Growing conditions and care for cacti at home

The places where cacti live are far from ideal. Most often, these plants are deprived of fertile soil and a sufficient amount of moisture. But such living conditions are familiar to cacti, and they simply cannot exist in others. If you want to start growing cacti at home, this must be considered. Learn how to choose soil for cacti, and what microclimate you need to create for the successful cultivation of these succulents at home.

Living conditions of cacti: in what places do plants live

In terms of temperature indicators from May to October, only three summer months can be more or less comparable with the living conditions of cacti in North American regions. All other months the air temperature there is much higher and does not drop to negative values.

As for precipitation, their maximum average monthly value by region during the year can be completely different and not coincide by month.

At the same time, there are several peaks of precipitation during the year. Unlike temperature, the average monthly amount of precipitation in the homeland of cacti is quite comparable with the precipitation that falls in our country, and in some months it can be even more.

The rather widespread idea among collectors about the predominance of exceptionally high air humidity in the homeland of cacti obviously corresponds to reality mainly for tropical regions. At least for the considered desert regions, the average monthly air humidity during the growing season of cacti is comparable to our conditions in the warm season and can even be significantly lower. In addition, our perception of air humidity is subjective and strongly depends on air temperature, especially if it is high.

Under what conditions do cacti grow: adaptation and adaptation to the environment

The combination of the three considered climatic factors plays an important role in the life of cacti in their places of growth, both during the dormant period and during the growing season. When caring for cacti at home, the main limiting factor, of course, is low negative temperatures that persist for about 7 months a year, while deep freezing of the soil.

The considered environmental factors show what unusual conditions the cacti in our collections fall into. And yet, having a high ability to adapt to environmental conditions, cacti in the warm season can grow with us not only in home collections, but also in the open air: at home, in the garden or in the country. These are amazing plants.

Showing sometimes, it would seem, fantastic endurance, at the same time, they can die from unimportant, from our point of view, and incomprehensible reasons. Such features of cacti require constant attention to the collection. If this requirement is not met, the reckoning comes very quickly.

When caring for cactus plants, it is unrealistic to model a variety of growing conditions in their homeland (temperature and light conditions, soil composition, etc.) when creating a collection, and most importantly, this is not necessary. The high ability of cacti to habitat conditions allows them to be successfully cultivated in different conditions.

However, without knowing what conditions are needed for cacti, endlessly rearranging your pets to different windows, shaking into new soil and other manipulations will not do anything useful. It is necessary to create conditions when caring for cacti that correspond to the basic, but really important indicators of the habitat.

How to choose soil for a cactus: the best soil for plants

One of the most important conditions for keeping cacti should be called the right soil. In dry desert areas in the homeland of cacti, the soil contains very little humus, but the soil is rich in mineral salts. A small amount of humus, in turn, determines the poverty of soil microflora. Our soils, on the contrary, contain a fairly large amount of humus and a rich microflora. Humus determines the fertility of the soil, it is rich in nutrients, including nitrogen, the need for which is small for cacti. In its pure form, such soil is unsuitable for cactus plants, as it stimulates unnaturally fast growth, and the roots are not able to withstand the abundance of harmful animals and pathogenic fungi.

What kind of land to plant cacti at home? There is no need to create soil that is completely identical to the one in which cacti grow in their homeland. For all types of cacti, the same soil is suitable with some variations in the content of the mineral part.

This fully confirms the experience of growing these plants. Novice flower growers should be warned that endless experiments on the selection of soil for cacti at home on the entire collection or on a significant part of it can end very badly.

To find out what kind of soil your cacti need, it’s best to select a few different types of plants and see what happens. Obviously, such experiments are justified at the initial stage of collection formation. In the future, it is better to stick to a satisfactorily proven recipe.

In principle, each cactus grower can choose his own soil recipe, however, guided by the general rules for its preparation. If the cacti are not well lit by the sun, the nutritional value of the soil should be reduced compared to plants that are in the sun for most of the day. Otherwise, due to too intensive growth, the stems of plants may be damaged.

Land for cacti needs one that has the following physical indicators:

• looseness (a lump of slightly moist soil should easily crumble when squeezed);
• a large proportion of the mineral component (sand, fine gravel);
• breathability;
• sufficiently large moisture capacity, excluding frequent watering.

In what land to plant cacti: soil acidity

The soil for cacti should be acidic. This is a very important indicator. Even a well-chosen soil in all respects, but with an acidity that does not correspond to the optimum of plants, will be of little use for their cultivation. For most types of cacti, it is generally recommended to maintain an acidity (pH) of 4-6. For some species, a lower soil acidity is recommended: for the cactus genus Epithelantha, a pH of 6.5 is recommended. True, it should be noted that the epithelant feels well in more acidic soil. The table shows the effect of acidity on the growth of cacti. With an acidity of less than 4 and more than 6, the soil quickly becomes unsuitable at first, and then completely unsuitable for the growth of cacti.

