Saguaro, actively growing     6/4/20
A question always asked is "when does one water cacti?" All kinds of irrational schemes have been devised, including watching the weather in Tucson and only watering when it rains in Tucson. There is a much better and locally more reasonable answer. Water as long as the plant is growing. You can tell growth by looking at the apical meristem. The spines at this growing tip will be some bright color or some intense color compared to the spines nearby. This picture nicely illustrates the point. Don't water when the plant isn't growing. I don't water my plants anywhere from 3 to 5 months of the winter. My mother living in Buffalo NY would wrap her cacti in newspaper in the fall and put the wrapped plants into a box in the basement of her house. Come spring, they were unwrapped and put back outside. You won't kill most actively growing cacti by giving them lots of water when they're growing. Look at the next picture for a dormant plant!   (07/72)   

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