It's time to read and vote for your favorite article in the 2013 Write-Off Contest! The four finalist's articles are featured in the May 13 newsletter and can be found through this link. Hurry! Voting ends May 18.
Welcome!
You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
this plant is usually grown in pots. Multiple new heads soon occupy all space in the pot - the crammed picture makes me feel the plant is uncomfortable - so I put it down last spring - it took a lot of care to avoid stepping on it all winter, until last March this flower appeared, then it was full of red flowers, then they faded and it was full of white hair, and weeds started growing through its heads, and now it looks pretty comfortable, and I feel uncomofortable.. who can say what it is and what it takes to have it nice and tidy??
Dimitri
Click the image for an enlarged view.
mark Antrim, Northern Ire United Kingdom (Zone 8b)
Thank you again, Mark.
Is there something special to know about this cactus??
I have noticed that although they are supposed to do well in drought, they do much better with watering. Do they need
compost? mulching? what ph soil??
These grow in my greenhouse like a weed. Left to their own devices they make new growths (a bit like cats tails) which drop off and seem to root where they fall. They dont seem to mind neglect. If you forget to water them they survive (I guess they are a desert plant originally anyway) and I only liquid feed them very rarely.
El Tel
mark Antrim, Northern Ire United Kingdom (Zone 8b)
when buds form in the spring I give them a slight misting with water 2 or 3 times a week. when active growth of the plant is seen I water them heavier once a week. I build this up to a point when they are watered along with all my other plants in the greenhouse. once a month they also get a feed using tomato fertiliser. all watering stops in early September so the compost around the plants can dry out completely before winter sets in. no water is given until buds form the following year.
the secret to have lots of flowers is to water normally in the spring and summer and let them get as cold as possible in the winter. wet compost in winter rots the roots and the cactus.
Eltel, peanut cacti that form long growths are usually in poor light conditions but there could be another cause.
Mark, thank you so much for your advice. Cacti are easy to grow in Greece, thanks to the dry summers and frost-free winters, but people grow them without knowledge, just put them in the pot and look at thm grow.
Now I will be more decisive and knowledgable.
Dimitri
mark Antrim, Northern Ire United Kingdom (Zone 8b)
