Cactus bed needs help!

20 years ago

I have an existing cactus/succulent garden bed, approx 10 feet in diameter. It originally was started as a sparsely planted flower bed 10 to 15 years ago. Over the last 5 years, I've been trying to change the bed to a more drought tolerant site, taking out the flowers,and adding cactus and succulents. Most of the cactus seemed to do well at first, as the soil was hard clay. I'm not sure if it was a mistake, but when adding more new cactus to the bed, I used the store bought "cactus soil mix", blending it into the existing soil, thinking it would help. As of recent, I've noted that some of my plants are not fairing well, i.e., getting water damage, root- rot, etc. AND, it appears the center of the bed is somewhat lower in level to the outer edges of the bed.

So my questions are (for anyone who has a thought):

1) what type of repair or replacement to the soil is needed to get it more cactus/succulent friendly? Right now it seems to hold water too much.

2a) should I add more soil to the center of the bed to make it run off instead of puddle in the middle?

2b) will the addition of soil cause water damage to the bases of the existing cactus plants in the center?

I have more cactus to plant, but am holding out until I can figure this thing out. The waiting plants are beautiful specimens given to me to continue to take care of from an elderly friend, amd they have been around for a while!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice.

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Comments (3)

murmanator
20 years ago
I went through this situation last year and here is what I did (preface: you may not like my solution, it involved a lot of work!!).

First, using cactus soil mix in the ground is not recommended. I did that at first too. That soil is meant to be used in containers, and even then, most on this forum would advise cutting it with some mineral material like pumice, as do I.

Second, you did not mention if the bed was raised or not, this can make a world of difference. To me, it sounds like you need to (1) improve drainage, and (2) improve the soil. These two items are inter-related.

In my case, my bed was raised and my soil was mostly sandy loam (mixed with the potting soil). So drainage was not a problem. The soil was. What I did was remove all the plants that I could. I removed all the soil I could possibly remove and tossed it out. I replaced it with a mixture that I made consisting of sandy loam mixed with more sand, and screened gravel to make a very gritty soil mix with almost no organic matter. This has worked great.

Id say you should come up with a plan of action that involves some way of improving the soil, as your clay-like soil drains poorly and retains moisture for a long time. This is why you are getting rotted plants. If possible, raise the bed some, or at least make part of the bed raised (use large rocks to hold in soil in raised areas) then place the most rot-prone plants in the raised area. Try cutting the clay soil with coarse sand and/or pumice, you can also use 1/4" minus granite material. You will most likely have to dig out the plants that are there to do all this, then replant them to their previous soil level. And yes, anytime you have standing water in a cactus bed it is a problem that should be addressed.

Yes this is a lot of work. On the plus side, you can be confident that the bed will be an excellent place for more cactus and your prized specimans will be in a good soil.
ptzgrl
Original Author
20 years ago
Thank you so much Murmanator....for your input. And I did forget to mention that my cactus bed is not raised...it is level with the lawn. So, I guess I do have a job ahead of me, removing and replacing soil and cactus. I guess it would be better to make it mound in the center, so the excess water can drain off easier, and out into the lawn.

Do you think getting some fill dirt and adding the sand and pumice will be sufficient to replace the bagged cactus mix?

I can only hope the neighborhood cats don't get wise to my new sandy soil !!

Thanks again for the advice.
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murmanator
20 years ago
LAWN?!?!? OH Noooooooooooooo...

Your lawn irrigation is not hitting the cactus bed, is it? Hope not. Anyway.....

Yeah, use fill soil, or if you can find it, sandy loam. Look in the yellow pages for "landscaping materials" in your area. You're looking for a bulk supplier of various materials like different soil mixes and granite and such. If you have a truck or a friend with one, you can go pick up the stuff yourself. They most likely will not carry pumice but you can substitute 1/4" minus granite.

Oh yes, the cats will find this bed and leave you presents. To remedy this, and to keep the bed looking sharp, top dress the whole thing with granite. You can get this at the L/S material yard also. I like to mix granite with larger rocks (rip rap) to give some hardscape interest as well. You can also use the rip rap to contain raised areas.

Best of luck and keep up posted.