I love my cactus and succulents and have had some success in growing them. My soil I make myself, sand and dirt with a little more sand than dirt, as for fertilizing them there are a lot of different opinions here, once a year I fertilize (about a month after they comeout of their winter sleep)I use Chicken poop, as a matter of fact I use it on all my plants and they explode with growth. Now the cacti and succs, don't use a lot at all, they dont like that, just a little and that should do it