I’ve come into possession of two plants. One I’ve found out is a spider plant. The other is this one, which I think is some sort of cactus, but I don’t know (I’m really not a plant person). It’s about four inches tall at it’s highest and has little reddish bunches of what I guess are mini needles all over.
So my questions:
What is the cactusy plant?
How do I take care of it? How much water should I give it, and how frequently? Is it okay in the little plastic pot it’s in now?
I know that spider plants are apparently pretty simple, as long as you don’t drastically under- or over-water them. How do I know how much water is enough? Also, some of the leaves are brown and shriveled at the tips - should I cut them off? Leave them be?
(Please don’t laugh. I’m new to having non-plastic plants. Also, please ignore the background in the photo: the detergent and rum are not used together nor on the plant.)
The cactus looks like a Prickly Pear cactus. I have what looks like the same thing you have. There are lots of varieties, so it’s hard to tell. Let the soil dry out between waterings. It should be fine in that pot until it looks too big to be in that pot. Put it outside in the summer and let it get lots of heat & sunshine. They can handle a little more water in the late winter/spring “rainy season” period, but like being a bit more dry the rest of the year.
Spider plants are weeds. Hard to kill them unless if leave them in a dark closet or freeze them. You can let them dry out between waterings too, until you get used to what they like. The leaves will start to fold up and the color will look a little faded when they’re getting too dry. Snip off brown, dead leaves at will.
The cactus would enjoy full sun, the spider plant could adapt to full sun but will look better in part sun, part shade.
It’s an Opuntia.
They grow like weeds out here. I had some at my last house that were 8 feet tall. After a frost, they would shed 100’s of pounds of pads. The neighbors would come over and harvest the young pads for stew…
Plastic pots are not ideal for cacti, as the soil in such pots dries out more slowly than in clay pots. Still, it should be OK if the soil is a fast-draining sandy mix designed for cacti and succulents. Indoors, keep the cactus in a sunny a spot as possible. If moving it outdoors, remember that outdoor sun is much brighter than what you get indoors in a sunny window, and allow it to transition gradually to full sun outdoors. Water well, don’t let the pot sit in water, and let the plant dry out well between waterings (check the soil surface with a finger to confirm that it’s dry). If outdoors, it can be watered somewhat more often (let it get normal rainfall) than indoors, where you probably won’t have to water more than once a week or so.
Spider plant leaves always get brown tips indoors, unless you keep the plants in a greenhouse. Snip off the tips if they look ugly.
What, you think I’d share my Kahlua with a plant? Psh. (The reason for all the booze on my dresser is I inherited it from the same person who gave me the plants. She’s a good friend.)
I have no idea what type of soil is in the cactus plant, but I’ll trust that it was potted properly the first time around and just let it be until it looks like it outgrows it. Expect another thread at some point asking whether it looks like this cactus needs a bigger pot.
Tomorrow I’m moving, and my new room gets less light, but still plenty in the evenings, so I’ll just try to find a spot by the window for my cactusy friend. I’m assuming that if it’s not getting ideal light and/or water, I’ll notice that it’s looking ill (I don’t know - brownish?) before I’ve killed it?
(I’m the person who once managed to kill a plastic plant, so…yeah.)
“Hard to kill” is an understatement. I have one from…well, it’s in a picture from 1993, so at least then. But it could be much older. And the only care it gets is an occasional glass of water when I remember.
The cactus is, as others say, a prickly pear (Opuntia). Beware of those little tufts of bristles - they’re actually nasty little near-invisible barbed spines that can become embedded in your skin in a manner exquisitely painful, yet hard to remedy - because they’re so small and short its difficult to even see them or grip them with tweezers.
If you do happen to get some stuck in you, duct tape is often effective at removing them.
No shit. There are different varieties but the one I have and what looks like the one the OP have are that nasty evil type with the near-invisible but extremely irritating spines. I hate the damn thing, but for some reason the wife is fond of it. If she weren’t, it’d have had an unfortunate but fatal accident by now.
Once a season or so, I take a hose and an old tooth brush to it and scrub off as many of the spines as I can.
