How to care for a cactus
Plant management tips: This article is about the cultivation of the succulent plant, cactus. How to care for a cactus will surely bring you help. Let's learn about it together!
Cactus flowers are very beautiful, but some gardening enthusiasts don't know how to care for a cactus. I've been raising my cactus for many years, and it blooms beautifully every year. In fact, it's very simple to care for it yourself.
After the Spring Festival is the peak blooming season for cactus plants, and these varieties can bloom until early July. You can water a bit more, and after the flowers fade, slowly reduce watering because it starts to enter a semi-dormant state. From mid-to-late August, you can gradually increase watering to resume growth. From late December to mid-January, you can almost stop watering (this point is very important, as too much water can prevent blooming). After March 12th, which is Arbor Day, you can increase the watering, preferably letting it rain. Cacti do not need much fertilizer, just using washing water in the fall is sufficient.
The blooming period of the cactus is around January. To promote bud differentiation and development, you can control the water, light, and temperature. By the end of August, as the daylight hours gradually shorten and the temperature starts to drop, slowly reduce watering and stop fertilizing, and place it in a cool place (can be as low as 5°C). With continuous darkness for more than 13 hours a day, flower buds will gradually form at the tip of the stem, which are spherical. After the flower buds form, place them back in normal growing conditions, which include adequate watering and slightly higher temperatures, and the flower buds will develop and bloom.
If a potted cactus is placed near a wall and receives light from one side for a long time, the branches will stretch towards one side and gradually droop, reaching up to 50 cm in length. If it receives light from all sides or the pot is frequently rotated, it will grow evenly in all directions. When it reaches a certain size, several layers of supports are often used to hold up the drooping branches, otherwise, they will hang around the pot.
Disease and pest control should focus on prevention, especially paying attention to the prevention of stem rot and scale insects. General diseases can be treated with alternating use of drugs such as carbendazim, chlorothalonil, and thiophanate-methyl. Scale insects can be controlled with drugs like pymetrozine and propargite in the hatching period around May. Drugs for general diseases and pests can be mixed, and foliar fertilizers, such as some conventional trace elements, can also be added.
The above content about how to care for a cactus is complete and I hope it helps you. At the same time, I also hope everyone comes to see more green plant and flower experience and common knowledge!