How to Repot a Cactus without Gloves

Let's face it, some people just don't have gardening gloves. And even if you have cloth gardening gloves, they're not going to cut it when dealing with cacti. But there is actually no need to wear gloves while repotting a cactus. It's quite a simple matter. Let me illustrate.

First, you've got your cactus (or in this case your cactus family) and your new pot. Use cactus/succulent blend potting soil as regular potting soil is too heavy and retains too much moisture.




The secret to repotting a cactus without gloves is the object on the left of that photo. Paper towels. Simply take one or two squares of paper towel, fold over once then once more the long way so you have a long, thin piece that is 4 layers thick. Then wrap around the cactus like so.

Next use a trowel or spoon to pry up the cactus from the soil while you lift gently with the hand wielding the paper towel.

Then repot as you would any plant, firming the new soil around the base. With ones as tall as mine have become, you may need to bury them a little bit deeper or brace with stones until the roots really grip the new soil.

Now, what do you do when a new cactus is growing out of the head of an old one?

{Quick aside, the fatter old cactus in this pot is Dylan and he was a gift from my husband (then-boyfriend) during the summer of 1997, so he is nearly 14 years old. During Dylan's life so far has has produced three children from the top of his head: Dixie, Daisy, and Dorcas. The next child will be a boy and we will name him Denton.}

Back to the question at hand. You simply grasp the new cactus and twist off (works if the baby is fairly new) or slice off with a sharp knife or shears (works better if you've let the child grow too much as I have).

Like most succulents, a part of a cactus like this will form roots if you just plunk it down in some soil and water it occasionally. So just shove it in the new pot and surround with soil, them tamp down so it doesn't fall over.

Water well (but not so you have standing water or anything) and put in the sunniest window you've got.

Voila! Now the three cactus sisters have their own place and make a great vertical statement, especially among the other succulents I potted up today in my collection of green pots that once stood empty and useless on the shelves above my kitchen sink. They just have a lot more impact tucked in close than they did spread out.

And what about old man Dylan, the patriarch of the Bartels family cacti? He has an empty nest at the moment, back on a tiny round mosaic table I made a while back. But we are hoping he'll have a child late in life and we can name him Denton.

As for the other plants I got today, I don't know the species of most of them, but they are so very cool and seem happy in their pots.

Why do I have mostly succulents and cacti in my house? Because they are the only plants the cat doesn't eat. Oh, and they are almost no maintenance at all. They forgive you when you don't water them for two months. They don't mind that the air is bone dry in the winter months. They seem fairly long-lived. They don't grow fast so you almost never need to repot them.

Oh, and they are really, really interesting and beautiful plants.