Growing Cactus Indoors

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Growing Cactus Indoors - Provided by eHow
Getting a cactus to grow indoors depends on the type of cactus and the climate. Cactus typically don't require any more water or moisture than the air provides. Help a cactus thrive indoors by placing it in a moist setting. Take advice from a gardening... View Video Transcript

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Yolanda Vanveen

Video Transcript

Hi this is Yolanda Vanveen from And in this segment we're going to learn all about how to grow cactus indoors. Now when you live in the northwest like I do we cannot grow cactus outdoors, in the wintertime they die right back. So we can either leave our containers out in the summer and bring them inside in the winter or we can leave them indoors year around. And I have a few cactus or cacti that do really well indoors and I think the reason they do is because they don't really take that much care of them at all. And I've found the number one reason that you kill a cactus is because you over water it. They need very very little water, hardly any at all. So they'll do really well with the moisture that's all ready in the air so they love bathrooms and kitchens the best. And very little water and they'll do really well. I love this little cactus; it's just grown and grown, and grown. And it's just in some soil with some gravel on top. And because it is so sharp whenever I mess with it I always try to use gloves. And I really haven't done anything to it; I've just letting it grow. And it seems to do really really well. But once in a while I'll actually like this part right here is getting a little bit out of control and a little bit bigger than the pot so an easy way to actually start another cactus; that's not going to work is it, is to break it right off. See how I'm breaking it right off from the others and its making goop just like Elmer's glue. It's not going to hurt it at all. Cactus are so easy to transplant. I'm just going to put, be very careful so that it doesn't hurt me. I'm just going to make a little hole in this pot, I'm going to poke this one down into the hole and before long it will make roots and I will have another start in that pot! That's what I love about my cacti. I just take little pieces or if I break them I just put them back into the ground and they grow more. And I don't take care of them that much at all. I have killed a few actually by not watering them enough and I've killed a few by watering too much. But I don't take it personally because even a lot of times a pert of a cactus will grow and I can always save part of it. So this guy, here and there I kind of trim him down on the, the odd pieces. This guy right here has the sharpest little pointers I've ever seen on a cactus. So I'm so careful not to break it. And the bottom part of the plant just started rotting out because it was too wet so I kind of took that part off and took the top pieces off and put those back down into the dirt and voila, I've saved my cactus that easy. They're very very easy to grow. And like I said I throw them out on the deck in the summertime a lot too. I leave them inside and they've done really well. This cactus right here is got a few different types in it actually and they're all doing well in this pot. I transplanted it because it was in a very small pot which they actually do well in small pot. This big cactus at one time was very small like this one. And I just had it in a small pot but it got bigger and bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger. So finally it got to small for this exact pot so I put into a larger pot and it seems to like that pot and as you can see it has gotten bigger, and bigger even still and sooner or later I don't know what I'm going to do with it, I don't think it's going to fit in the kitchen anymore. But I just love it and it's a Euphorbia which is not exactly officially a cactus but it looks like one so I love it. And it's very sharp. And very interesting and even you could break one of these babies off, and start a new one but I like it with its momma. So cacti are really easy to grow in your house but the key is give it enough artificial light, they like the east sun. The early morning sun better than the hot afternoon sun as well. Keep them really on the dry side. I only water mine maybe once a month if that. And the key is dryer better than wetter. Ana maybe once or twice a year I really flush it all out and get it really soaking wet again and it seems to do better that way. So don't be afraid to grow untraditional plants that don't grow naturally in your climate as indoor plants because they'll do really well for you as they have for me.