Fifteen years ago we took out of town visitors to the cactus show. They very kindly bought me two plants for my young garden. A large pot of Mammilaria (name lost in the mists of time) and an
Agave desmettiana variegata. The agave is long gone but its offspring soldier on. The Mammilaria....that's another story. They came tightly packed in the pot and after a few years I decided I wanted to repot them into a wider pot. Mistake. When I removed them from the pot the whole plant collapsed. Those individual cactus had very long bare necks and were supporting each other. For years the pot languished, the plants looking uglier by the year until moving the pot outside this spring it tipped over and several of the plants just broke right off. It was the impetus I needed. I shortened up the stems of the broken plants, allowed them to callus over and then repotted them. They seemed happy enough and have just started to bloom.
Now this past week, after the they had finished their bloom cycle, I tackled the mother pot taking my serrated knife( used to remove agave leaves too) and cutting them off. Quite the prickly mess (Barbecue tongues to the rescue).
Oh! how they bled
I needed to leave them for at least a week to heal over before gathering my tools together.
And my bag of cactus soil. Most times I make up my own cactus soil but once in a while I splurge and buy a bag of very good cactus potting mix from East Side Succulents. It isn't cheap but it has pumice in the mix and not the perlite that you find in cheaper bags.
There were enough plants to make up 3 good sized pots.
I topped them off with the very fine granite gravel which I usually use in soil mixes, for drainage.
You don't have to use much imagination to get an idea of just how bad the original pot looked before surgery. Why did I wait so long? All to do with time.
I loved seeing your tools all laid out. Isn't that tiny Gardener's Supply trowel the best? I am left wondering about the wooden (?) pieces on the far left. What are they? What job to they perform?
ReplyDeleteI know they are a motley bunch of tools but they work for me. The slices of hard bamboo are used to pack the soil down between the plants. They re prefect for getting right underneath the plants without doing any damage.
DeleteThe newly repotted ones look contented to the point of smugness, snug in their perfect soil and tidy gravel mulch. Inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI think they are in there for the long haul. I won't make that mistake twice.
DeleteNothing better than a rescue operation that ends in gorgeous results like that. I tend to leave my potted cactus to their own devices too, and there's a few pots that could use an intervention right now. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThanks Denise. I have found that a good cactus potting soil makes a difference too and we are lucky to have a good source.
DeleteNow that's a success story! The amount of seepage from the cactus stems is surprising - it looks worse than cutting a Euphorbia tirucalli.
ReplyDeletePretty ugly seepage. This same thing happens when cacti get too much water. It seems to burst the cells and form hard crusts on the outside.
DeleteI love when you share these experiences with all of us! The cactus looks so happy ... and I imagine you're also happy to have gotten that done!
ReplyDeleteAlways more jobs to do but you are right I am pretty pleased with this one.
DeleteA happy accident! What a beautiful little plant! Reminds me of my Easter Barrel Cactus that I got at East Side Succulents. I used to get so sad when succulents lost a branch until I learned to harden them off and replant them : )
ReplyDeleteSuch a forgiving species. Perfect for the likes of me!
ReplyDeleteMaybe this was the most fortuitous time after all. The new transplants look so happy. I don't know much about cactus growing although I have a few succulents and have grown cacti, but I went to a local talk, and I enjoyed his information about transplanting very much. His toolkit looked much like yours.~~Dee
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