When I got up a few mornings ago, I went outside and was surprised to hear some frantic cat cries. I looked up to my upstairs bathroom window and saw a hysterical kitten on the windowsill. I keep some of my more delicate plants in there and a cat on the windowsill is never a good sign: I keep that door closed, which means that he sneaked in and was there all night...
Went upstairs, retrieved his very upset self from the ledge and surveyed the mess:
The casualties were my Larryleachia, Hoodia and lapidaria, some of the most expensive and difficult to grow plants that I own.
Sand and broken pots, kitten vomit, turds and urine for good measure...
Like every pet lover, I just told myself that at least he didn't jump off the windowsill and break himself as well.
The first thing to do is NOT repot them: if there's any damage to roots, it will cause rotting. Some people use fungicide but I just air-dry the roots, my climate isn't humid right now. I also washed the hoodia roots because they seemed to have been bathed in urine and left the plants in a cool place, out of the sun. After a few days, they seemed to continue growing so I repotted them. You can see the light green at the growth tips.
Left: Larryleachia, centre: Hoodia, Right: Lapidaria
Larryleachia and hoodia grow in very poor, well-draining soil in very arid climates and lapidaria in the desert so the potting mix should be mainly quartzite and sand. Now that they are back in pots, they still don't get watered, in case I did more microdamage to the roots when I potted them. I'll give it a week or so before I water them because Larryleachia and Hoodia are both members of the Stapeliad family and rot very easily. Today was the first time that I watered the plants I got about 2 weeks ago
Luckily, the culprit was fine and now is not so keen to run into the bathroom every time the door is opened anymore. He's suddenly had a growth spurt and he is as big as Peanut. Here they are wrestling in the vegetable garden. The big pot is there to try and protect the beans from them
It's time to relieve the little guy of his nuts, he's decided that trying to hump Peanut when he's sleeping is his latest most fun activity
