During this last summer (closer to the end) I planted some cutting I had gotten & I used about 50/50 cactus soil & perlite & it drained nice & everything, (shallow terra cotta pots) but I noticed the last time I watered that when I first poured the water in, it stayed on the top for a minute before starting to soak in. Does anyone know why it would just start doing this? I don't like it!!

It probably means that things in the soil have shifted due to watering - things with lots of perlite tend to do that - and formed a top layer that has become somewhat impermeable for water. you can gently break up the top layer of the soil and see if that helps fix it.

When soil gets compacted and becomes really dry, it can reject water some times. Once it becomes a bit moist, the water is much more likely to penetrate. So water in more than one pass, separated by a few minutes, to be sure it gets properly wet.

This thread may be useful:

The thread "Sunday afternoon experiment: watering in multiple passes" in Gardening Ideas forum

Baja_Costero said:When soil gets compacted and becomes really dry, it can reject water some times. Once it becomes a bit moist, the water is much more likely to penetrate. So water in more than one pass, separated by a few minutes, to be sure it gets properly wet.

That's gotta be it cuz it's really dry. I keep thinking it's gonna rain so I was putting it off but I guess I better give em a drink! I water in at least 2 passes, usually more until the water has drained out the bottom😊