Cactus Care for Plants That Are Actually Rare

Most cactus care advice was written for plants that were never rare. It assumes a nursery hybrid in a peat mix on a warm windowsill, and it falls apart the first time you use it on a slow, taprooted species from high altitude that wants a hard winter and almost no nitrogen.

These guides cover the other kind of plant. At rarecactus.com we grow all seven of the genera below from seed, in the same mineral mix and through the same unheated winter, so the numbers on these pages come from plants we water and repot ourselves, not from a supplier’s care card. Where a genus breaks the general rule, we say so, and we say why.

Start with the three guides that decide most outcomes. If you already know which plant you are growing, go straight to its genus guide; if you only know the symptom, the diagnosis list will reach the right page faster than browsing will.