Don't Be Afraid of a Little Cactus Fertilizer
Don't Be Afraid of a Little Cactus Fertilizer
Many people claim how easy it is to care for cacti and indeed, it is quite an easy chore until you get to the cactus fertilizer part. Fertilizing is easy to do but there is an art to it and some people are a bit intimidated by the fact that too much or too little can be detrimental to this member of the succulent plant family.
Timing is Everything
Whatever you do, do not apply cactus fertilizer to your succulent plants during its dormant season as it could be detrimental to their health. The only true way to know the dormant season of your cactus is to ask the garden center technician or look it up online or at the library. Because some cacti are slow growing, it is hard to determine when they go dormant. The problem is that different varieties of cactus have dormant periods that are the exact opposite of others.
The basic rule of thumb for cactus fertilizer is that many non-flowering cacti go dormant from November through March. If you have a flowering cactus, the main dormant season is the winter months but you would want to apply a low nitrogen cactus fertilizer at the end of February and March to encourage cactus blooms. Again, please keep in mind that these basic rules of thumb are not absolute, so double checking your cactus' dormant period is optimal.
Growth Mixture
Cactus fertilizer is best when it is in a liquid as it is more absorbable by the roots versus the dry pellet-like variety which takes a lot longer to absorb. During the cacti's active growing months, cactus fertilizer should be applied once a month along with a watering to ensure that it reaches the roots.
Your best is to purchase liquid cactus fertilizer already pre-mixed in a bottle as the necessary ingredients in the fertilizer makes it almost impossible to make on your own. Just follow the directions on the fertilizer's label before applying to your succulent plant. Always read the label on the cactus fertilizer to ensure that the mixture is a low nitrogen variety.
Avoid a high nitrogen based cactus fertilizer because it will weaken the overall structure of your cactus. With a high nitrogen fertilizer, your cactus will develop weak cellular walls and parts of it may turn soft or mushy. In addition, flowering cactus that have produced many blooms in the past will likely loose that ability, blooming less or not at all.
For cacti that are planted in the ground outdoors, you could get away from a slow release, low nitrogen cactus fertilizer. The reason is that with a pellet fertilizer, you will have a lower concentration spread throughout the ground soil making it less likely to harm the cacti in any way. And for all cactus and succulent cousins, when in doubt about cactus fertilizer, always apply a low measured quantity to feed it until you can find out the proper dosage.