9 inches of rain in 3 hours.

[JCcares]

Some in the USA know of Mondays East Coast storms.

Long story short I was away on a holiday and my 50 or more cacti my babies were left out in this rain storm.

When I got home Tuesday they all were soaked saturated with water. (Never seen anything like it before.

I water every two weeks. I just watered them Last Saturday.

My QUESTION is should I wait WAIT 30 days for their next watering? It’s summer here where I live in NC sunny and average 86 to 90 degrees.

[Aiko]

Don't get too hooked up on the numbers. Just water the plants when the soil is dry. And when in doubt to water, just skip it. Don't just water every two weeks no matter what, if that is what you do.

So just have a look how dry the soil is after the most recent soaking. And water when the soil seems dry again.
In the mean time, don't be too alarmed by another watering right after the previous one. It is not that a cactus rots immediately after one miswatering (but for a few plants), especially when in active growth and next to the rain the weather is nice and sunny.

[nachtkrabb]

Hello JCcares,
I heartily do agree with Aiko: Numbers just give us an orientation, but I would never take them absolutely.
Since about 4weeks, our much too hot & dry summer is "switched off" & we get loads of rain. Really much on a daily basis. This is not our the first rainy summer in the last years, too.

All my cacti are outside in the rain -- & they seem to enjoy it! Actually, they tend not only to plump up but also to grow like wild fire.
I sometimes wonder whether they grow webs between their roots like ducks. All of them
* have no saucers outside the flat,
* have drainage holes in their pots,
* have well draining soil.
So the water is flowing right through the soil, it does not accumulate & stand in the pots. Thus no harm is done, the roots will not rot.

Especially when it is just one down pour, you might get the flowering desert at your home.
Cool down, buddy.
N.

[JCcares]

Hello JCcares,
I heartily do agree with Aiko: Numbers just give us an orientation, but I would never take them absolutely.
Since about 4weeks, our much too hot & dry summer is "switched off" & we get loads of rain. Really much on a daily basis. This is not our the first rainy summer in the last years, too.

All my cacti are outside in the rain -- & they seem to enjoy it! Actually, they tend not only to plump up but also to grow like wild fire.
I sometimes wonder whether they grow webs between their roots like ducks. All of them
* have no saucers outside the flat,
* have drainage holes in their pots,
* have well draining soil.
So the water is flowing right through the soil, it does not accumulate & stand in the pots. Thus no harm is done, the roots will not rot.

Especially when it is just one down pour, you might get the flowering desert at your home.
Cool down, buddy.
N.

Wow! You sure did calm me down. Got it, I understand
THANK YOU very much for sharing your experience. And yea some of my cacti had saucers full of water. I ditch them.

[JCcares]

Don't get too hooked up on the numbers. Just water the plants when the soil is dry. And when in doubt to water, just skip it. Don't just water every two weeks no matter what, if that is what you do.

So just have a look how dry the soil is after the most recent soaking. And water when the soil seems dry again.
In the mean time, don't be too alarmed by another watering right after the previous one. It is not that a cactus rots immediately after one miswatering (but for a few plants), especially when in active growth and next to the rain the weather is nice and sunny.

Ok Aiko thank you. You put my worries to rest . Appreciate you.

[DaveW]

When all else fails if you cannot get the soil to dry out quickly enough you can always repot in dry soil, even in winter, and then not water until the growing season again. However as Nachtkrabb and Aiko say as long as they dry out in a reasonable time it will be OK.

We get all the gardeners rubbish in the UK saying you should leave the water can in the greenhouse to attain the same temperature so the plants are not chilled with cold water. However I have read reports that in the desert it can go from hot to people caught in a sudden rainstorm saying it was freezing cold water, but half an hour later hot again and the soil dries quickly. Therefore our plants are pretty tough but don't like to stand in wet poorly drained soil for too long.

The reason we grow in different soils for potted plants to that in gardens or habitat is because soil in open ground drains to deeper levels away from the plants neck and roots quicker than the same soil in pots. Therefore potting soil simply tries to mimic the drainage characteristics of open ground but does not use exactly the same soil mixture as in habitat.

There was an article years ago in the American Cactus Journal where a scientist took a pot full of soil from around a Saguaro (Carnegia gigantea) and watered it then left it in their warm laboratory. Evidently it took well over a month to dry out even though in habitat it drained and dried very quickly.

[JCcares]

When all else fails if you cannot get the soil to dry out quickly enough you can always repot in dry soil, even in winter, and then not water until the growing season again. However as Nachtkrabb and Aiko say as long as they dry out in a reasonable time it will be OK.

We get all the gardeners rubbish in the UK saying you should leave the water can in the greenhouse to attain the same temperature so the plants are not chilled with cold water. However I have read reports that in the desert it can go from hot to people caught in a sudden rainstorm saying it was freezing cold water, but half an hour later hot again and the soil dries quickly. Therefore our plants are pretty tough but don't like to stand in wet poorly drained soil for too long.

The reason we grow in different soils for potted plants to that in gardens or habitat is because soil in open ground drains to deeper levels away from the plants neck and roots quicker than the same soil in pots. Therefore potting soil simply tries to mimic the drainage characteristics of open ground but does not use exactly the same soil mixture as in habitat.

There was an article years ago in the American Cactus Journal where a scientist took a pot full of soil from around a Saguaro (Carnegia gigantea) and watered it then left it in their warm laboratory. Evidently it took well over a month to dry out even though in habitat it drained and dried very quickly.

Thank you Dave, interesting. Good to know