So Cacti...

[nick the grief]

are just for summer flowers eh. These little beauties have been at it since may!



Taken this evening at 6:00pm

[User Removed]

Nick there very very good, I love big spiky cacti (I like them even more when someone touches them)
Anyway you have done a brilliant job there

[Alice]

Great looking cacti Nick. Well done.

[soobeth]

Very good how often do cacti flower

[nick the grief]

Hi Soobeth,

Most of them will flower every year. Some just flower once others like these seem to be continually in flower!! You just have to remember to let them dry out in the winter & keep them cool (around 5c) then next April start with a few light sprays to get them used to water again then away they go.

The same applies to most (but not all) Succulents.

[burnie]

I had a prickly pear growing in a greenhouse down in leicester where I used to live which flowered,I often wonder if it would have fruited as I beleive they are edible(and not just baloo in jungle book)

[Earthbabe]

They look great. I was never able to achieve that with Cacti. I'm very good at killing them off! So I'm usually a bit put off but they look fab.

[nick the grief]

They are easier to look after than you think Earthbabe.

Don't water them from October till about April.

Then come April, give them a light mist over with water about once a week until they start to plump up then you know they are growing OK.

About may time give them a drink. If you've only got 1 or 2 put some water in a bowl then hold them in this for about 5 seconds making sure that the water doesn't go over the top of the pot stand them back where they come from & don't water again till they are dry.

After about a couple of years they will probably need re-potting you can either buy cactus compost or if you want to you can make your own 2 parts John Innes No3 & 1 part coarse Grit. When you've potted them up don't water for about 2 weeks to allow any root damage to heal & re grow.

I would pot any that I get from a garden centre in fresh compost any way as they usually grow in a peat based compost & that retains too much water so know them out of the pot then get as much of the compost off as possible (you can even wash the roots clean) just leave it out of the pot for a week then pot them up as above.

do this and you should end up with these results

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

[monkeybum]

Any tips for getting the spines out of your fingers? My Dad picked up a prickly pear and I spent three hours tweezing them out! Put me right off but they do look lovely.

[nick the grief]

Yes - were gloves in the first place

Thats the trouble with Opuntia's, the spines are sooooo small & you can't see the little sods. Thats why I collect the ones with either reall big spines or non at all

[Alison]

Usually wrap mine in kitchen roll when I repot as I'm too clumsy with gloves. Mind you though it helps still need to spend the next week with a pair of tweezers.

[FoxHillGardener]

I agree with you, Nick. They should have proper big spiny thorns! I made the mistake of getting one with really fine "hairs" that aren't. They're evil, itchy and invisible when they get onto your skin. In fact, the same sort of feeling as itching powder. It sits high up on the middle bit of a sash window to keep it out of the way

[greasyfire]

If there pollinated is the fruit edible?

[21again]

Just came across this old thread. I read somewhere to roll a piece of chewing gum (after chewing) between your fingers, the spines supposedly get drawn into it.

[nessa76]

Looking great