Piante grasse cactus spine

Category: Cultivation

Everything you need to know to grow cacti and succulent plants: from watering to fertilization; from exposure to temperatures.

Lophophora williamsii, the sacred cactus illegal in some states: let’s get to know the infamous Peyote

Yes, it can be grown but not sold… no, it cannot be cultivated nor sold… Yes and no at the same time: only young specimens can be raised because, after seven or eight years, the plant produces the notorious mescaline, and it becomes illegal (therefore, it must be incinerated???). Yes, you can keep it, but only if purchased before 2006, because it’s from that year that the plant was included in the “Testo Unico sulle Droghe” (Law-framework on drugs). In Italy and in many other European countries, about the cultivation of Lophophora williamsii (a Cactaceae also known as “peyote” or “peyotl”), people have been said everything and its opposite. This is because in Italy and in some other European countries, the possession and the sale of this cactus have been the subject of normative interventions, but, as it often happens, laws are muddled, lacunose, obscure and, from a logical point of view, sometimes not very coherent. For example: in the tables attached to the Italian law on drugs, it is mentioned only Lophophora williamsii, when cactus experts know very well that of Lophophora, besides williamsii, there are several other species: decipiens, diffusa, fricii, koehresii, alberto-vojtechii.

In this article, relying on official sources, we will know better this particular kind of cactus and see in detail what the Italian law exactly says. Please remember that this plant is illegal in Italy as well as in other states, so you better check the legislation of your country to avoid taking risks! (…)

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Cactus without roots: how to save the plant and which soil to use to get it back to full health

Cacti can be capricious plants, expecially because of their roots. It can happen, in fact, that despite all the cares we dedicate to one of our succulent plants, it stops growing, stops producing thorns and flowers and, in the space of a few weeks (or months, in some cases), begins to deteriorate, deflating and turning yellow. At the origin of this phenomenon, not always a pathology exists, as a bacterial attack that can cause the rot. In the same way, the cause may not necessarily be due to a parasitic attack. If you look closely at the plant, for example, you might not find any traces of spider mite or mealybug, the two main pests of succulents. With experience I have learned that when a plant, even apparently healthy (i.e. not affected by parasites or bacteria) and grown in the best conditions (light, air, watering, soil, etc..) begins to deteriorate deflating and yellowing despite watering, it is always better to remove it from the pot and check the health of the root system. More often than we might think, the problem can hide just there, below the collar.

In this article we will see everything we can do to save a cactus or a succulent plant in evident difficulty or when, after having flared it, we realize that it has lost all or part of its roots. (…)

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Growing cacti and succulents: seasonal care and what needs to be done during the year

I have discussed in various articles on this site of the basic factors for growing cacti and succulents, particularly those collected in the Cultivation category. This post intends to be a kind of summary “map” organized by seasons (seasonal care), indicating what you have to do at each time of year. In the following article, I review everything that needs to be done in terms of watering, fertilizing, repotting, exposure, etc. – season by season, to best grow cacti and succulent plants in general. This guide is thought to be a practical “vademecum” at a glance (but each topic can be explored in depth thanks to the appropriate internal links) of what is useful and recommended to do in spring, summer, fall and winter.

In short, a kind of handbook to keep in mind every time to organize work, whether you have a greenhouse or a terrace, a balcony or even only a windowsill. Let’s see everything in this article. (…)

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How to make cactus and succulent plants bloom: what you need to know and what tricks to use

How to get cactus to bloom is one of the most frequently asked questions among succulent plant enthusiasts. Here are the precautions to take to make our cacti flourish.

Colourful, flashy, ephemeral. Cactus blooms are sudden bursts of energy. Often the buds develop in a few days to open within few hours, amazing the newcomers to the cultivation of these plants and, above all, those who are not familiar with succulents. In these last few years, I have noticed that there is a lot of misinformation about cacti, in particular about their blooms. Those who do not cultivate these plants can even be surprised that they can bloom, no more or less than the specimens of all the other plant families, forgetting that the flower is the basis of the reproduction of almost all plants. Others are impressed to learn that even cacti can bloom in abundance and several times during the growing season, thinking perhaps that the flowering of a cactus is an exceptional event, almost unique. Nothing could be more wrong: all the cacti regularly bloom, and if there are relatively stingy species, that can produce few flowers for limited periods during the year, there are also really generous species, able to give blooms several times for entire months (for example Echinopsis, Astrophytum, Strombocactus, Gymnocalycium, Trichocereus).

In the following article we see in detail how to make cacti and succulent plants bloom abundantly. (…)

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Summer is coming: seasonal care for cacti and succulents, watering and aestivation

Summer is a relatively quiet season for those who grow cacti. Things to do, in fact, are not that many. Preventive treatments have already been done, and repotting, although repotting can be done at any time if necessary, should be suspended at this time, when the plants are in vegetation and in full bloom. Fertilizations should also be stopped at this time, confining them to spring and September. Overall, the bulk of the work in the weeks from mid-June through August focuses on watering, which will need to be calibrated according to the species being grown. In some cases, with certain plants, it will be appropriate to suspend them altogether to avoid stagnation and rot. Indeed, there are plants that vegetate well even in these months and plants that slow down their vegetation. Still others, in the warmer months, such as July and August, stop vegetation altogether to resume growth at the time of September, as soon as the maximum temperatures have dropped slightly. This phenomenon, the halting of vegetation coinciding with the hottest weeks, is called “summering,” and it is good to know its effects to avoid risks in cultivation.

In the following article we look in detail at what we have to do in the run-up to summer to best prepare cacti and succulents and avoid problems. (…)

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