The Ultimate Guide on Pencil Cactus Care! (7-SECRETS*)
Pencil Cactus Is The Most Easy To Grow cactus, That also Have A very Unique Appearance. & In This Post, We Will Talk All About Pencil Cactus care, Starting From Its Season, To Sun requirements, Soil Fertilizer etc. So keep Watching, Because I Will Also Show You Simple Way To Propagate Pencil cactus.
Origin & Basics About Pencil cactus:-
Pencil cactus Is a Permanent, Outdoor As Well As Indoor House Plant, That Is Native To Africa & Madagascar. Pencil cactus is Also Called As FireSticks, Due To its Redish Appearance On The Tips.
Its also called as Milk Bush, Due To The White Coloured Toxic & Thick Sap Liquid It Contains Inside Its Stems. Fire Sticks Pencil cactus is a Toxic Plant & Must be Kept Away From Kids & Pets because Its Not Edible At All.
It Likes low Humidity With a Moderate Temperature Range. Mostly Its Grown As a Decorative House Plant, But It Can be Grown In Outdoor Very Easily. In The Outdoors, It Can Grow as Tall As 30 feets, But In Pots It Grow Only 6 feets High. Generally Pencil Cactus Is a Zero Maintaince Plant, & Following a Few Important care Points Can Help a lot.
1-Season of Growth & Dormancy…?
The First & The Most Important Thing in Pencil Cactus Care is understanding Its Season Of Growth. Its a Tropical Area Plant That Likes Dry Heat To Grow well.
What Is The Growing Season of Pencil Cactus Plant?
Its Season Of Growth Starts In The early Springs go Upto Late Summer Days. The MoonSoon Time Is also a Critical Time Of The Year For Pencil Cactus, Due To Excessive Moisture In The Air. Otherthan That It Grow Very Fast In All Summers.
Winter Season Is The Resting Time Of The Plant, In The Temeprate Regions With Warm Climate, It Will continue To Grow Even In Winters, But in The Colder Areas, When The Temperate Drops upto 15 degree Celcius, it Can Go Under a Dormancy Time.
But Its a Very hardy Plant & Can Pass This Phase Very Easily, Just Dont Water The Plant To much. You Can Also Move it Indoors, Until The Winter Passes.
2-Soil For Success!
Another Important Thing In Pencil cactus Care is Its Soil mix, As We Know Its a Type of Cactus & Cacti Likes a Very Dry Environment, So here Your Soil Mix Plays a Crucial Role. No Doubt Pencil cactus is a Hardy Plant That can Bear Overwatering, But Only upto A level.
Why A Good Soil Mix Is So Important For pencil cactus?
To Much Moisture in The Soil can Cause Rotting Of Stems & Roots. So Here a Good Soil mix Can Help You prevent This Thing. Pencil cactus Likes a Well Draining & Slightly Loose Soil mix.
You Can Add Sand, Or cocopeat In Your Existing Soil Mix To Make It Better, Or You Can Also Make a cacti Soil mix At Home, a Simple Potting Recipe Is Also Added Here. You Can Use That. Just Make Sure The Soil Is Draining out The Extra Moisture Properly.
3-Pot Size Requirement..?
Another Thing In Pencil cactus Care Is The Selection of a Pot. For Planting Pencil Cactus, You Dont need SO much of a Big Size Pot. It Grow Less Roots, So That’s Why It Can Grow Very Well In a medium size Pot For a Long Time. But When There Are To Many Roots In The Pot, The Plant Starts To Grow Slow. So Here Make Sure The Roots Are Not Bounded.
What is The Good Size Pot For Pencil cactus?
For a medium Size Pencil cactus, You Can Take an 8 Inches Of Pot, & bigger Than That Work Even More Better. For The Pot Material, As Pencil Cactus is a Cactus Clay Pot Or A Fabric Grow Bag Can Work Just Fine.
Growbags Have Lesser Chance Of Water Blockage So Try To Choose That, They are Also Linked Here To Buy. You Can Do The Repotting All Over The Year, Just Avoid Winters & Hot Summer Days. Water Very Little After Repotting & Dont Place It In Sun For a While.
4-Setting It’s Location!
A Proper Amount of Light Is Extremely Important For a Healthy & Growing Pencil cactus Plant. As Its a cactus, So Definitely a Sunny Spot Is Very Ideal. In The Sun The Tips of The Branches Turns a Little Redish That Looks Very Beautiful.
