Care
This is how to look after your cactus - the conditions that are best and how to pot up your babies.
Light
Try to give your cactus as much light as possible, preferably placing it on the sunniest windowsill, a South-facing position is ideal. If you have a greenhouse or conservatory you could put it in there for Spring to Autumn; you will need to water it slightly more.
If your cactus doesn’t get enough natural light, it will grow towards what it believes is the best light source and can elongate, causing it to be etiolated and strange shapes can ensue (see below).
Watering
Winter Once a month if kept inside. If you are keeping your cactus in a greenhouse then it’s best not to water it at all until Spring
Spring Every three weeks as the weather improves
Summer Once a fortnight in early evening/morning, when during a hot spell. Less when overcast and humid. Weekly if in a greenhouse.
Autumn About once a fortnight to three weeks.
A general rule is to try not to have the soil continually damp, especially if it is in a cold place like a window sill without much natural light, but don’t be afraid of watering! Even in the desert, cacti are used being soaked thoroughly during thunderstorms.
Food
Your cactus can feed with Baby Bio, in dilution, about once every two months or so. Cacti need certain trace elements, which may get washed out during heavy watering, so it is important to replace these regularly. Some people make up potions, like nettle soup. Others buy specific feed which I understand works well too.
Shape
The classic shape is like a golf ball plugged in a little mud, spherical, with the width being roughly the same as the height. However, some cacti grow more in height rather than width once they get a new owner. Possibly due to light source mentioned above. My late Gran transformed a perfect-shaped Steve Hampson from being 10mm wide and tall, to being 25mm and 90mm respectively in the space of two years. This was achieved despite her giving him superb care, since, having been given another Rugby League player; Joe Lydon, at the same time, she inadvertently killed him off after only five months.
But, like all aspects of life: Don’t worry if yours loses its shape. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder.
Health
The perfect colour is dark green with the areoles having a bright white appearance. You can put your cactus outside in the Summer if you wish – if you have a sun-trap in the garden it will love it. Don’t forget to bring it in when the Autumn cold bites. Having said that, a friend Jo McNeil, showed me pictures of her family’s cactus that remained outside, in Chepstow, for at least nine years. It looked like a gnarled old beast – a twisted frame which has flowered numerous times, carrying lots of babies - but it’s alive and well. It had been covered in snow at one time at least. Here it is:
Babies
Wait until the baby has grown to about 15mm in width before removing from the host plant and try also to wait until it develops a root before removal. I find that John Innes Seed Compost very good. You can buy “Cactus Compost”, which is also pretty good. Dib the soil to make a depression for the baby to go into and fill it carefully push the soil around it. Pot carefully, since they have tiny roots and it doesn’t take much to break these off inadvertently. Call me by all means on this. Your first baby from your cactus will be Your Number/1 and then Your Number/2 etc. Give each of these babies a name and please let me know them.
Here's a video I made showing you what to do:
Flowers
A furry ball begins to grow out of one of the areoles, (the white patches within which the spikes are); this gets bigger very slowly, usually in late spring to early autumn. The flowering process can take up to two months from when you notice the furry ball. Sunshine and plenty of it will really help the flower to develop. Please send me a good photograph of it.
Here is the magnificent cactus that my friend Ceri has nurtured for over 20 years in bloom in May 2019
See “Seeds” below
Repotting
Wear tough gardening gloves. Prepare the new pot by lining the base with a piece of old newspaper, in order to cover the drainage holes. Put in the new earth, you can use decent soil from the garden if you wish or the compost recommended above. To remove your cactus from the old pot, carefully scrape a blunt knife or the back of a spoon around the inside and gently turn the whole pot upside down cupping the top of the cactus in your (gloved) hand. Tap the bottom of the pot and it will eventually come out. Fill in with earth around the edges once it is positioned into the new pot, pressing down quite firmly using the knife or spoon. Give it a good watering and add any soil if needed, at the edges.
Rescue
Over-watering and humid conditions can cause the cactus to quickly rot from the roots upwards. Dark brown, mushy wood takes over and migrates upward killing the green flesh. One solution I have found is to completely cut this out. Then, once the fresh white flesh is exposed, the remaining stump is potted in new sandy, potting compost. Here’s a couple of pictures:
Seeds
If you are really lucky and your flower becomes pollinated you can expect that whilst the stem of the flower above the base wilts and goes to a brown husk, the base stays plump and bright green. It may swell slightly over the next few weeks. Leave it be. After a few months the base will split open and many, many tiny black seeds (about 0.8mm in shape) can be seen.
These seeds are initially encased in a stringy clear jelly until the seed capsule dries out fully. They can be potted up in seed compost.
I only discovered this phenomenon in 2019 and have successfully raised some 20 plants from the first crop. As of December 2021, the picture below is the next seed capsule I’ve successfully developed from Cactus 21/38/7. Updates to follow over 2022.
