I fell in love with the pencil cactus several years
ago. I was shopping at a garden center. I saw a large
red pot with a plant that looked like green sticks.
The pot had a tag on it, which read, fire stick cactus.
The sales clerk said the the sticks turn orange during
the fall season. Sure enough, the cactus turned a
beautiful shade of orange. I placed the cactus in my
greenhouse during the winter. It stayed alive until the
winter temp dropped below 20. My greenhouse was
heated; however, fifty percent of the cactus died.
Now, I keep my pencil cactus in my house during
the winter months. I had two planters with pencil
cactus that are two feet and four feet. I gave the four
feet pencil cactus to my son. I am keeping the two feet
cactus plant for myself.
My cactus project involves separating my two feet
plant into two cuttings. I didn't realize that splitting
the cactus would be hard to do. The main stem was
very hard and thick. I needed a sharper knife. I finally
got the cactus separated after 10 minutes of struggling.
I kept the two cuttings in a recycled Christmas bucket,
until I could buy cactus soil.
I used to put my succulents in all purpose potting
soil. I added perlite to the soil. They did grew fine
in this soil. I was shopping at a garden center, when
I saw a special soil for succulents, cactus, and palm
trees. I discovered that this soil mix had better
drainage. My plants did look healthier. This store
only had small bags of this soil. The cost might seem
high, if you had large volume of succulents and cactus.
Two large light blue planters were purchased to put
the cuttings in. I used a wood burning pen to make
three holes in the bottom of the planters.
I may have to put stakes on the cactus. They are "top
heavy" and seem to lean a little.
They will be placed in sunny locations in
my front yard. I am looking forward to
seeing the pencil cactus turn orange in the
fall. My friends and neighbors marvel at this
color changing cactus.
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