Hey everyone,

Five months ago I left my two cacti with a friend who promised to water them while I was away. When I returned I saw that one cactus was dead and the other was shriveled (please see photos below). My friend says that they watered the cacti as much as I asked them to--a little more than one tablespoon per cactus each month. Can someone please tell me what they think happened to them? Because I changed the soil shortly before leaving town, I think that the cacti may have been damaged by either desiccation (if the new soil drained too fast) or root rot (if the new soil didn't drain enough), but I'm not sure which, if either, is more likely to have occurred.

There are three photos below. One is of the shriveled area on the live cactus and the other two are of the dead cactus (one of the roots and one of the entire body).

Best,
Tom

Unless your cactus were planted in thimbles, one tablespoon per cactus each month was not even close to being enough.

Cactus should be watered when the soil is dry below the roots. Then it should be watered until the water comes out the drain hole. If the soil is too dry, you may need to water several times to thoroughly saturate the soil.

I agree, even cacti are not indestructible. Yes, they can survive for longer without much water, but every so often even they need a thorough watering. Even the cacti here in Arizona appreciate the monsoon rains.

I feel there is still hope for your plant. Just repot once more in a well draining media, use shallower, smaller container. Give a couple of days then water the media thoroughly. Allow time to dry out.

Patience will be your friend. Summer is typical active growing time for them but they adjust slow as it heals the roots/produce new roots to anchor and absorb moisture at root zone level.

Always remember cacti are drought tolerant but like any living plant it needs its fair share of water during the active growing period.

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the tips. Unrelated to the previous replies, I forgot to mention that I live in Boston and my cacti were kept indoors (in case this info helps).

Good to know your location. It does matter too.

When you say it was indoors, where did you position the plant while it was indoors. What was the typical temperature range in the room it was in at that time.

Also 5 months encompasses 2 seasons..even if you are in Boston, adjustments still needs to be done when watering. What type of container, depth of the container used and media type used also affects the overall needs of your plant. Was it planted in a container with drain holes?

tarev said:Good to know your location. It does matter too.

When you say it was indoors, where did you position the plant while it was indoors. What was the typical temperature range in the room it was in at that time.

Hey tarev,

Thanks for all the advice! My cacti were placed by the window with temperatures of about 70-75. I think that out of all the possible issues it was likely watering level, since I never told my friend about the differing seasonal requirements that you mentioned. In the future I'll be sure to do that.

Also, my pot does have holes, but I typically don't see it draining since I haven't been doing deep soaks. Should I change that?

Tom

Ideally, it would be nice to see the excess water flow away thru the drain holes, since it is also the way to flush out excess accumulation of salts in the soil. That is why my frequent recommendation is to water thoroughly once a week in summer or lengthen interval if growing location is more wet and humid. This is also the reason why I often suggest make the media very porous and well draining, that way as the soil takes some time to dry out thoroughly, the roots are not sitting in too damp conditions longer than necessary. Air at the root zone is indeed needed, but do not forget the mineral accumulation there, so those excess salts needs to be flushed out from time to time. It is convenient to do this in summer, since temps are generally warmer ambient wise. But as the colder season comes around in Fall, adjustment in watering intervals must be observed.

In winter, once I have moved my more sensitive cacti/succulents indoors, they hardly get any watering, till Spring comes around. At most it becomes once a month thorough watering...and leave the plant alone by a sunny window. Discipline in watering and patience will be your friend.

Don't feel bad if this current cacti you have does not make it, sometimes, remedial measures may have come too late...just start anew, and take it as a learning curve.