My Aristaloe aristata seems to have rotted from excess water, but it has been watered fairly infrequently (soil is fully dry before I water it). It was an indoor plant with room temp around 70 F. This was also one of three plants that I bought from Costco (same kind of pot), all of which died in seemingly the same way. Does anyone know if it should have been watered more infrequently, or if better drainage is needed? I wish to avoid this problem in the future.

to the forum!

A couple of questions, if you don't mind...

How are you deciding when the soil is fully dry?

Do the containers have holes at the bottom?

Two notes about the situation. One is any time 3 plants from the same source pass out around the same time together, maybe question that source. Just saying here that what happened may not actually be related to something you did. Care by the retailer can adversely affect the product you buy, in a fairly invisible way (at first).

And as a general tip, the catastrophic meltdown of succulents in an indoor situation may have to do with other variables beyond (or in addition to) the watering. Light and good air flow are important. Were these plants able to "see" the sun for hours a day (weather permitting), with no curtain or blinds in the way?

Snapdragon0305 said: My Aristaloe aristata seems to have rotted from excess water, but it has been watered fairly infrequently (soil is fully dry before I water it). It was an indoor plant with room temp around 70 F. This was also one of three plants that I bought from Costco (same kind of pot), all of which died in seemingly the same way. Does anyone know if it should have been watered more infrequently, or if better drainage is needed? I wish to avoid this problem in the future.

Did you repot it or check the condition of the roots and media, when you first got them? Sometimes, some sellers are using too much peat moss for the succulents..and that is not quite a good media for most succulents. So oftentimes, I am inclined to think maybe the media was already too moisture retentive, or the other way around, when conditions are already too hot, if intervals in watering is way too long, it may kill off the roots and push the plant to semi dormancy. So even if watered, it will not respond well. May wait for cooler conditions to perk up.

My big pot that has several cactus in it does not have holes, but does have cactus mix in it. It sits next to a north facing window with light, but not direct direct sun. I only water it a couple of times, maybe twice, in the winter, and then maybe only once a month in the summer - I do not soak it as there are no holes in the bottom. I have lost 2 cactus - both a heartbreak. One was so tall it touched the ceiling, in a huge pot. But unknown to me, my cat started using it at a litter box and it turned to mush. I was devastated. The other cactus, was about 3 feet tall, and sat close to the litter box, but the top was filled with pine cones so my cat would not use it. However, the dust from the litter seems to have strangled it. I had dusted it every now and then, but then forgot for a while. Live and learn. I have no cactus plants near the litter box any more, and pine cones in the top of the pot really solved the other problem. I probably under water, but have lost nothing else, so that is good.

and btw - what is a "sticky" thread?? This thread is a sticky one, but I have no idea what that means.

cwhitt said: and btw - what is a "sticky" thread?? This thread is a sticky one, but I have no idea what that means.

Sticky thread always shows on the top of the forum, usually stick to important and useful thread

That means it appears at the top of the list of threads by default.

Baja_Costero said: That means it appears at the top of the list of threads by default.

What makes that happen? What makes it sticky? Amount of activity on that thread? Something else??

The moderators can make any thread sticky. The current ones all relate to common questions about care.

cwhitt said: My big pot that has several cactus in it does not have holes, but does have cactus mix in it. It sits next to a north facing window with light, but not direct direct sun. I only water it a couple of times, maybe twice, in the winter, and then maybe only once a month in the summer - I do not soak it as there are no holes in the bottom. I have lost 2 cactus - both a heartbreak. One was so tall it touched the ceiling, in a huge pot. But unknown to me, my cat started using it at a litter box and it turned to mush. I was devastated. The other cactus, was about 3 feet tall, and sat close to the litter box, but the top was filled with pine cones so my cat would not use it. However, the dust from the litter seems to have strangled it. I had dusted it every now and then, but then forgot for a while. Live and learn. I have no cactus plants near the litter box any more, and pine cones in the top of the pot really solved the other problem. I probably under water, but have lost nothing else, so that is good.

Having no drain holes in a plant container has always been a slow death sentence to any plant. Aside from overwatering, accumulated/unflushed salts remains in the media which further damages the plant in the long run. But it is a good learning phase, at least now you know why you must use containers with drain holes.

I have seen other growers that use containers with no drain holes, but they use no soil, just straight pumice or perlite, and water is really just a bare minimum if and when they do water the plant. So it is doable but got to be very disciplined in watering.

Also, north facing window is a weak light source..next time, best to position them by your east, west or south facing window.

I made further improvement on my watering hose/sprayer. Used to use watering bottle, but spend too much time in refilling the bottle. Then switched to sprayer with hose, save a lot of time, but with sprayer I have to water the whole plant and my ground water has a lot of mineral content, there was too much white mineral built-up on the leaves and cactus.
Recently I found this, it's a flexible sprayer for applying pesticides. Has a flexible neck to position it at certain angle, I get rid of the nozzle head and attached it directly to a hose. Now I can water directly on the media and we can also control the volume while watering.

