Most People Get This Wrong About Their Cactus

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No wonder I can't get any nice plant pots in my local IKEA - they all end up at Mr Shelfield's place 😂😂😂

Thank you for clearing up these misconceptions! It’s frustrating how sensible tips get sort of warped until they are complete misinformation. “Don’t overwater cacti” became “when you water, only give half a Thumbelina’s thimbleful” “They don’t mind being a bit rootbound” became “they NEED to be rootbound to truly thrive!”(how on earth would that work out in nature??) And my personal least favourite: “Don’t put unacclimated plants directly into scorching sun” became “you must NEVER let a sunbeam tickle its leaves, they hate direct sunlight”(so why do they clamber up trees in the wild to reach the bloomin stuff?!) Ty again for spreading the news 🙏

I want to see a behind the scenes vid of you pulling the plants back out of the trash 😂

I water my cactus’s whenever I water all of my other plants. I use a mini pump sprayer to “rain” on everybody. My cacti all have very loose draining soil and are in terracotta pots with plastic trays underneath. I have a couple that even just came right from God! I live in New England, in the US, where we have very cold winters so for a cacti to appear in one of my outdoor planter pots was WEIRD! I saved them and have them indoors now.

I use the turkey baster technique. I water more frequently with less water. This ensures that my cacti's feeder roots can absorb water without having to saturate the medium and avoid rot. The deep water technique requires that you keep your cacti in smaller, shallow pots that will dry faster. Both methods are highly effective, their use just depends on how you want to stage your plant.

Btw guys this is advice more tailored towards "desert" cacti and not "jungle" cacti (I know this isn't really an accurate classification, there are cacti everywhere and they have specific needs based on their native range). "Jungle" cacti handle humidity way better and have different care needs.

The first desert shot is from my favorite place in Arizona the Superstition Mountains. Lots of cool legends and stories about these mountains. It’s also known as the mountain of the thunder giants.

All desert cacti do naturally go dormant between late September and April (earliest late March) so not watering is very popular, although i like to water them more infrequently maybe once during that time, just so they don't get too shrivelled and dehydrated leading into their growing season, also one thing i would say is moisture metres arent always ideal with cacti soils especially if they are high in course sand, horticultural grit, pumice etc, the less soil in there the harder it will be to get an accurate reading. When in the growing season i would water them every week or 2 depending on how much light and heat they are getting, unless they have more specialized needs like a succullent type that may have its dormancy period through the summer instead, or lithops.. the more knowledge you can learn about the cactus or succulent type you have the better because although they are very resiliant they can still be quite picky

I’ve gotten much better at watering my plants since watching your videos. The moisture meter is definitely a game changer. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Best feed should be lower in nitrogen than the usual houseplant mixes. Sadly I can't afford to run the number of grow lights required to keep my cacti truly happy ! So, with my windows facing east and west, they have to make do with the suboptimal number of hours they get direct sun. Still, my 30 year old Ferocactus Horridus is still going strong, although it's never yet flowered, which I'm certain is due to the lower light levels it's had to live with over the last 25 years. (It's first 5 years were spent in a proper, dedicated greenhouse back when I had such a luxury)

Scorchio!! It all came flooding back to me! Boutros-boutros gali and Chris Waddle to you my friend!

This is 10x harder with cactus seedlings. Its bizzare that they need the opposite of what an adult needs. They need to be kept in moist soil, a humidity dome, and low light in order to sprout. And even after need to wait until they have thorns and are about 1 inch thick before beginning to slow introduce them to brighter light and dryer air. Lost the first batch I attempted to grow and so far made it further with the second round but it tough to know when to water them. So far spraying every two days while in a tiny terricota pot seems to work.

My fishbone cactus are very thirsty guys but growing in clay pots...very happily. They don't seem to mind having mealy bugs either...always checking and clearing is like having kids with nits.

They go a long time without water then get absolutely peed on 😂👏🏻..love it. Thanks very much 🌵

If you’re having trouble learning when yours likes water… wait for it tk get wrinkled lol. Then you know for sure it needs a drink. This is especially helpful for learning the tricky mimicry and lithops plants.

Love when you post.... My feelings was so hurt when I tried to order my potting mix from Sabotanica,,, no shipping to the U.S.😢

You use tongs to repot the pups, but you’re very brave to use bare hands to pull out the cacti from its decorative pot to bottom to water! Ouch! 😊

We had a cactus on our kitchen counter growing up with my family. I bumped my hand on it once. Hurt like hell. I usually run the other way when I see one these days.

Most of my cacti are in a mostly gritty mix with a bit of soil to hold nutrients and to insulate from frost as all of mine are outside. Some pre-made mixes are too rich so don't be afraid to add some pebbles in with the dirt.