Overwintering

[strider]

How the heck do I do it?

I live in the Zone 9b on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone thingy.

We don't really have a true winter, it gets a lil cold, but it's above freezing most of the time. The weather is usually rainy and on the warm side (~66°F/18°C - 70°F/21°C most of the day - v humid), or clear, dry, and cold (lows around 34°F/1°C, the lowest is pretty rare, around 28°F/-2°C... I feel I should add while it's usually colder--around 50°F/10°C during the day--recently, since we're going through a drought, the highs have actually been closer to 60°F/15°C!)

BUT this year is supposed to be an El Nino year, which means more of the rainy weather, and not so much of the colder weather.

I have a mammillaria gracilis, opuntia picardoi, mini cholla, and another cactus that I am unsure about the species of. (I posted it in a thread here - http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... =3&t=36454 if anyone is interested). For now, I have them on a table in my backyard, under a wooden patio cover, they're shaded in the morning and get some sun in the early afternoon, and lots in the late afternoon, and protected from rain.

What I want to know is:

Do I overwinter them? I'm pretty sure I should, even though it is pretty warm during the day, because it is also fairly cold at night.

But mostly, how do you overwinter?

Is there a transitioning period where I start to give them less water?
Should I put them somewhere they don't get sun?
I know some cacti you don't water at all during the winter and some you have to water just enough; how do I know if/when they need water?

I also have a moon cactus, but I keep it indoors; do I overwinter it too?

Sorry for all the questions, I just have a lot and most of what I've read about overwintering applies to climates where people receive snow and it gets a lot colder.

[Steve Johnson]

Keep your cacti protected from rain during wintertime. It takes some experience to know which species could use a sip here and there, but when in doubt, don't give them any water at all until they wake up in spring for the start of the growing season. The moon cactus may be another matter because they're grafted onto jungle stock, so you may want to give it some occasional light watering to keep the roots alive in winter. Personally I've never grown grafted plants, so maybe someone who does can give you better advice.

[7george]

You can skip watering of those 3 plants from now to mid-February. In the winter I water just small and growing seedlings, most succulents, forest (epiphytic) cacti, grafted cacti.