I have not been fond of rearing cactus. I haven't bought any in the past, although I confess i love watching them in garden shows and in others' gardens. They don't flower here as often as they do in temperate dry climates. Maybe that's the reason i don't get them. When I transferred to the 5th Floor condo unit, I lack the space for a garden, but they say "when you're a gardener, you're always a gardener". I am glad my unit is not in front of the clubhouse, where it might be an eyesore to have some pots and plants near the wall.
I have this tall but narrow window, where i don't cover the whole day to let sunshine in. Inside the room i put some ledges and the plants converge for the light they most wanted. This depravity of space prompted me to buy three cactus from the February garden show. One of them is shown here. I forgot where i put its label so I've never known it by its name!
This is how it looked like when i got it, roundish, healthy, with some plantlets starting to grow at the bottom. It is about 2.5 inches in diameter.
I can say it is beautifully symmetrical. I watered it every other day or when the top soil is already dry. I try to give it the attention it needs, they are not neglected because i don't have many in my care at this very limited space, and i am not also busy these days.
After a few months i noticed that growth deviated from its original manner. The central apex lengthened leaving the periphery. Obviously, there was anomaly in its growth. Moreover, the plantlets are growing profusely now. But none of them grows like buttons resembling the original shape of the mother plant.
I took the young growths, let them cure the scar and then plant them in another container. Suddenly, i noticed that the mother plant is turning brown, eventually lifeless and actually already hollow or rotten inside. It just slumped at the middle leaving the plantlets. I salvaged these youngsters for another container. I am wondering whether i did something wrong, did i water wrongly or have i missed something i should have done? I am so sorry that my first cactus plant just died like that. I hope these plantlets will grow just like the circular mother plant, and i wish many will live longer this time in my care. Perhaps, it died faster because i am not calling it by its own name!
