Hi I am from Indonesia, started to like cactus since last year, I have many questions about cactus and need assistance from the members of the forum, this is my fist post.

Can we put artificial color on cactus? I bought this cactus a couple months ago, it came with a very nice purple color, but now the cactus become green, I checked with the seller, he said it is because the cactus does not have enough sunlight, but I have made this cactus to have direct sunlight for 5 to 6 hours per day, at noon time the temperature even reached up to 38 celcius, is it possible that the seller has put some coloring on the cactus? But the color looks so natural, please see the pictures as reference, the green color is the current situation... also need to know the ID of the cactus.

Thanks a lot..
Ed

Kaktus said:Hi I am from Indonesia, started to like cactus since last year, I have many questions about cactus and need assistance from the members of the forum, this is my fist post.

Can we put artificial color on cactus? I bought this cactus a couple months ago, it came with a very nice purple color, but now the cactus become green, I checked with the seller, he said it is because the cactus does not have enough sunlight, but I have made this cactus to have direct sunlight for 5 to 6 hours per day, at noon time the temperature even reached up to 38 celcius, is it possible that the seller has put some coloring on the cactus? But the color looks so natural, please see the pictures as reference, the green color is the current situation... also need to know the ID of the cactus.

Thanks a lot..
Ed

there was not coloring. It is "stress". When succulents get stressed, they can change colors!

Hah...
I am not aware of the stress issue, I thought if the cactus can survive the first week then it will be ok, I have keep her for more than 2 months, ok then, I have moved her to a less sunny spot, hope the cactus can recover soon, thanks a lot Alex.

Kaktus said:Hah...
I am not aware of the stress issue, I thought if the cactus can survive the first week then it will be ok, I have keep her for more than 2 months, ok then, I have moved her to a less sunny spot, hope the cactus can recover soon, thanks a lot Alex.

Ive not seen sunburn yet, so its best to have kept it where it turned purple. Golden rules of cacti
-most like BAKE. Not all(epiphytes, some dwarf/grass huggers, some tropicals etc)
-they dont like to bake sudden.
-they dont like a lot of water, but also dont like to be kept dry when hot
-make sure the medium doesnt get too hot as well
-drainage drainage and drainage.
Im not sure how well aware are you but imma guess not too much.
Purple plants looks like it belong to the genus Copiapoa. But other than that I cant help you, they arent too familiar to me. Rare in wholesale, described as difficult, slow growing. Grow in the Atacama, either at the shore or on isolated pockets near the foothills of the Andes, or somewhere more uphill after that.
So where you live, it could work out for you, but dont be disappointed if it doesnt. You didnt exactly get a beginner plant.

Stress colors don't always mean the plant is under stress in the sense it needs different care. Sometimes it's the result of natural factors like day length or temperature. Here are a couple of photos of the same plant at different times of the year. The purple color occurs in the fall when the days are shorter and cooler. Then in the warm months of late spring and summer, it gradually turns green. This is normal for this particular cactus and it reliably goes through this change every year. As it has gotten older, it seems more reluctant to shed the purple hue in favor of the green but that may still be a response to the conditions. This is Echinocereus subinermis at different times of the year.

Thanks Donald & Stefan for the clear information..

Too bad that I can not simulate the environment from where I purchased the cactus from, the seller is in a highland area where the weather is cooler and the cactus was grown inside a greenhouse, as compare to my current location that is very hot and the cactus kept in a balcony.
I'll try to move her to other cooler spot and hope she can adjust to her new environment, it is clear that the cactus is not happy now, the color is not shining..

There is also a problem with the issues in preventing the medium getting hot, as almost all of may cacti were kept in pot made from glass bottles, the glass get hot easily in direct sun, lets see how it goes.. Thanks again to all the Gurus here ...

Kaktus said:Thanks Donald & Stefan for the clear information..

Too bad that I can not simulate the environment from where I purchased the cactus from, the seller is in a highland area where the weather is cooler and the cactus was grown inside a greenhouse, as compare to my current location that is very hot and the cactus kept in a balcony.
I'll try to move her to other cooler spot and hope she can adjust to her new environment, it is clear that the cactus is not happy now, the color is not shining..

There is also a problem with the issues in preventing the medium getting hot, as almost all of may cacti were kept in pot made from glass bottles, the glass get hot easily in direct sun, lets see how it goes.. Thanks again to all the Gurus here ...

Find plastic pots. Black square plastic pots/ Huddle them together ina tray(for fruits/vegetables) . Put paper on the sides, put white gravel on top/

skopjecollection said:
Find plastic pots. Black square plastic pots/ Huddle them together ina tray(for fruits/vegetables) . Put paper on the sides, put white gravel on top/

Haha... That will be a big challenge for me, I spend so much effort to cut all the glass bottles into pots because I like the look of the bottles and don't like the plastic pot. As you can see more than 95% of my cacti are in those glass pots.


But sure I will put your suggestion into consideration, maybe later if there are some cactus that in life and dead situation, I'll arrange a different setup for them.

My major problem now ( other than keeping skill and temptation to purchase more cactus) is heavy rain, last week my cactus are completely wet for 5 days because of the rain. Make me no choice but to arrange a plastic screen for them, they will be fine for now.


Since I am online.. might as well share my gymnos friedrichii and mihanovichi , they just arrived today

Kaktus said:

Haha... That will be a big challenge for me, I spend so much effort to cut all the glass bottles into pots because I like the look of the bottles and don't like the plastic pot. As you can see more than 95% of my cacti are in those glass pots.


