Howdy! Yes, you can re-pot into a fast-draining soil! This time of year is excellent for pinching, pruning, re-potting, et cetera. Since you know to refrain from watering, I don't think a re-potting would pose much of a risk at all. Besides, Nelson will be much healthier through the winter if re-potted now. What ingredients do you have available? Josh

I also just started collecting and taking an interest in cacti/succulents. I find them to be so very unique, interesting & fun plants to collect. Being that I also live right of the Houston area, I to am looking around different places in hopes of finding unique plants to add to what I already have. Been reading here and getting to where I am making my own gritty mix as well for these plants in hopes of taking better care of my new babies. Can you send me some places that you have come across that have unique succulents? My usual places are just Home Depot & Lowes. I went over to Cornelius, but not very much of a selection on their succulents there. Good luck growing you new plants..

"The bigger the pot the bigger the plant isn't necessarily true", but probably is true in far more cases than it's untrue. How large a plant can get in a given pot depends more on how roots are managed than how large the pot is. Also, the bigger the pot (you bump it to), the greater the potential for over-potting, which is something you probably should avoid going into winter. I wouldn't "repot" until mid to late June. While you can pot up at nearly any time, as long as you're reasonable in your soil choice and pot size, there are still better times than others to pot up. Those times are the same times it's best to repot, and the reasons are similar. Potting up in June is less risky because the plant will be in the most robust part of the growth cycle, which means roots will colonize the new soil faster than any other segment of the growth cycle, which is an advantage for the plant. That said, repotting is much to be preferred over potting up ....... as long as the timing is appropriate. One practice eliminates all limitations associated with root congestion, the other practice ensures the limitations remain a part of the plant's existence until such time that you actually reach into the root mass with your hands/tools and correct the condition. Al

What I'm about to say may or may not be true, as I'm going to make a guess that's beyond the limits of what I can support w/o doing some research. It IS true that fungal, bacterial, and viral infections are capable of moving in either direction (upward or downward). Woody plants, it was discovered (by Alex Shigo Ph.D.), compartmentalize diseased or injured parts of the plant to prevent spread of disease and decay, see CODIT. I believe, but am not 100% sure, that more herbaceous (as opposed to more woody) plant material is less efficient at walling off injury and decay, and roots are more susceptible to decay than parts that occupy spacial positions above ground. W/o being able to examine roots, next best thing is to try to figure out a way to test moisture levels deep in the pot so you can water only when appropriate. I suppose you could regularly pinch the leaves gently to test their turgidity, but by the time the leaves are getting soft, the plant has already suffered some measure of drought stress. Still, a little drought stress is to be much preferred to a rhizosphere where conditions are benefic to bacterial and fungal assailants. If available where you are, Tebuconazole or products that contain it can be used as an anti-fungal systemic soil drench. There might be other systemic fungicides available if the one above is not, and they would be more effective than topical fungicides like cinnamon, flowers of sulfur, et al. Al