Cactus lover

I can't say I know anything about growing cactus, but I did live in the Southwest for many years and learned to "respect" them if nothing else! Someone also gave me a potted cactus as a gift once, and I think I gave it too much water because it pretty much turned black. But I'm not sure if that's what happened. Does too much water cause a cactus to turn black?

Tags: cactus, disease

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Permalink Reply by Michael Coyle on March 27, 2008 at 10:11pm

Too much water can do all sorts of things to cacti. And of course there are all sorts of cacti that are barely affected by over watering. Just like any type of gardening, cactus and succulent gardening is rife with contradictions and confusion.

In the SW USA, most cacti one would find are quite sensitive to over watering if the temps are cool, or if the plant isn't given enough light and dry air circulation. If these plants are kept in pots, they must have great drainage. A bit of calcium in the soil doesn't hurt either.

I have a bunch of cacti from South America that actually do quite well with a lot of water, but they do require good light and good drainage. These same cacti can actually withstand rather low temperatures. I even had one of these cacti, a Trichocereus tersheckii, survive in an unheated cold-frame this winter. This is kind of cool for Asheville cactus growers to know, because the Trich. tersheckii actually is used as a Suguaro substitute in landscaping now due to the fragile status of that iconic cactus.

If this cactus proves to be hardy here in Asheville, it would join a few varieties of prickly pear as the few representatives of this plant family that can survive our cold winters. Pretty nifty, me thinks!

But sorry to derail the thread a bit, John. What I think would be cool is if people could post pics of cacti that either are in need of TLC, or just look cool and should be shared with other enthusiasts.

I'll go dig through some of my pics.

Cheers!

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