But sure I will put your suggestion into consideration, maybe later if there are some cactus that in life and dead situation, I'll arrange a different setup for them.

My major problem now ( other than keeping skill and temptation to purchase more cactus) is heavy rain, last week my cactus are completely wet for 5 days because of the rain. Make me no choice but to arrange a plastic screen for them, they will be fine for now.


Since I am online.. might as well share my gymnos friedrichii and mihanovichi , they just arrived today

Please dont use glass. Glazed ceramic or plastic only,

That looks like a practical solution for keeping your cacti alive through tropical rain storms.

I don't think glass is fundamentally flawed as a material for plant containers, but I can think of two potential flaws. One is the lack of holes at the bottom (unless you have drilled some down there) which will keep the water from draining from the soil when it does get wet. The other is the way it allows sunlight through and will tend to promote the growth of algae on the inside, which is unsightly but more importantly can start to interfere with drainage.

Baja_Costero said:That looks like a practical solution for keeping your cacti alive through tropical rain storms.

I don't think glass is fundamentally flawed as a material for plant containers, but I can think of two potential flaws. One is the lack of holes at the bottom (unless you have drilled some down there) which will keep the water from draining from the soil when it does get wet. The other is the way it allows sunlight through and will tend to promote the growth of algae on the inside, which is unsightly but more importantly can start to interfere with drainage.

Wasnt the lack of porosity and condensation also problem with glass? As in water gathering on the sides during night, amplifying humidity at the roots?

Porosity is a total non-issue for most plants in my experience. Glass, glazed ceramic, and most plastic pots are all non-porous, and I use the latter two all over the place here. But there are situations where porosity may be helpful, to be perfectly clear. And they deserve to be brought up here. Unglazed clay pots take this feature to an extreme and can be lifesaving containers for moisture sensitive cacti in wet places. They allow moisture to leave the soil through the sides of the pot, not just the top. Given Indonesia is equatorial, and given the issues that have been described with respect to rainfall, I would think clay pots might be part of the solution.

As I understand the situation, condensation on the inside of pots is an effect due to temperature changes (saturated air on the inside becomes cooler and loses its ability to hold water) and those same temperature changes occur in other materials, just in a more invisible way.

I've used a clear glass container in the past. I don't think the glass is any different than plastic, resin, or ceramic containers in terms of porosity. I did find if the sun hit it directly the glass tended to be like a magnifying glass and the soil got too hot. That limited what plant I could grow in it. After a time, it also grew algae which sort of ruined the effect of being able to watch some underground growth. I think the algae tended to keep the soil damper, but never was sure how that worked for retaining extra moisture. The drain holes were large enough that they seemed to work for drainage. By far the biggest issue was the heating of the container via the sunlight. In the end, it meant I only used it in solid shade. Ultimately it got broken. I'm growing a bromeliad in a white glass container (formerly a lamp shade) but it's growing in the deeper shade of an oak tree canopy. The brome has thrived in it as far as the container goes, but is currently forage for grasshoppers.

The lampshade being white glass makes me think you could coat the inside of a glass container with a waterproof opaque paint or some of that white plastic coating that's available. Doing that would still give you some of effect of the glass, but should keep it from overheating from sunlight shining through the sides. If there were a plant that required more sun than the bromeliad does was planted in the lampshade container, I wouldn't hesitate to locate it where it received more sun. Don't see why it would be any different than ceramic or plastic. I do have rigged up some piece of a kitchen contraption which is hard, clear plastic. It gets some direct afternoon sun, but not much. I've been using it for 5-6 years now, I think. A Tradescantia type plant growing in it without problems.

Thanks a lot for all the inputs, I drilled drainage hole in all those glass bottles, so the drainage will not be an issue, there are some algae grows in some of the pots. My concern is more on the heat of the glass, at noon on sunny days, it reach the point that it will almost burn your hand if you hold the glass bottles bare handed, that's also the reason that I always water them at late afternoon/night, never in the morning, afraid that if the soil is too wet, then I am making a cactus soup or steam cactus.

By using see through containers you are allowing the roots of the cacti to be burnt, using see through pots for certain plants in certain situations is no problem, but in cases where there is direct sun exposure it is almost always a bad plan. It is not the glass, it is the fact that the sun shines right through it. If you paint the glass, like needrain suggests, with an opaque paint you solve the issue and using the glass pots in that situation is no problem at all.

Ok, I'll see whether I can paint the inside of the bottles, last time I did consider to make some colorful pots with all difference color, but afraid that the paint will fall off, and I'll miss the opportunities to peek the condition of the soil through the glass, maybe I'll leave 1 clear line for me to see through the soil, lets see what I can do, may be I'll start with whatever paint available in the garage this weekend.. thanks a lot

I would paint the outsides. I'm not sure that it wouldn't negatively affect the plants panting on the inside.

So many pretty natural colors! Especially this time of year, but if you live where there are not seasons, that could be information that doesn't apply to you.

Grapto-something


A Sedum


Mixed minis.


Euphorbia tirucalli


A plant with no name. It was Callisia congesta but that name was declared invalid and I gave up. It's not C. fragrans, which has much bigger foliage.


C. ovata that grew where I dropped a leaf on the ground.

Forgot this pic of mixed minis. Grapto-things and Sedeverias.



These plants aren't as colorful during the longer/hotter days, but really get colorful during the cooler, shorter days.

Wow..
Those are beautiful Tiffany, too bad that I can not grow echeverias, there are a lot of echeverias grown and sold by the sellers here, but they are all at highland area.