journal

THE
CACTUS
AND SUCCULENT
JOURNAL
OF GREAT BRITAIN
ESTABLISHED 1931
Vol. 13 APRIL, 1951 No. 2
EDITORIAL
It may not be generally known that your editor deals with cactus queries sent to "Amateur Gardening."
The season usually provides a continuous stream of questions to be answered and, certainly, some of them are
really interesting. A gardening paper has to provide a service of this nature and has to depend on outside specialists
in the case of the lesser known plants.
I am continually receiving plants in various stages of decay and mush, and the enquirers consistently want to
know why it should be so, their letters reveal a wonderment after they have received, in the writer's point of view,
the best of treatments.
Within the last few days (in March), I received several cuttings of Epiphyllum hybrids (Phylhcacti) in various
stages, some actual mush. The enquirer wanted to know what was wrong and how to avoid it. As all know,
March was continuing the cold, frosty, rainy weather we have been having for some time. The tips of the " fronds "
were decayed and, in my opinion, had been in too close contact with the glass in frosty weather. At the same time,
the bases of the cuttings were mushy, too. This was not so obvious, or would not have been, had only cuttings
been sent, but there were masses of loose roots, soil, etc. The soil was greatly in the minority.
In one mass of roots I found a spongy, wet mass out of which I could actually squeeze a quantity of water !
This gave me a clue which I could not fail to follow up. I quote from this instance because it is a condition
that is met with all too frequently, especially with those who only have one or two plants and the same fault is
very prevalent among more experienced collectors.
Plants that grow quickly and large, like Epiphytlums, soon fill up the pot and exhaust the soil, and finally, the
roots are more numerous than soil, and what soil remains, usually mainly at the top, becomes caked and impervious
to watering, which just remains on the top and never penetrates the lower portions in the pot. In this case, the
plant does not get sufficient water, and the tips of the " fronds " get none and, in consequence, wither and become
yellow. As the water cannot penetrate, the base of the plants, usually a dense mass of shoots, becomes a quagmire.
It can easily be imagined the state of affairs when the plant is subject to frosty weather and that the plant is cut off
at the base into a mushy mass.
The obvious remedy is not to let your plants become bound with roots and exhaust the soil. All " leafy "
plants should be continually kept under review and re-potted in fresh soil at the first sign of the undesirable condition
especially when roots come through the drainage hole. This also applies to free growing succulents, Opuntias, etc.
And, once again, the oft repeated advice of Mr. Boarder—never water your plants in frosty weather.