The arctic blast is coming!

[sundanz]

Arriving tonight, per weather channel! We are prepared, heater on in GH, plants outside in my tub covered with newspapers and a large tarp! It's supposed to be freezing tonight! Yikes! We had 70 and 80's just a couple days ago!!

Karin

[SnowFella]

Send some of it here downunder please! We are expecting 100+F on friday

[luigonz]

Just wondering the cold tolerance of ariocarpus. (fissuratus, retusus, confusus, lloydii, trigonus)
This is my first winter growing them, I read in a few places they can tolerate temps as low as 32 F. I plan on keeping them on on the south side of my house under the porch, where they get bright light and no water.

[adetheproducer]

Just wondering the cold tolerance of ariocarpus. (fissuratus, retusus, confusus, lloydii, trigonus)
This is my first winter growing them, I read in a few places they can tolerate temps as low as 32 F. I plan on keeping them on on the south side of my house under the porch, where they get bright light and no water.

they should be ok apparently they can go down to about -10c but you might want to cover them just to ensure no frost settles on them.

[KittieKAT]

I kno i totally panicked today, and most of my plants on my Sun porch into the display case green house.
Taped up the broken windows with plastic and i even taped the air coming thru the small cracks under the window glass when the window is shut to make sure it doesn't make the clay pots freezing cold for my babies!!
Gonna bring the cacti in if it gets below 50° out there, I'm frantically checking the thermostats like crazy out their but the temp right now seems set on a little above 50°F soo they should be fine for now.. but i gatta get some shade cloth cause I've already had a few plant's get some really bad sun burn spots on them, cause even Thoe it's cold the sun is still bright!
Poor things, i hope they heal okay

[sundanz]

Where is your location, Kittiekat? I'm in east Texas and the temp right now is freezing! Tried to buy frost cloth at Home Depot but they had none! Too early for freezes!! Hoping my outside cacti will be ok, I have them covered with newspapers and a tarp. The temp in the GH is around 55 with the heater in there! We are 20 degrees colder than we should be for this time of year!
Karin

[DaveW]

50 F, where do you live Kittekat in the tropics! You can grow Melocactus and other tropical species if that's the lowest you go. Just above freezing will be OK except for those from tropical climates. My greenhouse goes below freezing every year.

http://www.cactuscollection.com/info/ge ... ature.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://cactiguide.com/article/?article=article27.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you live in a cold climate you can also grow cold hardy cacti:-

http://www.kakteensammlung-holzheu.de/e ... cacti.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As to winter protection for those outside:-

http://www.succulentsandmore.com/2011/0 ... ts-at.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Saxicola]

I think she means her sun room is around 50F. She is up in New England. Their winters are pretty brutal.

I agree with Dave that you don't need to worry about most cacti and succulents as long as it is above freezing. There are exceptions though.

[KittieKAT]

I'm in Salem Massachusetts, lol if yr a skinny girl like me 50's pretty cold lol!
But it was getting into the 30's they other day of course after i panic now it's giving us some warmer temps.. SMH lol!
And saxicola is correct, my Sun room is 50 outside is usually the 20-30 but dropping to below that at night and i had two Windows with noooo glass in them so it was getting chilly on the sun porch now it's pretty good...for now...till the snow hits ahhhhhhh!

[DaveW]

If it gets too cold cover them with newspapers, you can leave them on continually for a week or so if they are cool, dry and not growing and they will not etiolate. But watch they don't get sunburnt through the glass when you remove them if the sun comes out when they may need a little shade for a while to acclimatise them again.

[KittieKAT]

I Had to put a heater in there last night cause it started to snow yesterday!
The glass gets full sun from the front Windows and from the top and the side of the display case, I'm worried the sun Iys gonna magnify the sun and they will get burned, but it's Kinda dirty from having pots ontop of it this summer, so hopefully it's not gonna have the sun hurt my plants, i never kno why they get sunburned since they are hard grown and use to really really bright sunlight for long periods, it seems the winter sun burns them more then the summer sun ever could!

[DaveW]

It's often lack of air movement indoors, or sometimes turning plants to a direction they are not used to the sun coming from that causes them to burn:-

http://cactiguide.com/article/?article=article4.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Outdoors in the sun they get free air movement cooling them. Some use fans in the greenhouse or even a windowsill to keep air moving, even ex computer fans.

http://www.bcss.org.uk/foruma/viewtopic ... 84&start=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.bcss.org.uk/foruma/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=73668" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can even get them on EBAY:-

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=&_ ... sacat=2196" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from= ... s&_sacat=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Or make your own:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UThQbJgqCww" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[KittieKAT]

Oh they get plenty of air circulation three Windows are open and some widows didn't have glass in them so they were just open screens, now that it's really cold out I've tapped plastic over the open ones but they still get air from the hall way near the front door , so not to worried about that , maybe i didn't rotate them enough so one side got baked more then they other

[DaveW]

I'm not in favour of rotating plants as that in itself can cause burning, I use the plant label in the pot as a method of determining which way the plants normally face the sun. Plants are not rotated in nature they get used to the sun from one direction, so the side away from the sun is far more tender.

Some plants in habitat do lean their wool protected crowns towards the sun since it means the rest of the body is more parallel to the direction of the suns rays therefore the rest of the body is in shade and receives far less sun, some Copiapoa's for instance. This leaning is not caused by lack of light as sometimes is the cause when grown indoors, but natures way of reducing the light intensity on the plant body:-

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/48651808" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note how most of the plant body below the crowns in the link above is dark or in shadow caused by leaning towards the sun and at the base of the plant there is hardly any shadow cast larger than the plants diameter, meaning it is directly aligned with the suns direction.

[KittieKAT]

I rotate mine so they get Sun on all sides, since most Windows hit every side i usually don't have to rotate the much, but I've had plants grow towards the sun inthe window and not be straight so i rotate them so they straighten up and not fall over when gravity takes over lol. But that's usually just the columnar cacti or succulents, the barrels seem to be fine.
I just don't get how they got so badly sun burned when they have been in the same window since i grew them, maybe cause the sun is shining extra bright due to the cloudy weather. Hopefully they recover, their not too to bad but not as prefect and flawless as they used to be at the bottom OCD is a crazy thing to have lol!
I hope since i moved them to a more shady spot that they will be okay, my poor rubutias pup got a little burn to hopefully it'll grow outta the burn Thoe. My plants are like my children, i don't like when they get booboos
I actually heard people use sun block on some of their outdoor cacti when it's really hot and sunny to protect them, anyone done this with good result? Id be scared it would kill them, but if it wouldn't hurt the plant id maybe try it on one plant,