Cactus and plant lovers unite! I recently purchased my second Peruvian Apple Cactus. I love my first one so much, I *needed* a second! They are easy to take care of and grow quickly when put outside in the warmer months. And they don’t take up a lot of space because they grow upright, so they are perfect for smaller spaces. When I picked up the cactus, it was just a stem/stalk. These pieces get cut off of larger pieces and propagated and sold. It needs to then be placed in some soil and a pot. So, here is how to pot a large cactus in no time!
This is a 3 foot cactus. You can see which end is the top and which is the bottom. This process is simple if you have all of your supplies ready to go. I don’t use gloves when I pot this type of cactus because not every part is prickly. You might need gloves with super prickly stems! Start with your cactus, a pot, soil, and fertilizer. I personally love the look of a cactus in terra cotta, but not necessary! Just make sure your pot is big enough to support the size of your cactus, but not too big where it looks silly. As your cactus grows, you may need to repot.
Start by filling your pot part way up with soil. You can purchase cactus soil, but I just use whatever I have on hand. I like to mix in compost soil with my plants too! You can also mix in some rock or place rocks at the bottom of the pot for improved drainage. Create a small well in the middle of the soil where you want to place the bottom your cactus.
Place the cactus into the soil with, prop it up with one hand, and start adding soil all around it with your free hand. With enough soil, your cactus should be stable and able to stand on its own. This cactus has a natural curve to it so I moved it a little off center. I’ll talk about this curve further down in the post!
I purchased some marble rock to add to the top of the soil. I think it adds some additional color and texture and the green stem really pops off of it. This step is not necessary.
Next up, I give it a little drink with some cactus fertilizer. Cactus don’t love much water, but they do love to be fertilized. I don’t really worry about watering too much this time of year (August), especially since I will take this outside for the next several weeks.
The next step for me is to move the cactus outside. Our temps are still in the 90s in Kansas, and as I have learned from my other Peruvian Apple Cactus that I’ve had for two years, they thrive outside in the heat and humidity!
One final thing to note…I will be adding a bamboo pole to the side of the cactus where it is curved to help encourage new growth to shoot straight up. My other cactus came with a curve as well, and the bamboo stake not only helps to stabilize it, it helps “train” the cactus how to grow. The cactus pictured here started out as a 3 foot as well. It’s now well over 6 feet tall (in just two years)!
I’ve gotten asked what I do with all of these plants in the winter and how much do I water. I move them inside in the winter! They get so much new growth outside, and then slow grow over the late fall and winter months. The larger they get, the heavier they are to move. I’m going to need to get some plant rollers soon! Outside, I let natural rains hit them and they get water from the run of of the ferns above them. I don’t really worry about overwatering outside. Once I move them inside, I just water very little, enough to give a little fertilizer. I hope you learned how easy it is to pot a large cactus! XO