I need to figure out how to prune a cactus.

[bertine]

I need to figure out how to prune a cactus., originally uploaded by bertine.

This is a cactus that Zach gave me when we first started dating. It started out with each strand being about 3 inches tall. Now it is out of control!

I love it but I need to prune it. I think I am going to start by taking all the divisions apart and putting them in pots of their own. I think that should take care of about a third of the plant.

So, would you like a little cactus of your own? It is a super easy plant to take care of. I water it when it is completely dry, which is about every two months in the winter and every other week in the summer. Every spring I throw a small handful of pellet fertilizer in to the pot. It likes a lot of indirect light and has been growing in an Eastern facing window. If you have more direct light you just need to have a light color pot so the roots don't get too hot.

They would be ready in about a month. I wouldn't want to shock the poor little plants.

Comments

[jonthedull.livejournal.com]

There is a cactus like that at my dad's house. Someone gave it to me as a little cactus perhaps around the year 2000 or so. When I moved I left it there, now it's almost as big as yours. Mine took 10 years to get 2/3rds the size of yours. How did yours get so big? do you have magic cactus growing powers?

[i12bmore.livejournal.com]

How indirect is indirect? My windows face northwest with a big ol' building blocking the light from the southwest. The sun is actually in my window only about a month or two out of the year. That said, I'm sitting here in the middle of the day and it's pretty bright in here.

[bertine.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I am pretty good with plants, when my cat doesn't decide to eat them. Almost every plant I have blooms at some point and they all get huge.

I think the main thing that I did is put the pellet fertilizer into the pot and I use the pots that you water from the bottom.

[bertine.livejournal.com]

The window it has been in only gets direct light for two hours a day. Then it is completely indirect. I think it just needs to be bright.

[phaedie.livejournal.com]

It looks like it's done with that pot and getting up and leaving on it's own.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

I would give a wayward cactus a good home. I like things that grow.