week or so after repotting to water. Please advise. Thanks!
0
Posts
They don't really need watering until the warmer weather comes in.
I'm not sure why it's under a grow light, they usually just need a reasonable source of light.
I can't comment about the flowers, although I seem to remember having some which only had a few flowers at the top. I don't have enough knowledge on them I'm afraid.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My daughter has a few cacti, we never bother watering them much overwinter and they've survived for a few years so far. Maybe down to luck more than skill 😀.
Deceptive to sell them like that I think 😡.
"We would prefer not to do it, but as you pointed out, they sell 3 to 1 over the ones without the flowers so our customers require us to put them on. We’ve had several people accuse us of being deliberately deceptive which couldn’t be farther from the truth, so instead of using the natural strawflower, it looks like we will be switching to an obviously fake, plastic flower so there’s no question. Too bad, if we have to do it, it is at least nicer to use something that looks at least representative of a real cactus flower – oh well!"
"Removing it can cause some damage which is why we try to keep a supply of “un-strawflowered” plants available in the stores as well for people who would prefer them without, but that doesn’t always work out. Damage to the plant is not life threatening, but may cause a scar as cactus don’t repair damaged tissue. There’s a couple of things you can do. If you leave it on, it will eventually mostly slough off, but we’re talking a LONG time. The other thing to do is to snip it off with a pair of small, sharp scissors – like manicure type. You can trim it down all the way to the lump of glue and then nip most of that off as well, or cut the spines under it to remove it completely. If yours is a particularly hairy one, some of the hair from above may eventually over time, hide the bald spot."
Bob
Bob Reidmuller
Resident Horticulturist – Altman Plants
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.