Here are photos of the two pots. I put paper in them to try and wick water out.

This guy has wet buds now!! :( That's his potting mix. That is not top dressing.

This guy (below) is top dressed but he's in the same mix as the cactus above:

My potting mix is very very gritty. Pumice and coarse corals (about 70%) and soil (30%).

I really hope they're ok. These are my biggest babies!!!!

I think they will be fine also.

When I over water something I put it by an air vent or fan in the house. The constant air flow seems to help dry out the soil a lot. Just putting those outside in a place they won't get rain might be as good. I doubt your air in the Philippines is as dry as the air at the place I live.

Thanks, guys! They have been under the sun for hours now (the way they are everyday). I keep on checking in on them and.. Well.. They look fine...

I really really hope the flower buds don't abort! I never had this many buds on a cactus before.

Time will tell. But thanks so much for your votes of confidence!! :)

It does rain occasionally in the desert, so I'm guessing yours will survive!

Do you know what kind of cactus the second one with the buds is? I have one that looks similar and would love to know what it is!

I believe it is some type of Echinopsis :) I've got one like this that makes the most beautiful flowers! Violet has truly something to look forward too when her's blooms :)

Awesome! Thanks!

Updates (second is more important):

1. The two plants are fine. Rain that day didn't get to them. I've been diligent in keeping them on their wire shelves above the floor so they should be ok. There's a monsoon at this moment so I'm hoping a bit of wind and rain splatter won't be too bad.

2. The echinopsis... I think it aborted flowering. Since that day the buds got wet it didn't show ANY progress towards opening up. :( :( :( All 12 furry buds look exactly the same as in my photo above. :( I don't have any experience with echinopsis blooms so I don't know how long they should take but it's been quite long. I had a Gymnocalycium flower twice already in this time! So.. Yeah.. That's that. Maybe my echinopsis will flower next time! Oh well!

Violet

I am wondering about your use of coral - sounds interesting! Where do you get it? Doesn't it contain too much calcium for some succulents? (Chicken grit containing crushed shells is not recommended for gritty mix IIRC). And how about salt - if taken directly from the beach...

Hi Rina! Crushed corals are so cheap and available here. We are an archipelago with more than 7,000 islands.. It's basically the material harvested from our "rockier" beaches. The kinds we cant step on barefoot, I assume. Like pukka shells etc. They sieve it and rinse it and dry it etc (I have no idea if they even bake it). It's commonly used for top dressing in landscaping (and frankly I don't know what else) but it's sold in several garden centers here (that's where I get mine) so I presume it's somehow used in plants. Most likely for soil-grown plants as those plants get nutrients from the soil and PH of top dressing is likely negligible. Maybe it's even for fishes (garden centers are also where one gets Koi here).. I'm not sure.

I am aware it is not ideal for container-grown plants because if crushed by force some shells do crumble.. And I know it raises PH level of soil somewhat. I don't know by HOW much so I actually have started to shift to pumice (I found a supplier!) and perlite (for my bigger pots).

Regarding salt content, I'm more afraid of our local tap water! Haha. It's very hard water. So I use rainfall that I collected to water my plants.

Anyway thanks for your concern. Most of my babies are now in pumice (and soil mix) and I will most likely avoid shells/corals when I repot in the future! :)

I'm glad they are well.

sometimes I think we over stress about our succulent and cactus.

I've neglected a few of mine for years they had hardly and soil in the pot and where growing great.

I also had a cactus that was knocked over and grew fine in the rain and cold.

Hi Violet--I think you have to give those buds a little more time. But at that size they do abort very easily. I have also read that they don't like to be moved when they are budded up but let's hope for the best. I have a Altman's color burst that is gorgeous in form, but it constantly aborts the flower buds for no reason I can see. I think that when it finally blooms the flowers are not going to be worth the wait.

I'm in the process of repotting a bunch of Echinopsis and some have buds--those are probably history. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed for both of us.

@notolover, The moment I feared the budding aborted, I moved it a lot. Hahaha. I KNEW I shouldn't move it but I kept thinking, "if I move it to this spot with a touch more sun it will bloom!!" Haha. Not to mention I moved it a handful of times prior due to impending rain. Le sigh.

Yes good luck to us both. Who knows eh? Perhaps we wake up to the BIGGEST flower the world has ever seen!! (Hey, it's nice to be optimistic!!) :)