Where Pencil cactus Grow the Best?
But The Growth Will be Normal, For The Faster Growth a Little Shade Can Help Alot. In a Bright & Cool Shade, The Chance Of Rotting Can Be High But The Growth Will be Very Fast. So Its Better To Choose Wisely.
You Can Place Your Pencil Cactus Plant in a Semi Shaded Area, With Some Indirect Sunlight. 1 To 2 Hours Of Morning Sun Can Work Just fine. Deficiency of Light Can Effect Its Growth & Health, So Its Better To Put It in a Sunny Spot, Or in A Bright shade.
5-Pruning & Trimming Use…
Another Important Thing in Pencil Cactus care is Its Trimming & Pruning. So Pencil Cactus can Grow as Long As Several Feets, But To Keep It In a Good Shape. You can Do Some Pruning, Its very Healthy and simple, But You Need To Be Careful From The Sap Liquid as Its Toxic.
How to Prune Pencil cactus Plant?
Take a Sharp Cutter & Clean It Using Any Disinfectant, Now Simply Cut Of Any Branch You Like. Within Some Days, The Plant Will Grow Some new Branches Automatically.
The Cuttings You have Taken, We Can Propagate Them To, Hold On For The propagation, We Will Talk About That In a While.
Pruning is Not Compulsory, But Our Plant can Get a Benefit Out Of This, & You Can Prune Your Pencil Cactus Plant Within The Season Whenever You Like.
6-Fertilizer With This…!
Another Thing In Pencil cactus Care is Its Fertilizer Requirement. Generally Pencil cactus is A Very Hardy Plant That Need Very Less fertilization.
What Is the Best Fertilizer For Pencil Cactus?
But You Can Fertilize It With This fertilizer, & It Will Grow Really Well. This Fertilizer contains Everything It Needs, & You Can Make it at Home Too. Here is A Detailed Article Linked.
Simple Loose the Upper Soil Layer & Add a Dose of This Homemade Fertilizer. Mix Well & Add Moisture Thoroughly. This Way You Should fertilize Your Plant atleast Once A Month.
7-The Ideal Watering Tech.:-
Pencil Cactus Can Also Show You problems Like Stem Rot, That Can Kill Your Whole Plant & Its Major Reason Is An Overwatered Condition. So Lets Know the Ideal Way of Watering. If You Are A Beginner, Try To Use The Soil Mix Added here, Then As The Soil Dries, You can Add Some water.
How To Water Pencil cactus Correctly?
Alway Analyze the Top Layer of Soil & then Add Some water. & Dont Water until The Soil Dries Again. Underwatering Doesnot Harm This Plant, Because It Can live Weeks Without Any Moisture. So Be Careful.
Pencil cactus Propagation Method:-
Finally Lets Talk About Pencil cactus Propagation, So We will Grow Their Cuttings.
1-Taking The Cuttings….
You Need Such Type of 5 to 6 Incjes Of Cutting, Try To CHoose Some Older & Thick branches, As They Have More Chance of Rooting. let them In a Shade For Atleast 3 days, You Will See the Base Part Will heal After This Time. Now They Will Not Rot.
2-Putting Them Into Water..
Take Any Plastic Jar or Bottle Like this, Fill Some Simple Water Into this, make Sure its Not Salty. Now Simply Put Your Cuttings Into The Water. make Sure The Base Part Is Touching The Water Surface, Only Base part In Water is Enough.
More Water Tounching The Branch can Cause rotting. Leave This Container Into a Shade For Some Days, & Change The Water Atleast Once a Week.
3-Wait For Rooting….
After 2 to 3 Weeks, You Will See Some of The Roots Popping Out of The Base part. Some Cutting Can Take Long, So Be patient. Let It be As it Was.
After a Few More Days, The Roots Will Grow Even More.
4-Put them Into The Soil:-
Now We can Put Them Into the Soil, So They Can Take Nutrients & Grow Some New Shoots.
Simply Take a Small Container, With A Loose Soil Mix In it. Place Your Cutting into It & Add More Soil Around It.
Now Add Some Water & Place it a Cool Shade For Some Days. This Way You can Make Multiple Plants, All You Need Is Water & Some Patience.
So It’s all about Pencil Cactus Care & Propagation, Remember the thing to pay most attention on is it’s Soil mix, & You can also make any kind Of Soil By yourself Using this Ai Gardening Tool, It’s also Linked Here if you like to try.
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