HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE, I hope that you had a wonderful Holiday Season and are having a wonderful start to 2025.

January is always the quietest month for our cacti and succulents, its the absolute dead of winter and the coldest time of year, all the desert cacti and succulents are having their winter snooze and lets face it at this quiet time of year when all the fun festivities of the holidays are over and all is quiet and cold in January, I bet most of you feel just like me and wish you could overwinter too and wake up when the Spring arrives again haha!

BUT January can also be a VERY exciting time of year too and thats because its the PERFECT month for planning ahead for the upcoming Spring and to think of all of the wonderful things you want to do with your plants this year, whether its repotting, sowing seeds, getting new plants, buying new pots, soils, or buying a grow tent, indoor grow lights or a new greenhouse, January really is all about looking forward and planning for the exciting upcoming growing season.

January may be a quiet month for our plants but there are still lots of plant jobs we need to be doing at this time of year and in this Blog I will be talking about all the plant jobs to plan and do in January with your Cacti and Succulents.

PLAN FOR THE SPRING

Repottings

I love to make a list of all the things I want to be doing with my plants in the spring, I make a list of the cacti and succulents I want to repot and will make a list of any plants that look ‘top heavy’ and or have their roots growing out the bottom of the holes in their pots, and any that look like they are bursting out of their pots, and plan a repotting schedule in the Spring for them, I sometimes repot during late Winter e.g late February especially with the cacti that are early spring bloomers like Rebutias and Mammillarias, I don’t like to repot any cacti when they are already in bud and sometimes late Winter/ Pre Spring in late February can be a good time to start repotting, I just make sure I use totally dry cactus soil and keep them unwatered until the April time, by April they will have had chance to settle into their new pots in plenty of time for the growing season.

Plant Labels

I am a bit of a label Cactus Queen haha! I’m also one of those fussy growers who likes to have all the labels in the plant pots to be facing in the right direction, yes cactus OCD haha! I like to go around the plants at this time of year and make a note of any plants that need to be labelled, I notice a lot of my plant labels over time seem to break in half or fade or simply vanish over time, and if I no longer have the correct ID of a plant due to losing the label then I always try to have at least the genus name of the plant labelled, and because I am a bit of a label cactus Queen haha! I have a pet hate for the labels going missing on my plants,

Plant Products

I also write down a fun shopping list of any plant products I want to get so I am well prepared for the Spring, I make a list of any soils, grit, horticultural sand, plant pots, fertilisers, bug products, labels, plant tools and plant stands I need for the upcoming growing season and a list of any new plants that are on my wish list as I always say ‘There is always room for one more or……. a few more’ haha!

Seed Sowing

January is also a great time of year to think of any cacti and succulents you want to propagate or grow from seed this Spring, growing from seed can be a lot of fun and is very rewarding but you have to have a lot of patience as growing from seed is a very slow process especially with cacti, ideally March and April is a wonderful time to start sowing cactus seeds, but you can sow cactus seeds in January if you are able to give them a warm and bright position to germinate at least 18c /64F, this can be tough to do during Winter even in heated homes indoors as temps drop quite low at night when heating is often switched off, but if you have grow tents and or grow lights or a warm bright window in winter you can definitely sow seeds now in January.

PLANT JOBS TO DO NOW

Check for pests and any rotting or diseased plants

Insect pests like Mealy bugs and spider mites sadly don’t go away in winter time, they do slow down their rate of production and you won’t see as many at this time of year but they still are around, Winter is an extra important time to check for signs of insect pests on cacti and succulents, the desert cacti and succulents are dormant at this time of year, and dormant cacti are not as resistant to ‘beasties’ as they would be during their active growing season, make sure you check over your collection regularly at least once a week, check around the base of globular cacti as mealy bugs love to hide just under the rim of cacti by the base ( see photo above ) lift up plant pots to check underneath for mealy bug nests and slugs and snails, I use a hand held magnifying loop to check over the plants at least once a week and remove any signs of Mealy bugs and their nests with a small artists brush dipped in Isopropyl rubbing alcohol.

I also dust my whole collection with a light dusting of Diatomaceous Earth in the Winter ( see image above ) as this works great at preventing any crawling insects like Mealy bug and other sucking insects.

