max472•13d agoProlific Poster

My cactus collection nearly died after a heatwave in Phoenix

I went to Phoenix last July for a work trip and left my 12 cacti with a friend who said she knew plants. She kept them inside the whole time because she thought the sun would burn them. Turns out cacti need full sun even in summer, and they went all pale and mushy after 5 days. I had to rehab them with a grow light for three weeks to get them back to normal. Now I leave a written schedule with exact sun hours whenever I travel. Anyone else had a plant sitter mess up your collection like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

loganm5213d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly I used to be the same way as your friend lol. Like I figured cacti are desert plants but obviously a Phoenix summer would be too intense for them right? But after reading this and seeing how they got all pale and mushy from being inside, that totally changed my mind. They really do need that direct sun even when its crazy hot out. Might have saved my own collection someday if I ever tried something dumb like that.

jesse_burns813d ago

Damn @loganm52 you totally hit on something there. Tbh I think a lot of people underestimate how tough cacti actually are when it comes to heat. Like yeah they can get sunburned if you throw them outside after months indoors, but once they're used to it they can handle way more than we give them credit for. I've seen some beat up looking cacti in full Phoenix sun that were thriving compared to the pale etiolated ones people keep on their kitchen counters. Honestly the mushiness you mentioned is a dead giveaway they're not getting enough light. And the worst part is when people think they're saving them from the heat but really they're just making them weak and stretched out.