Swell

It has been raining buckets the past couple of weekends. That is not out of the ordinary for winter in Hawaii - but this is the first time I been in it while trying to grow cacti. I've got all of the cacti (and most of the succulents) in really gritty, fast draining potting mix, so the rain is not necessarily an issue. In fact - it has been timely because I usually water on the weekends anyways. And from the looks of it - I believe I usually don't water enough. This first picture (of a cactus I have not been able to pinpoint identify) is of one cactus after a week of not being watered. And here is the same cactus after the rains this past weekend. The pictures weren't taken from the same exact spot, but you can tell that the cactus has picked up a bunch of water and the spacing between the ridges has filled in. The Gymnocalyciums I have also swelled up (in a good way).