Fertilize Cactus?
Hello,
I live in Illinois and I’ve become a little cactus/succulent collector over the last few years. I know it’s getting to be winter, but I’ve been scared to fertilize my plants in the spring. I’ve heard fertilizer for tomatoes is good at half-strength. I don’t want to kill any of them, but I also think they might flower more. What do you think? Can you give me some tips?Julie E.
Julie,
We do not recommend fertilizing cactus and succulents in winter while they’re dormant. They need fertilizer in spring when they’re starting to grow. (Except for winter-growing succulents like Aeoniums and some Aloes.)
We mix our own cactus fertilizer, which we do ship – it’s slow release and good for a year. We also have a bloom food. They’re listed on our page here.
As for tomato fertilizer, it may be OK at very low strength, but I’d have to see the brand. In general, we only use organic fertilizers and ingredients for cactus and succulents since their roots are easy to burn, and the plant is easy to overfertilize.
Hope this helps,
Peter