To find out what soil to plant a cactus in, check out the table below.

Table “Land suitability for cacti at home depending on pH (according to Haage, 1980)”:

Podzolic and soddy-podzolic soils of the middle zone, included in the soil mixture for cacti, have an acidic reaction. If it is necessary to increase the acidity, peat is added. It is usually recommended to use lowland bog peat. It is easily wetted by water, but its acidity is low (5.0-6.5). Raised bog peat is more acidic pH = 2.5-3.6, and, accordingly, less is required. A significant disadvantage of this peat, as an additive to the soil, is the slow absorption of moisture when the earthen clod dries out. This creates certain difficulties with watering, since it is possible to saturate the soil only with small portions of water and in several doses.

Knowing what kind of soil is needed for cacti, you can independently determine its pH. There are various laboratory methods for determining soil acidity. However, for most cactus growers, they are hardly acceptable due to the lack of special equipment and reagents, and are hardly necessary. The simplest and most affordable means of determining acidity is a special indicator paper with an attached color scale. The determination of acidity in this case is carried out as follows. The analyzed soil is poured into a small pot and slightly compacted. Distilled or boiled water is gradually poured into the soil in small portions so that it begins to flow drop by drop from the drain hole. When a sufficient amount of water has been collected, indicator paper is moistened in it and quickly compared with a color scale. The acidity value is read on the matching color. The method provides a low, but quite sufficient accuracy for an approximate estimate.

What kind of soil is needed to plant a cactus at home

As a mineral supplement to the soil, it is best to use coarse sand or a mixture of different mineral fractions, from fine sand to fine gravel, up to 5-6 mm in size. Larger gravel can also be added to the bottom of the pots for drainage. It is better not to use fine river sand; together with the soil, it can become very compacted. If the sand is contaminated with earth, it is washed. The same material is used for sprinkling from above, under the cactus stem. It is believed that the mineral part of the soil, depending on its composition, can somewhat change its acidity, but this is hardly significant and indicates the need for a special selection of material. As a rule, what is at hand is used.

For planting cacti, two types of soils are most often used as initial components: leaf and sod. You can prepare leafy soil yourself by putting the fallen leaves of trees in a pile and waiting for it to overheat. However, it is easier to collect the top layer of soil a few centimeters thick in deciduous stands.

The same can be done under separate large trees, for example, under lindens or birches. The soil formed under the oak is considered unsuitable. The collected soil is thoroughly cleaned of various undecayed residues: knots, bark, plant roots, etc. Such soil has a well-defined structure, with moderate humidity it is dark in color and easily crumbles when squeezed. Soddy soil can be taken from the meadow, shaking out the upper, most fertile layer from the removed sod. Meadow soil is usually more acidic than leaf soil. If the applied soil has worked well for several years, it is better to stick to permanent collection sites.

One of the features of cactus care is that these plants are not adapted to the huge number of living organisms that inhabit our soils, so transplanting a plant directly into freshly prepared soil carries the risk of infecting both it and the entire collection with intractable diseases.

Don’t hope for a chance. It is much easier to avoid trouble than to treat. For disinfection, the soil is heated.

For example, the soil can be heated in a glass jar in a water bath. The warm-up time depends on the volume of the soil. For a three-liter jar, it is about 30 minutes. The temperature of the soil by the end of warming up should reach 100 ° C. After reaching the set temperature, the jar of soil is cooled without removing it from the water. With such warming, part of the excess nitrogen in the soil is lost.

What land is needed for cacti at home

Very convenient and simple device for steam sterilization of the soil. For the manufacture of such a device, for example, a steam pan is suitable, in which one section with holes is left as the bottom. A fine stainless steel mesh is additionally placed on the bottom with holes so that the soil cannot fall down. A thermometer with a scale of more than 100 ° C is inserted on a rubber gasket through a hole in the lid. Water is poured into the lower part of the pan so that it does not touch the soil, and put on fire. The temperature of the soil due to the steam released during boiling water at the end of heating should be 100 ° C. After that, it is better to drain the remaining water. The pot with the soil is cooled with the lid closed.

