INDOOR GARDENING
Never use glazed pottery bowls without any drainage holes unless you are a very experienced grower. Wide shallow pots are much better than deep pots as cacti spread their roots in their native habitat in search of moisture, rather than sending them deep in the soil.
Soil Mixture
After thirty years growing these plants, I believe that the best mixture to use with clay pots is as follows: one part loam (good garden soil sterilised), one part leaf mould or moss peat, and two part one eighth grit. To each one gallon mixture of the above add four heaped teaspoons of bone meal, three heaped teaspoons of gypsum and one heaped teaspoon of super phosphate. The amount added to the soil does not have to be exact.
Alternatively, you can buy ready-made cacti compost, but these are usually peat -based and not recommended for a beginner.
How and when to grow
As mentioned earlier, it is quite impossible to give a simple answer since so many factors must be taken into account, such a what soil mixture is being used, how much sun do the plants get, are clay or plastic pots used, are the plants grown on a window sill or greenhouse? As a general guide cacti should be grown much as other pot plants in the summer time and never allowed to dry out completely. Here is a rough guide to watering, bearing in mind that pot plants are watered overhead, and sufficient water is given to fill the pots to overflowing.
Above-mentioned soil mixture should be watered every seven to ten days in spring and autumn, four to five days in summer. This is assuming maximum greenhouse temperature of 70 F to 80 F in spring and autumn and 90 F to 95 F in summer. If plastic pots are used then perhaps they can be left a day or two longer.
For those growing plants on a windowsill in the house the watering guide can still be used, but if the pots are standing in a dish, make sure that they are emptied about half an hour after watering, and never leave the pot standing in water or the plant will quickly succumb. Most cacti can be stood outside for the summer but should be sheltered from the rain so as to keep control of the moisture levels.
Winter rest
Most cacti rest between October and March and should not be watered at this time, except
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