Expert: Maureen - 1/4/2010

Question
Hi my name is Casey, I have had a Candelabra Cactus for about 15 yrs now...he's about 6 ft tall and he's starting to shrivel up a little and one side of him is starting to get a lighter color..he's not sprouting as many leaves as he use to either???
Are you suppose to change the dirt, because he's been in the same dirt for many yrs, if I'm suppose to change it how do I go about that?!?!? He's also in a pretty large pot, do I need a larger pot if so how big?? Please help!!!!  

Answer
Do you have a picture of the part of the plant that is shriveling a getting lighter? A candelabra is actually a succulent - Euphorbia lactea.  They are often confused with cactus because they have spines, thou in a different configuration.  You give them the same basic treatment anyway. The milky sap can be poisonous so to be on the safe side use gloves.

Yes, definitely change the soil.  I use 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 sand (sifted builder's sand ) and some bone meal and dried blood about a tbsp each per gallon.  The soil needs to drain well.  Rule of thumb in these monster plants is that the pot should be 1/3 the size of the plant. I put window screening over the holes in the bottom as it doesn't get clogged up. You're going to need someone to help. Roll up newspaper and wrap it around the plant so you can hold on to that and not get stuck.  Depending on how tight it is in the pot you may have to go around the pot edge to loosen it and put in the new pot that has some of the new soil in it.  Once in place, add more new soil to finish. You may have to stake it for awhile till it settles into it's new home. Don't water for about a week (you can mist) and  then water.  These plants, as you probably know, are very forgiving.  They can get by on 4hrs of daylight and infrequent watering.

Perhaps the shriveling you are getting is because of really too infrequent watering, but a picture would help because I'm not sure about the getting lighter part. In either case if it is on side branches you can snip them off. Let me know how you do.  It's a big project.