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Re: Can they take -23 °C at night for a few days?

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:25 pm
by FRANCKM
Very interesting post. Thanks for your 'crash test' Exotica. Gonna help community from the cold...

Franck

Re: Can they take -23 °C at night for a few days?

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 10:08 pm
by hoteidoc
Exotica - Again, thanks for the "fearlessness" of your experiment! =D> I think between RayC, Andy_CT & myself, we must have pushed the limits of the soggiest winter w/o freezing! :( We all had record amounts of rain with long periods of gray. Incredibly I lost no plants among several Echinocer spp., Escob. & Fall-planted Opuntia pads! While following your on-going experiment, I had enough "faith" to H20 the Pedio. simp. v. minor a couple of days in Feb. when the glass porch got up to 50f! They're blossoming :D
Peter

Re: Can they take -23 °C at night for a few days?

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 9:18 pm
by exotica
Thank you all for the replies!

Well, there are a few glitches in this year's approach, which I have yet to figure out.

I wrote I had them continuously wet for over a month. Most responded with the desired inflation and flower buds, but some gave me worries.

1. I guess I've been just on the edge with the amount of water I've been giving.
06.04.2012 paradinei SB502
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At start it took up some water, started forming buds, but suddenly between week 3 and 4 after the first watering, began to shrink. It stood shrunken for a while with no signs of both body and buds growth, and my concerns were confirmed. It has lost part of the main root to rot. This plant is in the lowest part of the tray and probably got too wet. The picture above is after it was treated with 3% bleach solution and fungicide. Re-potted already and out again.

2. I have no clue about this one.
06.04.2012 fickeiseniorum RP145
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The only one to continue shrinking without any response to the watering. I suspected root problems, but it showed nice and healthy roots, so I still don't know what is its problem (side-by-side peeblesianus has no problems at all). Anyway it passed the same treatment as paradinei, re-potted already and out again.

3. My 2 simpsonii decided not to flower, but showed vigorous growth instead. AFAIK, these are the easiest of the group and I wonder what I'm missing to make them develop and keep their bids and flower… :?

Next I'll be posting the condition of my garden Opuntia-s, but time to go to bed now…

Re: Can they take -23 °C at night for a few days?

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:06 pm
by exotica
Here they are.

29.03.2012 Corynopuntia clavata
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No problems at all.

29.03.2012 Opuntia engelmannii var. engelmannii
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Damaged, but not severely. I hope it will recover and grow nicely.

29.03.2012 Opuntia engelmannii var. lindheimerii
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Badly damaged. A whole segment fallen off completely dessicated. The other segments have partial damages. Still the base segment looks alive and I hope it will come back with new segments.

29.03.2012 Opuntia aureispina
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The first to stand up. Nice, no damage at all.

29.03.2012 Opuntia fragilis ×"Wenatchee"
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No problems at all.

29.03.2012 Opuntia erinacea var. utahiensis
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The second one to stand up. Nice and problem free.

29.03.2012 Opuntia winteriana
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Still laying and shrunken, but no visible damages.

29.03.2012 Opuntia humifusa
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Still laying and shrunken, but no visible damages.

29.03.2012 Opuntia ×?
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This is a less than a year old volunteer of unknown origin. Either winteriana's or erinacea var. utahiensis's offspring, father unknown. I didn't expect to see it alive after the winter, but here it is!

And some of the best performing burst-growers with more recent photos:

07.04.2012 Pediocactus simpsonii var. simpsonii RP110
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08.04.2012 Pediocactus knowltonii SB304
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08.04.2012 Sclerocactus mesae-verdae SB303
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Re: Can they take -23 °C at night for a few days?

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:45 pm
by peterb
Fantastic information, thanks for all of these informative posts.

peterb