These light green spots keep appearing on my ferocactus which is roughly 10-13 years old and more and more appear every week. No sign of any rotting that I can see or feel. Should I be concerned? Thanks in advance

I just had a few questions- based on your years of expertise/experimentation, what age should the seedlings be re-potted when is the ideal time/age to cut the tap roots? I have two seedlings that I planted in November 2019, so they're a year and a bit old- should I repot them now and should I cut t...

Really amazing asterias. I Hope mine do even half as well! I just had a few questions- based on your years of expertise/experimentation, what age should the seedlings be re-potted when is the ideal time/age to cut the tap roots? I have two seedlings that I planted in November 2019, so they're a year...

Thank you so much for taking time to write such an informative reply! Is there a chance at all of the roots drying out by may? Will they lose all their stored water by then?

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the majority of my mammillaria Bocasana had succumb to dry rot. It looked completely normal, but on closer inspection, I noticed that the individual clumps had dried up and gone hollow almost. I took it out of the soil and my fears where confirmed -the roots had compl...

As long as it takes....a week or thereabouts...depending on the humidity and air flow. Medium Temps, airy, dry, lay it on its side. Watch and wait for it to skin over nicely. Not in the sun, no. I put mine under a grow light in the laundry room. Potted and now rooted. First attempt successful. Good...

Aiko wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:47 pm

Mas_ wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:45 pm should I just leave the bottom half in the soil since it still has roots? Should I let the detached part callous over and then plant it?

Yes. And yes.

Thank you! How long should I let them callous over and should they be in the sun while they callous over?

I was transplanting my year old rebutia plants which I had grown from seed but since they were so top heavy, two of them snapped in half from the weakest point #-o ](*,). I now have two halves- one still in in the soil, and the other half (which made up most of the plant) which has been detached fro...

The point of adding "drainage" is to allow oxygen to get to the developing seed, the roots especially. The "drainage" allows lots of little air pockets around the seedling, promoting fast oxygenation of the water in the substrate. The substrate should only be damp not sopping we...

fine pumice, or coarse sand keeps the soil loose also, it does not start sticking together, and all the air pockets enable good and fast root development imo ;) Thanks so much for the help. I don't have any sand, but when I was washing my pumice and lava rock with a sieve, I noticed a ton of fine p...

When coming out of the baggie there isn’t a need to repot for some time. Peat can show its problems at that point. I was always under the impression that you should transplant the seedlings once you take them out of the bag. I have some seedlings that are nearly a year old and i'm slowly acclimatis...

Hi, sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm quite to new to all this. I was wondering why people add things like pumice, grit or scoria to their soil when sowing seeds using the baggy method. Surely the point is to keep the soil moist and wet, so why add things that would improve drainage when yo...

Wow Dave thank you so much for that comprehensive and extremely helpful reply. I've learnt more from your posts on this thread then I could've ever learnt on my own since i'm relatively new to all this. I checked the pack of the John Innes soil I purchased and it contains '44% peat' which is still a...

Thanks Dave, so it seems it's a peat based soil, which I have heard isn't the best for cacti. Should I return it? I'm looking to plant some seeds with the soil, but have also purchased some Westland brand John Innes number 2 just in case. Do you think that with the soil being 'low nutrient and high ...

Peat based potting soil ( I looked it up ) I would add course sand for seedlings. that's what I would do but depends on what kind of cactus seeds you are trying to grow. And watch out for knats the ones that eat peat and baby cactus. I also have the Westland brand John Innes number 2- would you rec...