There is a fairly widespread idea that cacti should not be transplanted into freshly prepared soil, since high temperature kills not only harmful, but also beneficial microorganisms, and therefore it takes time for the soil to restore its biological properties. This requires, according to different authors, from two weeks to one month. This argument does not have a convincing argument, since the necessary microflora is always preserved on the roots of transplanted plants and can recover quite quickly. The main thing in this situation is properly prepared soil for keeping cacti at home. It should be moderately moist and crumble easily when squeezed. Excessive soil moisture can lead to root rot.

In what land to plant a cactus: soil composition

For many years of practice in keeping cacti, the land for cacti of the following composition has proven itself (for acidification, a small amount of peat can be added to this mixture):

• 1 part of leaf land;
• 1 part of sod land;
• 2 parts of the mineral substrate (a mixture of sand of different fractions and fine gravel).

And in what kind of soil to plant cacti of species that require greater soil mineralization (Ariocarpus, Melocactus, etc.)? In this case, 3 parts of sand are added to the ground. This soil composition gives good growth to cacti during three growing seasons, after which it is replaced. Those who are fond of epiphytic cacti (the genus Epiphillum, Zygocactus, etc.) need to prepare a slightly different soil composition. It should consist of about 60% leaf earth and 40% sand, that is, contain a much larger amount of nutrients, while maintaining a loose breathable structure. Epiphytes grow well in soil with pH = 5. It is better to prepare the soil for cacti with a margin. In addition to a planned transplant, the need for this may arise at any time, and the soil should always be at hand. It is convenient to store the prepared soil in clean glass jars covered with lids, or in tied plastic bags. In such a container, the soil does not dry out for a long time.

How to grow a cactus at home: the need for water

The successful development of plants depends on the intensity of the movement of minerals from the roots to the stem and other parts of the plants and the reverse movement of carbohydrates and other organic substances to the roots. The medium for the transfer of these substances is water, and their rapid transport occurs due to the developed vascular system of plants.

Water is involved in the vital physiological and biochemical processes of plants, such as photosynthesis, and is closely related to growth processes. In addition, water is an important component of plant cells. It makes up to 90% of their protoplasm.

The total water requirement for the growing season in succulent plants is several times lower than in deciduous plants. This must be taken into account when organizing the conditions for growing cacti. Usually watering is carried out when the soil is warm enough. Cold soil reduces the water permeability of the roots and indirectly increases the viscosity of the water, which slows down its movement through the soil and roots.

In addition, prolonged contact of cactus roots with cold and wet soil leads to their decay. In the summer, it is impossible to water the soil strongly heated by the sun in pots. This is not only an unjustified loss of water due to intense evaporation, but also stress for the root system and the entire plant. Knowing what are the features of caring for cacti, in hot weather it is better to water in the evening, and in cool weather in the morning, so that excess surface moisture can dry out during the day.

In addition to consuming soil moisture, cacti, with the help of spines and hairs, are able to absorb water from the atmosphere. In arid areas in the homeland of cacti, this ability allows them to survive in extreme conditions. When leaving during the cultivation of cacti, do not forget that in the culture the lack of atmospheric moisture must be compensated for by regularly spraying the plants with soft water throughout the growing season. It is better to spray in the evening and morning hours, when the moisture on the stems does not dry out too quickly and can be more fully used by plants.

Cactus care when growing plants at home

The main role of light in the life of green plants is associated with photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which light energy from the sun is absorbed and used by plants to synthesize carbohydrates from water and carbon dioxide from the air. In addition to light, photosynthesis is influenced by other external factors, including temperature. There is a light and temperature optimum for photosynthesis. It is worth noting that the process of photosynthesis is of global importance in the life of the Earth, since green plants are the primary source of energy and oxygen for all living things.

Light and temperature play a very important role in the maintenance and care of cacti. In our collections, when keeping plants in conditions far from natural, cacti can suffer from both a lack of sunny days, low light intensity, and low temperatures. For about seven months of the year, cacti are kept on windowsills. The glass of the windows does not actually transmit ultraviolet rays. Therefore, in the process of growing a cactus at home, in the summer, plants must be exposed to the sun. Depending on the capabilities of the owner, these can be window shelves, greenhouses or specially equipped greenhouses. Keeping in the air with more intense lighting contributes to the development of the correct shape of the stems, the growth of powerful spines, good pubescence and flowering of cacti. The collection time under such conditions should be as long as possible.

Keeping in mind the conditions in which cacti grow, light and temperature are especially important for young seedlings. While plants require very little light during seed germination (seeds can sprout in complete darkness), much more light is needed as the seedling grows. Growing seedlings of the first year usually takes place under short day conditions, so in a greenhouse it is very important to choose the right intensity of artificial lighting for them and the appropriate temperature regime. If this is not done, the stems of plants will be damaged already at an early stage of development.