What do I do with my cacti

Bought these a few weeks ago fro Lydl. Unfortunately the instructions were verybrief and only told how to water. Do I split the one with 5 in the pot? Does the other want repotting? How on earth do you handle the viscious little things.

 

hello. true cacti like these want a well lit greenhouse or windowsill ideally south facing. If they are in a green house i use a white wash on the glass to prevent scorching which will leave ugly marks. In summer they can even go outside in a sheltered spot but make sure they wont get waterlogged. It is a myth that they do not need watering. Whilst they will survive for months without water; to grow, flower and thrive they need light , water and food like all plants. In summer they should be watered reguarly, but dont leave them in standing water. let them dry out between waterings. You should feed reguarly with a specialist cactus fertilizer throughout the growing season. Water in the evenings so that any water that is splashed onto the plant dosnt casue scorching in the sun. In winter they need to be cool (but above freezing, a heated greenhouse is ideal) and in bright light. If they temperature is low enough they will need virtually no water but if they are in a centrally heated house small cacti like yours may need a small amount of water every month or so to stop the shriveling up. If they are too warm they will continue to grow, but growth will be leggy and suseptible to rot. overwatering in winter is easy
You have too different types of cacti there. the first (with five heads in one pot) is a single plant and is a faster growing type and given the correct conditions will probably flower. You may be able to propogate this type by carefully removing a head and hoping it roots, but risk disfiguring the parent plant and may allow it to rot. try collecting and sowing the seed instead. the second i cant identify, possibly a golden barrel or ferocactus, but looks lke it will be slower growing but could grow much larger with fearsome spines (but over many many years).
both will benfit from being repotted every couple of years. this will not be a fun job. this s my prefered mehtod, im sure there are lots of others.
you will need cactus compost which is designed to be free draining, bits of old pot or stones to be placed over the holes in the new pot to improve drainage, a pot only slightly larger than the last and only slightly bigger than the cactus. the pot should idealy be unglazed terracotter as it reduces the chance of overwatering. you will also need some tough gardening gloves, a roled up piece of newspaper and i find some spoons and a dibber also useful. tip the cactus upside down nto your gloved hand and gently release from its old pot. place on the ground and do not release the root ball. put your stones into the new pot and now put the old pot into the new pot. fill the gap with cactus compost and compact down. the heights of the pots should be the same and the compost level the same as before. carefully remove the old pot and you should have a root ball shaped hole into which you should be able to gently lower the cactus. do this by wrapping the strip of folded newspaper around and hold the ends tightly. use the spoons/dibber to compact the soil around the pot (this will be difficult as the cactus should be the same size as the pot.

hope that helps

 

Hi John.
Must admit I'm not a great believer in window sill growing of cacti, a heated or even cold greenhouse is best, I grow quite a few in a cold frame that gets below feeezing in winter, and if you get the right types they come to no harm, infact most desert cacti need a cold, dry winters rest, in order to flower well in the spring.

Dont think I would split the first one, you could try removing the small head facing camera, but I'd leave it, personally I wouldn't repot either, its got room to grow this year.
Just a weak tomato feed a few times through the summer.
At no time should the compost be allowed to remain wet for days.

The second one also I would not repot, although they do appear to be in that very peaty type compost that these places seem to sell them in, I like something a bit more soil like and a lot grittyer

As to when you do get around to repotting, dont move them up too quickly, one size up is much better than to large.

Messypups advice on how to repot sounds good to me, but I usually spend the next few days digging the spines out of my hands.
its all good fun.:D

 

Thakyou messypup and Pete. I will try to take on board what each of you have said. Never grown cacti before. Thanks again for the advice.