Growing Cactus

Growing Cacti
To grow the cacti to its best you need to provide it the best of its native climate. Generally a dry environment with lots of sunshine and a well drained soil is required. Cacti can be grown directly in the ground or in pots. In Karachi we have experienced that the soil from Surjani is quite good for growing cacti and in Hyderabad the growers are using grey sand from the Indus river bed similar to Clifton sand but no sea water salts.

Whether you grow cacti in ground or in pots, mix 2 parts of surjani soil with one part of well rotten cow dung. Add a spoon of lime stone and DAP fertilizer. Mix the soil well and place it in the pot or ground. You may add some silica sand also to make it drain well.

If you are planting a cutting, make sure that it is dried 4 to 5 days after the cutting is done. If you have a baby cacti plucked from a plant, you may keep it 1 -2 days before planting. After planting the baby cacti or a cutting, do not water for at least 2 weeks. This time is required for the roots to form and grow enough to absorb water. If you start watering immediately after planting, the chances are that the plant may rot and die.

Watering
The most important thing in growing cacti is watering. A new collector is often faced with the question, how often should I water my plants. The golden rule is that if you are not sure whether the soil has dried out or not, don't water the plants. Cacti do not die because of low watering but usually dies due to excessive watering. In the summer season when the temperatures are over 30 C, you can water your cacti daily like normal plants if the cacti are in direct sun. In case of partial shade, water them after a gap of one day. As the temperature starts falling and the sky gets cloudy, reduce the watering frequency. In winter you may reduce the watering frequency to once in a week. The winter is the rest period for the plant. The cacti are on rest in this time of the year and don't need much water for growth. Rather excessive water will result in killing of the plant.

Plants that are newly potted should not be watered for at-least 2 - 3 weeks. Overhead watering can be done as it washes away the dirt from the top of the plant, but it should not be done in the evening as it may result in rotting.

Feeding/Fertilizing
The cacti also need fertilizer for a good healthy growth. However the fertilizer should be low in nitrogen. You may use NPK fertilizer with a low Nitrogen number. If you cannot get a NPK fertilizer specially made for cacti, the alternate is tomato feed which is low in nitrogen. The fertilizer may be applied once a week during the growing season, that is from beginning of the spring to late summer, But the fertilizer should be stopped during the winter season when the plants are dormant. One of our members, Mr. Jamshed has made an excellent NPK mix for cacti . This can be procured from him in addition to plant hormones which he has prepared and experimented on different cacti with highly positive results.

Propagation of Cacti
Cacti can be grown from seeds. Seeds are best sown in spring. You should spay the seed over the soil mix and cover them with a thin layer of silica sand. Keep the seed tray in shade, covered with glass or clear plastic sheet. Keep the soil well humid at all times. The seeds may germinate in 4-5 days or sometimes weeks depending upon the variety. Once the seeds had germinated, keep them moist until they had grown into a sizeable plant. After germination, keep the seedlings in the same pot for several months before repotting individually in pots. The seeds can be obtained from your older plants or you may ask some collector of cacti or you may order the seed from suppliers in USA and UK.

It is fairly easy to collect seed from cacti having fleshy fruits. The fruit contains hundreds of seeds. Cut the fruit and dry out the pulp on a piece of tissue paper. After the pulp has dried so have the seeds, collect them and keep them in air tight plastic bags until you are ready to sow. In some cacti, the fruit splits and throws the seeds. Keep a watch in this case and when the fruit is near maturity tie some mesh or paper bag around the fruit to catch the seeds as they are dispersed.

Cactus can also be grown from the cuttings or offsets. Cut the offset with a sharp knife or pluck it carefully avoiding any damage to the baby plant. Plant cuttings should usually be taken in the spring. The offsets or cuttings must be dried 4-5 days before they are placed in soil mix. After putting them in soil do not water until the roots have formed. This may take 2-3 weeks or several months.

Grafting is another technique of propagation with a rapid speed. The stalk used in grafting is basically a very fast growing cacti and when a slow growing cacti is grafted over it, it makes the slow growing one to grow with a faster speed than on its own roots. The grafting season is best at the beginning of spring .

What can go wrong?
Cacti are also prone to attacks by a variety of insects such as mealy bugs, aphids, scales and mites.

SAVING YOUR PLANT THAT HAD A ROT
First you need to be vigilant to spot the rot at the beginning. But don't worry if it has grown big. You can still save the plant. Usually the rot is caused by the skin of the Cactus getting punctured somehow. Usually it happens by:

• An insect biting the plant
• Another plant hitting the plant
• Some debris falling on the plant

When you locate a rot, keep watching for a few days, it may heel or may start getting bigger. If it starts getting bigger, it's time for the operation. Take a sharp clean knife and cut the bad spot. Keep cutting slowly until all the rot has been removed and clean flesh is visible. Let the surface become dry and don't spill any water on it until it forms a hard skin on the surgery part. This technique can be applied for small rots on the body of the cactus.

But what if your plant develops a big rot. It may be the upper portion or complete base at the roots.

The chances are that you can still save the plant. If the top portion is rotted, cut off the plant from the base of the rot where you find clean flesh. Let it dry carefully without exposing it to water and dew.

If your plant has rotted from the root, don't worry. Just cut off the rotted portion and let the plant dry in the shade for at least one week until it has formed a hard skin where you cut it. After this you can pot the plant in soil but do not water. Keep the plant in soil for at least 2 - 3 weeks without watering. This will help in developing the roots and you will be able to see a healthy plat again.

MEALY BUG
Your plant is growing very well but all of a sudden it starts shrinking Something has gone wrong. The mealy bug had stepped in. It is sucking the plant juice. You have to do something to get your plant back to its normal growth.

The best way is to pick them off by a tweezer or rub them with a cotton bud soaked in alcohol. You can use insecticide sprays also. Malathion is a good insecticide for mealy bug. The "Karate" has also proved effective. After the first spray, re-spray after 3 days and 7 days interval. Insecticides are usually sprayed in the evening. Before spraying give a good watering to your plant and do not water for 2 days.