Hi everyone,

I did an emergency repot of a Thanksgiving cactus yesterday. It was given to me recently and still in its nursery pot and an incredibly heavy potting mix. It started wilting and dropping all of its new buds before they opened; when I checked the soil, it was desiccated on top and still sodden underneath despite not having been watered in a couple of weeks. No rot, but I was worried it wouldn't make it much longer in that soil. So yesterday I moved it into the mix that has been recommended here, mostly fir bark with just a little bit of coarse perlite and a hint of potting mix. There were actually five separate plants in the same pot, and I repotted them all together again.

Trying to get all five plants to stay upright was like a Laurel & Hardy movie. I've repotted a few plants into gritty in the past, but they were all small or low growing so standing them up wasn't an issue. I've seen photos here of plants wired into place, but I hadn't tried to do it before and it is not as easy as it looks. Can anyone give me any pointers on this? How do you secure the string to the plant - do I need to be worried about how tight it is on the plant? What's the best way to secure the string to the pot? Am I correct in understanding that as the roots grow into this mix, the plant will stabilize on its own and I can remove the strings, even though the mix is not going to compact down?

Thanks everyone. I apologize if this has been asked before, but I don't remember coming across detailed instructions on it.