Its also important to remove any plants that may be diseased and look sickly or are going brown and rotting, Winter can be tough for our plants and January is often the time when we may start to see some cactus casualties appear, almost every grower gets a few cactus losses each year however well they have overwintered their collection, its part and parcel of cactus growing unfortunately, but losing a few plants also means you can treat yourselves to a new plant/s in the Spring.

Make sure your plants don’t get frostbite!

Keep an eye on the minimum Winter temperatures at this time of year, a good safe all round temperature for the majority of cacti and succulents is 5c /41F in winter and kept dry with no watering, many can take lower temps than this especially the very cold hardy Opuntia varieties, but 5c/41F is a good all round safe temperature, if you have your plants outside in winter like a greenhouse or polytunnel, shed or garage then make sure that if you use any equipment for heating that you check they are all working well, stock up on plenty of fleece cloth and bubblewrap for extra protection for your plants on the very cold frosty and icy nights.

Prune off any dead flower heads, buds, seed pods, dead pads & leaves

Its really good to keep your plants looking nice and tidy and clean, I like to go into the polytunnel at least once a week and prune off any dead leaves, pads or growth on my cacti and succulents, I then dust any clean cut parts on the plants with cinnamon powder to prevent any chances of fungus, I also love to use long handled tweezers to pick off any remaining dried flower heads or dried up buds left over form the summer, this leaves the plants clean of the old and nice and clean for the new buds that will soon be appearing, its also exciting to see if you have any seed pods that are ready to harvest, removing dried up flower heads and buds and seed pods also helps to prevent any little ‘beasties’ like mealy bugs and their nests hiding on and under the dried up buds, flowers and seed pods.

Keeping growing areas clean and tidy

During Winter its easy to put off keeping your grow areas looking clean and tidy when we don’t spend much time with our plants, I know many growers who close the door of their greenhouses, spare rooms, garages in October and wish their plants ‘good luck’ and then don’t open the growing area again until April haha! but even the most dormant of plants will still drop spines, dead flower heads, segments etc as well as get pests and Mice, Rats, Slugs, Snails, Beetles and other wildlife can easily get into their growing areas, keeping a regular check and keeping the growing areas clean is a must for preventing any problems, I go into my polytunnel once a week to brush up the floor and make sure the tables I keep my plants on are all clean and tidy as much as possible.

Check for any early signs of Buds

Once the shortest day has passed in December believe it or not by January you may already start to see the odd bud or two appearing on your plants especially with the early Spring flowering cacti like the Epiphyllums ( see photo above ) Rebutias and Mammillarias, this can be very exciting as you can see your plants starting to ‘wake up’ however if you are overwintering your cacti in a cool environment then I still strongly advice you to still hold back watering until April especially if you have your plants in greenhouses, sheds, garages, cold frames, unheated rooms etc, because although the cacti may start to ‘pre wake’ up by producing buds they are still going through their resting period and will have enough water reserves already in their bodies to produce buds, watering in January or February can still cause them to rot as their root systems will not be active or wanting to take up water, keep them dry and be patient for a few more weeks until Spring is here, However if you overwinter your cacti indoors and in a warm room temperature and your cacti are coming into bud and you start to see obvious signs of shrivelling from dehydration water stress you can go ahead and give your plants a light watering, its unlikely they will rot in warm indoor environments, I sometimes have to give my cacti and succulents that I am overwintering in my grow room a light watering in February if they are showing obvious signs of shrivelling, but I give just the lightest amount just enough to dampen the soil.

I hope you enjoyed reading this months Blog and I have made a video on my Cactus & Succulent You Tube Channel called Desert Plants of Avalon on ‘The Cactus Jobs to Plan & Do with your Cacti in January’ and you can watch this video Below:

I have also made a video on ‘How to keep your Cactus ALIVE in Winter’ and you can watch this video below:

Please do subscribe to my You Tube Channel called Desert Plants of Avalon for lots of Tips & Tricks on How you can Grow Cacti and Succulents.

Happy Growing Guys and if the long dark boring days of winter get you down then just think of all the exciting things ahead with Spring getting closer and closer with each January day that passes and we have all of the upcoming growing season to look forward to YAY!

Thanks so much for reading and wishing you all a fantastic plant powered 2025 growing year.