We take care of the echinocactus of the weight correctly!

Those novice cactusists who have not yet learned how to grow unique and rarities like Webelmanias and Aztekiums can turn their energies to Echinocactus Gruconi, because caring for it is easy. This is a magnificent plant, which in nature belongs to the largest spherical cacti. But you must say right away: if you grow a cactus from a seed, then you can wait for flowering in 20-30 years, not earlier. In nature, this species blooms when it reaches the age of 40 - 50 years and more.

But he brings joy to a collector and just an amateur without flowering. This is a magnificent dark green ball, dotted with slender rows of yellow or snow-white arcuate spines, which become noticeably flatter towards the top. If you keep an adult cactus in a greenhouse or in a greenhouse, then by the end of summer a surprisingly beautiful young "fluffy zone" appears on the top of its head. It has a pale yellow color with a warm canary hue and looks very elegant.

The only pity is that in supermarkets young plants are stuffed with ink, which is why they have an unnatural red, yellow or blue color. This is a sign of bad taste and bad taste. Despite such a fake rainbow, cacti have nothing to do with healthy plants. Our task is to provide the young specimen with perfect care.

How to properly care for echinocactus?

In the practical part, you will find a complete set of tips to help you grow a collectible plant at home.

Advice

We will use a universal algorithm that will fully cover all aspects of caring for a cactus without missing anything. It can be used as a reference by creating a care file not only for all cacti, but also for all houseplants.

How to care for a cactus without mistakes? To do this, you need to take care of the following aspects of your pet's life:

• lighting (sides of the world and luminous flux, ultraviolet);
• air (humidity, temperature);
• water (water quality, regularity and technology of irrigation, feeding);
• soil (requirements for the composition of soil and dishes);
• transplant (recommendations for transplant) - believe me, it is very difficult to hold a thorny ball with your hands;
• Wintering is a very important section, due to its non-observance on a regular basis, especially in central Russia, a lot of young cacti die.

We will not cover the issue of pest control, this is a topic for another article. So go ahead! You have acquired a young plant. What to do with him? Right! Transplant, getting rid of cheap shipping soil. But first you need to prepare the right substrate.

Preparing the soil

Universal soil for cacti is always slightly acidic. We purchase soil for cacti in a flower shop, add to it large drainage, well-washed river sand (not construction sand, which cements the roots). The grain size is 2-3 mm, such sand can be bought, for example, at Leroy Merlin. Then add charcoal (fraction 3–5 mm) and mix thoroughly. Charcoal is excellent at killing fungi and mold. The earth is mixed with sand in a 1: 1 ratio, and one tenth of charcoal is added to the resulting volume.

If you have purchased a young, but already strengthened plant, then you can start replanting, and if the seedling is 1 cm or less, the earth needs to be steamed in the oven for 30–40 minutes.

Attention!

Cacti love poor soil! You will not spoil it with sand, but in black soil they lose their roots.

How to transplant a cactus?

A pot is taken (plastic is possible), in diameter slightly exceeding the size of the plant. Cacti don't like big pots.

Advice

Do not use clay and ceramic pots without glaze! The plants look beautiful in them, but the clay "breathes" after watering, evaporating the water. And this cools the roots. Cold and dampness is the most dangerous enemy of any cactus!

Select the pot after you have taken out the plant and looked at the length of the roots from the root collar. Add 2 cm more for the drainage and 2 cm for the root collar powder. This will be the height of the pot.

How to transplant? Drainage (expanded clay) is poured onto the bottom, with a layer of 1–1.5 cm, then a layer of the mixture so that the roots touch the ground, and then holding the cactus by the lower part (the prickly ones can be hung in a ring on three needles, like a cauldron over a fire), sprinkle the mixture in a circle.

Make sure that the roots do not lift up, but lay down freely. After light tamping, sprinkle the root collar with coarse washed sand. Now the plant needs to be watered.

So, the plant should be transplanted into fresh soil annually, until the end of hibernation - in February. And then you will need to look for a larger pot.

Watering a cactus

Young plants can be watered from below, from the pallet, and adults - from above, as usual. The water should never be cold. You can also use warm water from the mains, but it needs to be acidified - either with lemon juice, or diluting liquid fertilizer for cacti according to a recipe - it is always acidic. Compromise "price - quality" - this is the Forte for cacti and succulents in a green bottle.

Important!

Watering is allowed only after the soil is completely dry. The ground should not be constantly wet. From November to April, the cactus does not need to be watered at all.

Lighting

Echinocactus Gruzoni loves the sun, he is not afraid of burns. But still, a young plant needs to be slightly shaded if it is contained in the southern or southwestern windows. Ideally - the content on the windowsill from the southeast side.

Advice

Echinocactus do not like being turned around. Place it constantly with one side to the sun after transplanting and watering, making a mark on the pot.

It is the lack of lighting that leads to the stretching of the plant, its normal shape is a ball.

Air

The most important thing is the coolness and absolute dryness in winter and warm in summer. Cacti thrive in a cucumber greenhouse. This is the ideal of summer content. You can and should spray, in the morning and in the evening. In the dry air of an apartment - even more often.

Wintering

Only after proper wintering, the cacti, having rested, delight us with powerful thorns, pubescence and flowers. The plant, which was kept warm in winter, was watered and, at the same time, in a short day, it was deprived of light, doomed to illness and death.

The wintering rules are as follows:

• Echinocactus Grusonii is last watered at the end of September;
• in October it is only sprayed;
• from November to March - dry, cool (12 - 14 degrees) wintering, without spraying;
• April - spraying;
• from May to September - the irrigation regime is normal.

Advice

Wintering should be not only dry and cool, but, preferably, light.

In conclusion, we present a photo of echinocactus, contained in accordance with all the rules (on the left). This 20 cm diameter plant was grown from seed and is now 13 years old. On the right - a photo of a dying specimen of the same species, which was looked after incorrectly.

As you can see, the plant on the left can really decorate any interior, despite the fact that a lot of time will pass before it blooms. Compare it to that unnatural despondency of poisoned plants like "Rainbow"! But even they get rid of the "chemistry" after a few months of freedom. In supermarkets, you can also find plants half a meter in diameter. But they do not have such bright thorns, healthy growth and wonderful pubescence, as in the photo.

In conclusion, it must be said that echinocactus are unpretentious, hardy plants that easily forgive many mistakes of unlucky florists.They are undemanding to care for and very responsive, so growing them is a pleasure! In the next articles, we will continue to share with our readers the secrets of growing cacti.