A beginner's guide to repotting newly-purchased cacti

Discuss repotting, soil, lighting, fertilizing, watering, etc. in this category.
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Steve Johnson
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Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:44 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)

Re: A beginner's guide to repotting newly-purchased cacti

Post by Steve Johnson »

Ferocactus wrote: Sun May 16, 2021 6:01 pmI checked out miles2go.com, and he actually has a Ferocactus recurvus seedling available; after seeing the representative pic (it's pictured in a 4" pot, so it's definitely the same size plant as my plant, maybe a little larger), I'm not sure I have an F. recurvus, since my plant's ribs seem more deeply developed, and is much more flattened and a darker green; the spines are practically the same, though. Maybe it's just variance in the species' genetics, or maybe the photo is of a plant half my plant's size? It's a nice-looking plant, though.
Think you might have a recurvus var. greenwoodii:

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/FEROCA ... woodii.htm

It's normal for new growers to get frustrated when they transplant cacti and nothing seems to happen. The best thing to do is be patient and understand a couple of things:
  • It takes time for cacti to establish new growth of their roots before the growth point starts producing new activity on top -- when you see new apical wool with little red spines popping up, you'll know that the Fero is established. Some species take longer to establish than others, but unfortunately I can't tell you how much time should be normal with yours.
  • Generally speaking, overnight lows above 50 and daytime highs above the low 70s indicate the start of the growing season for cacti. If your growing season has just started, my guess is that you'll see new activity at the growth point in a month or two. Once again, be patient.
My only experience is with growing cacti outdoors, so I don't know if your indoors approach is helping or hurting. Sorry, but unless you have a greenhouse, I don't think Wisconsin is exactly the best place for growing cacti.
If you just want photos without all the blather, please visit my Flickr gallery.
My location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)
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Ferocactus
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Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:29 pm
Location: Rexburg, Idaho USDA Zone 5a

Re: A beginner's guide to repotting newly-purchased cacti

Post by Ferocactus »

Thank you, yes, I love that website!

Actually, about 7 years ago, I had a small plastic globe terrarium, and was looking for a small-growing Ferocactus sp. to put inside with some others (quite naïve, all that humidity and lack of airflow for a cactus); I saw that page back then, but I'd never found one of those plants for sale. I've always wanted a F. recurvus greenwoodii, but it never occurred to me right now that I might have one; I forgot about that website.

It looks like I'll have to find a way to keep it at 50˚F in the winter for a dormant period; hopefully the suggestions that others here have kindly provided recently, will work out quite well for my plants when kept in my garage this winter (light fixtures inside an insulated box and heating mat underneath, attached to a digital plug-in thermostat).

I forgot how small an adult F. greenwoodii gets, according to that site. Searching, I can't find a greenwoodii for sale anywhere online, which makes me sad yet grateful that I might have found one.

Yeah, Wisconsin is an awful state to try to grow barrel cacti in; it gets extremely humid here in the summers, and single digits to sub-zero in the winters. The only viable time to keep a barrel cactus growing outdoors where I live is maybe less than half the year.
I hope I'm not the only one that enjoys a taking bit of crystallized sugar from a Ferocactus' nectaries. :wink:
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