INDOOR GARDENING
except for those growing in central heating where a little water should be given to stop the plant shriveling. This is not an ideal situation as it leads to soft growth likely to be attacked by pests. A cool, well-lit room about 45 F is ideal, and should avoid any unnecessary watering and promote floral buds for the following year.
New plants
New plants are normally sold in peat-based compost and should be turned out and examined for pests. They should be repotted in soil-based compost before being added to a collection.
One of the big supermarkets here has been selling lovely specimens of cacti recently, obviously from two different suppliers. The first lot were in five-inch varnished crockery pots with cultural instructions as follows: No direct sunshine or draughts, water and feed regularly in summer, and keep evenly moist during the winter. (I hope someone remembered to tell the plants about the changed growing conditions.) The second lot were in six-inch square plastic pots, and were much larger plants than the first with the following instructions: Full sun at all times, water and feed regularly in the summer and keep completely dry and frost free in the winter. When I brought the shop assistant's attention to the different set of instructions for the same plants, she failed to understand why I was complaining and refused to remove the offending labels. Indeed, one week later they were still there proudly wearing the same instructions. That particular supplier intends to sell lots of plants next year again.
Pests
The three most common pests are mealy bugs, scale insects and red spider mites. But a routine spray of Malathion should see them off without much difficulty. The above information does not apply to the following groups with a slightly different growing period, LITHOPS, CONOPHYTUMS AND CHRISTMAS CACTUS, (schlumbergera) but that is a story for another day.
MICHAEL J CAMPBELL.
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