Please help share your thoughts.

Nice plants; sans are ok in those pots, cacti are over-potted. You need to be careful about watering if your mix retains water - water retentive mix will take much longer to dry out, and if there is lots of it - even longer. Can you describe what are the ingredients of your potting mix ?

I don't know where you live, but Michael's art supply store has small pots for very little. They are all over potted except for the sans. It looks like you soil is too retentive and you need to add lots of grit of a sort. Pumice, perlite, surface, granite chicken grit. Is that just dark rock?

Thank you for looking into this.

Right. Will look into getting smaller pots. Can I just group a few together?

CariS, they would be Echinofossulocactus Zacatecasensis, Frailea Friedricii, topsy turvy, Gymnocalycium Ferrari, Discocactus Horstii, Dorstenia Crispa, Mammilaria Huitzilopochtili. I also have an Epithelantha Neomexicana which I also think is overpotted

Rina and Wantonamara, the mix is 1/4 part organic soil, 1/4 part roasted rice husks, 1/2 parts little pebbles & 2 parts volcanic rock. I have sand (3mm, 5mm and 8mm) coming in today.

Do you have any suggestions on how to go about this?

Ok. Added 1 part 3mm and 1/2 part 5mm sand into the mix. Shall I add perlite?

I agree, all up top are overpotted. I would go with small terra cotta pots and a faster draining medium...

Christopher

Chunsa- Agree with everyone. Top ledge, 2nd from left..is that epithelantha? and top ledge, right..next to the last cactus..some type of dorstenia? and to the left of that possibly a rebutia? if so they will have a longer tap root than the other globular cacti. you may want to keep that in mind when you re-plant them. If you recently replanted the dorstenia i would leave that for a while (weeks) some are tempermental and drop leaves if disturbed too much. They do grow back though. the cacti should be fine. - Let's see if anyone can confirm what i just told you. Everyone who posted (above) is more knowledgeable than I so, let's see if they re-visit your thread and reply to this. - all the best!

As for the potting mix - I don't have any experience with sand since I don't use it. I use grit, perlite and turface.

Adding perlite is good idea and all the particles like coarse sand(?) and any other grit should be similar in size - if you sift the perlite using ordinary kitchen sieve and use only what's left in the sieve, try to get other gritty materials of similar size.

I can't comment on rice husks since I never used them (or even seen them:) but hopefully someone will know.

Are you in hot and humid climate?

Rina

Sand is not a good idea in cactus mix. It helps to hold water in a pot. Perlite or pumice is much better. but 3 mm sand is about 1//8th". That should be grittier than that tiny sand. i have never done the same size grit rule. My plants are good. I have an aversion to too many rules and a inner complacency to too much washing and separating of medium. Keep that humus portion limited. Rice husks are small and might act as a clogger between the grit. How fast does it break down?.

Thank you for your responses.

Christopher, thank you for the suggestion. Looking at terra cotta pots but unclear whether I want those or plastic pots.

Neil, second from left is Frailea Friedricii, Dorsetnia right before that last cactus and a Discocactus Horstii right on its left. They do have longer tap root. The Gymno right smack in the middle has a long one, too.

I'm staying in Jakarta now, and it is quite hot and humid, Rina. The sand is quite large-ish. The smallest sized one is 3mm. The mix already has lava rock - will perlite add value to it?

any input on whether I should group them? Will that be a good idea for cacti?

Mara

I try to avoid any separating just the same, but often find that there is lots of dust in perlite. I don't measure any particles, but visually try to keep them approximately same size...they are never exactly the same, but trying to avoid 1/2" bark together with 1/8th" grit - that is easy to see. Keeping humus/soil to small amount is something I believe in too (I use it seldom, and if - maybe 10% of total volume, max 20% - and I don't measure it, again just visually).

chunsa

With the high humidity, some plants may have hard time - ask Neil :) If it was me, I would keep mix pretty gritty to help air circulation too. Too much soil in hot and humid climate could be too heavy, JMO. Lava rock is good, perlite is not absolutely necessary - I use it since it is easy for me to get. And it is light (in windy conditions, it may 'fly' around...:)

Grouping plants is personal choice, some ppl like each plant individually. As long as you keep plants with very similar water/light requirements together, it should be easy, space-saving and probably quite nice. Combining plants that needs more water or sun with plant's that don't is making it more difficult on grower. Again, JMO :)

Rina

On barrel cactus, I usually have a 1" around the plant as my guide for the pot.

Sand is ok..in my opinion ...the main consideration is the 'fineness' of the grain. it should be a larger grain so it does not prevention aeration.

I've been so busy, only just got back here to check this thread and see you have gotten some really great advice in the meantime! Yay!

-Cari

Chunsa, the reason I say terra cotta is that is breathes, and is more forgiving of over watering than plastic. For me, it is also aesthetically more pleasing.

Christopher