9 December 2007
Not wilting yet
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti; Equipment .
Repotting this plant of Cylindropuntia spinosior is going to be fun next time round. In the time I’ve had it, it has grown from being in a 3″ pot to a 10″ pot, and originally came from the Abbey Brook nursery in Matlock, at the same time as my Opuntia quimilo which has grown a similar amount.
Needless to say it has been propagated from extensively and there are little clones sitting in greenhouses and on windowsills all over the place!
Different people have different solutions to the “repotting particularly evil spiny plants” problem. Some use an elaborate system of cradles and pullies to haul the plant out of its pot, others use large metal tongs. All very sound advice, of course.
I have two “standard” approaches. If the plant is of a size whereby it’s not too heavy, I wear a pair of thick leather gardening gloves and wrestle it out of its pot by turning the pot upside-down with one hand and catching the rootball with the other (and hoping for the best). Anything bigger and I find it’s better to simply cut (or smash, depending on whether the pot is plastic or clay) the plant out of its pot and then handle it by its rootball as before.
Cylindropuntia spinosior is a good drought indicator in winter; when completely dry, its branches curve downwards. Normally, after a couple of completely dry months, I would expect the branches to be turning, but they aren’t this year.
Photo taken 8th December.