How to deeply water your collection

My secondary cactus bench got itself alittle bit of a watering this afternoon....just a tad deeper than what I had hoped it turns out. Downpipe couldn't keep up in this afternoon's downpour so the gutter overflowed right above the bench.



Got some repotting to do now as it washed a good inch of soil and topdressing out of quite a few pots and I've got exposed roots everywhere.

The Bunnings in Parramatta sure knows how to deeply water their collection. Today I witnessed an amazing display when this woman 'K' took the garden hose and totally soaked the cacti that were all in the trays. I suppose under some conditions that it might not have been so bad, except.... They were sitting in the same watertight trays that are used for Venus Fly Traps & American Pitcher plants....

lol
Find the same here out west aswell...although the fly traps and pitcher plants generally seem to be kept bone dry in vented trays that can't hold any water

Here's the photo - and what you don't see is the lithops in the next tray over - they are doing a submarine impression, being totally submerged in their trays.



So I let them know that the cacti should probably not be swimming in the deep end without a raft, and "K" said that the rain wasn't going to help, seeing how these were all outside with no cover.

had similar experiences at BigW garden dept. no idea really. would never buy from any of those sort of places. half the time the roots are rotted off. and i hate the stupid labels.

Those plants actually come from the business owned by good friends of mine (Hamilton's World of Cacti). I'm not keen on the labels myself, and usually remove them ASAP. It's the fool retail stores that damage the cacti, which reflects poorly on their source.

in victoria, Dans Cactus (heatherton) supply a lot of the seedling cacti in the little square pots. have been to their nursery and its huge. the cacti are in really good order, but as you say, the retailers have little understanding of care of anything but vege seedlings and whatever 6" pots are advertised by Burke's Backyard.

Labels ain't half as stupid as the ones Masters use, someone there decided in their stupidity to only use lables that have no genus or species info what so ever! And those plants come from Hamiltons aswell.
I've kept some Hamiltons plants alive and well in original pots and soil for well over a year now in some cases so I find nothing wrong with the way they are potted up for sale. You just have to be alittle careful in the way you water them as the soil tends to dry out alittle bit slower than what really is prefered unless it's really hot.

Ha, yeah I have seen a few of those which have the entertainingly enlightenment of "CACTUS". Add to that such generically broad care instructions which if kept to are sure to eventually kill most cacti, and really ought to have a disclaimer.

I kinda like Hamiltons but they do sometimes get their lables very wrong. I've seen M. bombycina labeled as M. bocasana and come home with a Gymnocalycium carrying an Echinocereus label.

Lots of people go through the tunnels there, and I once caught some kids swapping labels. I know that they catch most of those errors at the register, but many that are still on the benches get overlooked.

yes... the "CACTUS" label is great, especially when its a succulent. (bunnungs)