Herself's Houseplants

succulent garden

One of the things that makes cactus and succulents great house plants is that they don’t mind the dry air in homes and offices. If you can get them enough light you’ll find they are some of the easiest house or office plants to grow.

Cactus and succulents differ only slightly. All cactus are succulents, not all succulents are cactus. Cactus store water in their stem, succulents store water in the leaves, stem or both. All cactus originated only in North and South America, succulents are found worldwide.

The temperature indoors is usually fine for all succulents and cactus. Some may need a cooler, winter of sorts to promote blooming. Others bloom after a flood. If you are having trouble getting your indoor succulent to bloom: first try more light, then try leaving it out at night for a month or two when it is chilly but not too cold for your particular plant. If neither of those works, let it dry more than usual for a few weeks, then give it a good soaking. Just don’t let it sit in water, be sure to drain it well.

As a general rule the spinier a cactus is, the more sunlight it will need. They are leaves that have evolved to shade the cactus with out giving up much needed water like regular leaves.

Cactus spines are like leaves and can be removed with out hurting the plant. You’ll see a tuft of tiny spines or hair at the bottom of each spine.

Succulent spines do not have tufts at the bottom and are connected to the stem tissue. Removing them will harm your plant.

To successfully grow succulents indoors, use a well drained soil. Sand or potting soil mixed with larger pebbles works well.

See also:
House plant escapes through roof
Sedums the forgotten plants
Interesting facts about succulents

I received an interesting question by email this week, someone wrote to ask if there was a list of plants preferring to be bottom watered as opposed to top watered.

Most people know that African Violets prefer bottom watering and that’s about it.  While I don’t know of a list of plants preferring bottom to top watering I can give you some rules of thumb:

Bottom water preferring plants:

- Plants that are tropical and prefer moist soil, including African voilets but any plant that prefers moist soil and warm temperatures.

- Plants that don’t like wet leaves, this is usually your warm weather tropicals and plants with fuzzy leaves, like Purple Passion/Purple Velvet plant.

- Bog plants including Venus flytraps, pitcher plants and other bog plants grown inside.

Top water preferring plants:

- Any plant planted in sand like cactus, the sand doesn’t wick up enough water from the bottom to water the plant.

- Any plant in bark, same as above, to bottom water a plant you need  a soil that will wick the water up.  So orchids in bark need water from the top.

I’ve just found this prize. It is a fast grower and should fill this basket in no time. One branch broke off and we have it rooting in another pot. To propagate, take a small piece of stem, place it in soil, keep moist until you see new growth.

Flowers will open only at night, for one night, and are very fragrant.

It is an epiphytic plant, you can grow it in soil or in orchid bark, use which ever pleases you. In the wild it grows on trees with aerial roots.

Use bright, but not direct light so an east or west window is best. Keep it somewhat dry like you would an Easter or Christmas cactus but don’t let it dry out as much as a regular cactus.

It can be trained up something rather than allowing it to hang down, but usually it is left to hang.

It never occurred to me to grow a cactus in an office setting. I would think they would need more light. But if you have a bright office you might consider giving it a try.

. . . It’s easy to become a corporate cactus cultivator if you know a bit more about these unique plants. They are all succulents, which are species that contain specialized cells that hold water for a long time. Ordinary plants can’t store water this way and are thus more dependent on consistent groundwater to keep them hydrated. They need extensive root systems to hunt and absorb the water.

Cacti produce rather small, shallow root systems just inches beneath the ground. There they suck up rainwater the moment it falls to earth. This ability to take up moisture faster than ordinary plants is their key to survival in excessively dry climates. It also means that you don’t need a big pot for cactus plant roots.

Succulents are vulnerable to one thing — rot. Once waterborne bacteria or fungus enters these interior tissues, the rot spreads uncontrollably. In the wild, cacti prefer porous gravelly or sandy soils that water passes through quickly. Very little is left in contact with the succulent roots. Success with cacti depends on soil porosity in your pot. Fast or express drainage practically ensures you’ll never overwater this plant. That is, of course, if you don’t let water sit in the saucer for more than five minutes. . .

[ read more Cactus plants can thrive in office setting]

Of course there is the other side who consider cactus to be bad Feng Shui in the office