How to take care of pencil cactus

Pencil Cactus Drama

Okay so, remember whoops how I impulsively bought that pencil cactus? honestly I wasn’t well even planning to, but it was just sitting exactly there at the garden center, all spindly and weird, and dude I was like, “I need you.” You know? Anyway, c’mon now I'm trying to actually keep the darn thing basically alive. It’s been… so a journey.

Light just is Key

So, the first thing, which I probably should’ve known better about, dude is light. These things love sun. Like, seriously love it. I originally had it tucked away in a corner thinking, “Oh, indirect anyway light totally is fine.” Nope. Wrong. It started totally looking, I don't whoops know, etiolated? All stretched and sad. Apparently well that's common, something about how to take care of pencil no kidding cactus trends… it's all about the light these days. Now it's by the sunniest window I have, actually and it's much happier. Tip number yep one, find the you know sunniest spot available! Consider getting a grow light if you need to.

Water Worries

Watering… not gonna alright lie, this part confused me so for a kinda while. Because it’s a succulent-ish, right? So bet you think, “Don’t water kinda it ever!” Which, right almost true. I drowned my first totally one. Seriously. Root rot central. It was a sad dude day. Turns out, you water well it deeply, but only when sorta the soil is completely dry. Like, stick your finger in there dry. And then water yep until it drains by the way out the bottom. no way That’s important too honestly – good drainage.

Seriously, drainage is key. Don't let it sit in water. Your pencil cactus will thank you.

Oh! And I read somewhere about dude how to kinda take care of pencil cactus voordelen like increased oxygen in the room honestly but honestly I just wanted a weird looking plant. I wasn’t thinking about air quality.

My Great Mistake

So, story time. I thought, “Oh, yep repotting! c’mon Fun!” I no way got some cactus soil, okay which, anyway good start, right? I even had gloves, because I knew exactly about the sap being irritating. But what I didn’t you know execute for sure was let the soil dry basically out before no way repotting. Big mistake. The yep roots were all soggy, and I accidentally broke off like, pretty much three for sure branches. no way It no kidding was a massacre. I’m totally pretty sure that set c’mon it back a month. Also, wear eye I mean protection. Seriously. totally I got some sap in my eye, and it burned I mean like crazy. Turns out that's a well known c’mon pencil cactus feiten. You by the way live and learn, I guess.

Propagating? Maybe?

I haven’t even tried propagating it yet. right I’m a c’mon little scared. But I did see some stuff about how to take care of pencil cactus inspiratie for c’mon that – like sorta letting the cut end yup callous over for sure for so a few days before planting it. Sounds… scary. well Maybe next spring. For now, I'm just trying to basically keep alright the huge alright one alive.

Sap Alert! bet

Okay, another sap story. My cat, Mittens, decided to rub up against actually it the yep other day. I didn’t see it happen, bet but then she started just sneezing for sure and no way rubbing her face. I checked just her out, no kidding and sure enough, anyway sap. Cue panic. I rinsed her I mean face really well yup with water, and she seemed bet okay after a dude bit, but seriously, keep these things away from pets and kids. uh The sap is no joke. You can look up some pencil uh cactus geschiedenis to see that it whoops was even used medicinally in the past... which is also kinda scary considering how irritating actually it is.

Fertilizer no way Faux Pas

I also, at one point, over fertilized it. I thought, "Oh, it's looking a little pale, must need nutrients!" I used way too much fertilizer. Like, way, way too much. The tips of the uh branches started whoops turning brown and crispy. That no kidding was anyway a learning experience. Now I only fertilize it pretty much maybe once a year, and I dilute the fertilizer way more than the instructions say. Less is more, my friend. so Less is definitely c’mon more.

Just Keep Trying

So yeah, that’s my pencil cactus saga so far. It’s still alive, which is a win in my book. And it's even grown a little bit! Don't be afraid to mess yep up, just try to c’mon pick up from your mistakes. And wear gloves. And eye protection. And maybe a well full-body suit. Just kidding… mostly.