Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for Growing Cacti in Clay Pots
Cultivation containers are of great significance for the vigorous growth of cacti. Most cacti sold by nurseries grow in relatively small pots; these pots not only save space during transport and sale but also provide protection for the plants. Gardeners embed these small cactus pots in a very large greenhouse bed, where the temperature is adjusted to the optimal state. Under such conditions, cacti can grow even in small pots. But once they reach the hands of ordinary enthusiasts, such pots are no longer suitable for continuing to grow cacti, because they cannot provide sufficient and stable living space for cacti over the long term. Small pots heat up sharply under direct sunlight and then cool down abruptly after the light ends. In particular, the soil quickly becomes dry, and at this point the plants are often in a state of alternating dry and wet conditions. Plant enthusiasts therefore quickly transplant their new favorites from the ordinary small pots in which they are sold into other containers.
Pictured: growing cacti in clay pots
Clay Pots
Individual pots have always been the standard container for growing plants. Their obvious and indisputable advantage is that people can easily pull each potted plant out from the group of plants with a pair of pot tongs or large tweezers, then photograph it, check its health condition, and if it has contracted a disease or withered and died, repot it or simply remove it. Potted plants can also be reclassified at any time, and individual plants grown in pots may grow too quickly, thereby crowding out other shorter plants or preventing them from receiving light. The material of the pot is therefore very important. The view held by some people today that flower pots must be permeable, that is, breathable, is absolutely wrong. Common clay containers are even quite unfavorable for plant growth, because they cause water to evaporate completely very quickly. In such containers, the soil dries until it no longer sticks to dust, and the pot walls, which heat up sharply under direct sunlight, cause the roots of plants near the pot walls to dry out and scorch. Conversely, as long as the soil is still relatively moist, there is a considerable risk of evaporative cooling. For example, all the salts carried by the evaporated water will deposit on the pot walls and form an increasingly thick white crust. In areas where plants are watered with calcium-containing water, large amounts of calcareous matter will accumulate on the walls of clay pots, ultimately leading to alkalinization of the soil. Because most cacti do not like alkaline soil but prefer slightly acidic soil (pH 5-6), plants will stop growing in an alkaline environment, their roots will gradually die, and the plants will eventually wither and die.
When using clay pots to grow cacti, the condition that must be met is to place several clay pots into a greenhouse bed, shallow tray, or flower trough filled with a peat and sand mixture. Here, the breathable pot walls can be used to bring the humidity between the filler and the cactus soil into balance. For those species that do not easily dry out completely during dormancy, the plant's root mass can be kept at moderate humidity by adding a little filler. It is recommended to use a peat and sand mixture as the filler; pure fine peat is very difficult to reabsorb water after it has completely dried out during dormancy.
In the Northern Hemisphere and under climate conditions with insufficient light, clay pots can also be used to grow succulents. Clay pots do not dry out easily under low sunlight and high air humidity, and the water there has a low calcium content, so calcification often does not occur.
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