...oh gosh...
My answer got deleted just when I wanted to send it... Ok, once more. Nicht zur Strafe, nur zur Übung ("no punishment, just training").
First things first: Thank you all for caring & answering. I am very happy.
About watering & fertilizing:
The plants are moved out of the house in middle of May / beginning of June (depending on cold nights) & returned indoors somehow in autumn (dito depending on cold nights). During that time I water them only if absolutely necessary. Outdoors they do not have saucers so that rain can get out of the holes in the bottom of the pot. We have a lot of wind drying the soil, too.
So no, I didn't overwater it. Yes, we had a quite wet fortnight. But that is just usual, the plants know that. Does it look too plump? (Not to me at least...?)
As this year is a bad one for me, the plant will not have had any fertilizer at all. But it got new soil, so that will be fine.
About soil:
The plant was repotted the last time in summer 2009 and was highly overdue. Just the last four years I didn't have anybody to ask for help. This summer I somehow managed miraculously. I had to, as the plant didn't grow that much last year.
* Old soil, as far as I remember from the repotting & according to my long gone base of knowledge: earth with sand & small pebbles.
* New soil mixed after reading up everything I found about Stesonia care: about 2/3 "Grus" & pumice, more Grus than pumice, and about 1/3 earth.
"Grus" is a rough mixture of small pebbles; I used this one:
https://www.graf-baustoffe.de/shop_item ... emId=12933
Obviously the plant liked its new space for the roots plus the soil as it started to grow pretty soon.
As it is just freshly repotted, I am quite sure that it will not want to go through that just again. I can't imagine that will do it much good.
About climate:
Yes, we all struggle with the changing climate. We live in Stuttgart in the South-West of Germany. The last summers have become hotter & hotter. Usually we had 25° to 28°C (77 to 82F) as "hot summer", now 35° to 40°C (95 to 104F) is quite normal. It has become a lot dryer, the wind often feels like the blowing of a hair dryer. Depending on the year, there are more or fewer sudden disruptions of VERY wet phases when I think, the cacti grow webbing between their roots. Interestingly I never had any problems with the water. The soil is well draining.
Last month somebody said that the meteorologists claim that in 20 years we will have Mediterranean climate here. In my humble opinion during summer we already have that.
This year, June & July had been very hot & dry. In August the summer was mostly switched off with loads of water, also cooler with about 25°C / 77F. September was toggeling between the two extremes.
But, as I said: The plants should have gotten used to that, especially that Stesonia with 23 years of experience.
About touch & sun:
None of the areas is soft and mushy. Then I would have given up. I am glad that you seem to think more about sunburn, too. Interestingly, the one that got it worst is the one closest to the house, ie the most sheltered. Besides, there is nothing on the southern side of the plant -- this is what made me suspicious.
7george wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 3:20 am
A healthy plant can block that surface damage and continue existence.
That's what I do hope, too... But the only way to keep it dryer would be to give it a raincoat, meaning a kind of foil that would fend the water off the soil. That would mean that the soil would not be too well aired & that moisture can't be dried off by the wind. I feel scared away from that.
Or shall I get the plant indoors -- after it had gone outside only by the end of May? That would take away about a month of "summer resort" from it. (Moving it in & out & in & out is literally quite a heavy task for me.)
According to the forecast, we face some more rainy days.
I admit, I am insecure about what to do. I grow cacti successfully & with loads of flowers since over 45 years, but this is a tough one.
Nachtkrabb
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
This is going to be hard on me.