With all the rain we got since New Year's eve..all my outdoor succulents are soaked to the core. But, they are seemingly doing well. Maybe because temps kept at the 49F to 51 F range overnight. And we did get some sunny/windy breaks in between before another storm rolls in, and we got one after the other.

I was so glad I took time and effort in late Fall to amend the media and prune some Aenoniums..way too much rain ..so far the succulents are holding well. They do love the rain, as long as media stays gritty and very well draining, and must have drain holes...so far, forecasters says one more storm..then we will return to the usual cool and dry winter period.

My watering strategy for my potted cacti is pretty simple. I have a link to weather in Phoenix, Arizona on my computer, and I check it a couple times a week. When it rains in Phoenix, I give my cacti a tablespoon of water. Also, well drained soil is critical, as others have said, and I use a cactus/succulent potting mix.

Hmmm I am puzzled with my watering regimen, not really sure what works because others thrive but others are not happy. But we are having really hot humid weather and the majority of my cacti and succulents are at the back porch where they get morning sun.

I collect rain water and those that don't get wet by rain gets the liquid gold treatment manually, when I have time. On days that we don't get rain, my desert roses get the liquid gold first but the other non-desert plants get the regular water. The indoor ones get our left over bottled water or the fresh rain water.

Having read through the various watering strategies, I don't see many that speak to my question: I bring my cactus and succulents in for the winter and most go under grow lights (Viparspectra XS1000 LED Grow Light with Samsung LM301B Diodes), in a cool room. In the past I have not watered pretty much at all through winter, because I want the plants to go dormant.
But I am always wondering, if the plants are under light do they truly go dormant? And if not, then should I be watering them? Can anyone help clarify this issue in my mind so that I can provide the best winter care to my collection?

@Stush2019 can you help out here?

I don't have any experiences in growing plants in winters, as I live in tropical country. But I did have some experiences in handling/watering dormant cactus and succulents. Instead of focus on the hot and cold weather, I would rather focus on whether the plants are active growing or whether they are absorbing water or not. Maybe they are highly related, but I just look at them from different angle.
If the plants are having new growth, then I will water more in terms of volume and frequency. Usually we water the C&S more or less all at the same time, I will check on them the next day or two, to know which plants have absorb all the water and which pots are still very wet. For me that is the indication to know who is sleeping, sometimes if they are too wet then I will repot them with new media to prevent rot.
While you bring your plant inside and providing them with GL, I assume you want them to continue growing. I will give them a small amount of water and see if they take it. If they drink and continue to grow, then we can still water them, maybe half or 1/4 of the normal volume, if they don't take the water and went dormant, then we have to stop watering or even unpot the plant to prevent rotting. For me the decision is not on whether we should water or how much water, but more on whether the plants need the water or not.

cwalke said: But I am always wondering, if the plants are under light do they truly go dormant? And if not, then should I be watering them?

This depends on the plant, the temperature, and the strength of the light. How cool is it in there (day/night temps)? Are the lights strong enough to give good growth during the warmer months?

Dormancy can be triggered by cool temps, lower light, and dry soil, especially the combination of all three. That is what allows many folks to overwinter succulents indoors. Given the first two conditions, the third naturally follows. If temperature and light are in the permissive zone, you will benefit from watering with restraint. If either (or especially both) are on the low end, hold back.

This is all theoretical to me, not something I concern myself with in practice, as I can provide mild temps and strong light year round, so I water almost all my plants (including the indoor ones) year round. That is why I paged Stush, who overwinters plants in a cool place with lights. But the core concept is whether ambient conditions are permissive to growth, at least that is what should guide your watering. Maybe some careful trial and error will tell you where you stand, when in doubt.

Watering succulents and cacti in winter is a guessing game around here in winters. That is if you can keep the dogs tails from catching on the cactus spikes of the larger ones. rofl: yes it happens…

Bringing them all in the house and then all of a sudden they become needy lil monsters demanding attention… while all summer long outside they seem to thrive on neglect and a touch of water.

In my experience lights / no lights there always seems to be a few losses in winter with them as it is cold dreary and usually 100% humidity in the house. So much so that I run a dehumidifier all winter in the house and water my plants with the gallons of water it collects weekly.

So in my humble opinion when optimum conditions are no longer available when plants are wintered inside it's a touch and go situation to make them all happy, all the time in zone 6B. Lot's of trial and error…

Same here. When I bring in my Agave, they are usually strong enough to survive okay, but suffer some leaf damage. The softer Mangave suffer the most. Those I have to water more and keep a little more light on them. The amount of light is just enough to keep them alive. Nothing compared to direct sun itself. They go dormant due to colder temps and lack of water. My basement part is unfinished with a dirt floor so the humidity is very high and with a little watering would cause rot. It is best for me that way due to being too lazy to do all that watering. This part of our cellar is never below 30 degrees so it's not for any Agave but the ones I have been wintering over seems to do okay for me. I put some of my Aloes there also and they seem to survive better.