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I got this as a gift but I feel like it’s dying on me. Can anyone… | The Cactus & Succulent Circle | Planta community

BCP newbie

I got this as a gift but I feel like it’s dying on me. Can anyone help with suggestions on bring it back to life?

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7 comments

  1. John G Amero

    Hi there, You may already know that you have a type of prickly pear cactus. Do you know what type of dirt is currently in the pot? Prickly pear types are water forgiving as long as the water leaves the pot. And that includes they like airy dirt. You can and should let them go a bit dry but again as lomg as the waater leaves the pot then you should be ok with watering, or leaving it outside and letting it get rained on. Dire Warning: they will drown QUICKLY and die when the water does not drain out. - tbc -

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    • John G Amero

      The prickly pear in this image was a purloined prickly pear from my peculiar neighbors wall. Since 2009 a prickly pear plant has been perched on a wall outside in winter, spring, summer, and fall. With snow, ice, wind, rain, and burning sun. It looks like heck, all shriveled and wrinkly, in all months but summer. In October 2020 a friend of mine and myself went into the alleyway and took 1 clipping off of the plant. That clipping had the 2 pads you see in the image. And thats how it looked in October 2020.

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    • BCP newbie

      I have no idea what type of dirt but I do see this clay pot has no hole so I will need to repot it or drill holes in this one. Thank you

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    • John G Amero

      No problem. Once they stabilize, with all that drainage, they should be fine. This is my favorite Cactus and Succulent Mix. Miracle Grow is fine too but I think most put more perlite into Miracle Grows. I think its too thick without it.

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    • John G Amero

      I’m going to have offspring issues this year. So many new pads! (Planta. You banned what I wrote originally here twice so I removed every sentence but the first sentence. Why? )

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    • John G Amero

      Why bother writing stuff out? The app will ban my words, and post it anyway, just to drive me further insane. Where are the Senior Leaders of this company? Please Turn off word censorship!

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  2. John G Amero

    This is the same two pads with a different pot because the wind and I dropped it last summer. Right now it has about 8 new pads beginning to grow off of these pads. So 2 grew into +4 and is now growing into +8 pads. I leave her outside all summer and bring her into the house in the winter. It’s all about the drainage and airy draining soil. Oh and not putting things under the planter such that everything you’ve done correctly is not self sabotaged.😁

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