Hi- I've been feeling spoiled, reading this. I was complaining to Jen last night that it was "too cold" with the temp down to 40F again.
The White Sands triglochidiatus is sadly not as hardy as some of the Northern NM/Colorado strains. Also, even with some tough cacti one plant will make it fine and another will collapse under the conditions you describe. If I ever want to do cold hardy growing again I'll try to do it from seed, so there's plenty of leeway.
The snow recently melted off my Opuntias (been covered since December) and at first they looked perfect. Now a couple of pads have turned a real pale green and a few others have a pale green edge. I have not seen this before and am curious to see what happens when they wake up. The the past few winters they changed to a maroon'ish' color if anything. Got a ways to wait as last year they woke up in mid May
Tom2643 wrote:-23ºF isn't that borderline zone 3? Is that abormally cold for your area? The coldest it got here I think was about -17.
Tom, you must be in the southern part of the state. We had a few low temps here between -20 and -25 F this winter.
Yeah I'm right near the core of the cities so we've got a lot of heat island going on.
Peter -
Yeah I kind of figured the white sands one wouldn't be as hardy, I guess it really doesn't like water (imagine that, I always think of white sands new mexico as a lush environment...). Oh well, I've found a few more new ones that i've not tried before, so I guess this just opens up more space for them!
Andy_CT wrote:The snow recently melted off my Opuntias (been covered since December) and at first they looked perfect. Now a couple of pads have turned a real pale green and a few others have a pale green edge. I have not seen this before and am curious to see what happens when they wake up. The the past few winters they changed to a maroon'ish' color if anything. Got a ways to wait as last year they woke up in mid May
I'm obviuosly in a very different zone than you, but i noticed this with a few of my Opuntias that had been sitting out for a few months (most were cuttings, some had roots) My guess was the plant was pulling water from it's outter pads to feed the inner pads and main stem, since they had been dry, and not potted or watered. I can't imagine the same for yours though, as they must have had alot of moisture...probably a mix of both moisture and cold???
However, once i plucked off the affected pads, the rest looks great. And now that some have been planted (the ones with roots) and the cuttings have been rooting for a month, they all look to be on the heathly side once again.
I think I might be losing this pad with the orange spots. The others in the pic look fine. Its been an average winter temp wise but no super cold. I think we went barely below 0F once, though we have had 26 inches of precipitation since November
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Last edited by Andy_CT on Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It's gonna be a close call but I think your right about loosing that pad.
Most of mine that were damaged were the ones that don't lay down. The pads that stay up and open to the harsh wind were the ones that got damaged the most.
I get the feeling my cacti aren't enjoying this current spat of hail, snow, and rain we're getting tonight (or the 5ish inches we had sometime 2 weeks ago). I'm now back down to all my old cacti (a few opuntia, a couple of spineless Echinocereus triglochiadatus and an Escobaria missouriensis or two), and the Echinocereus virdiflorus that i got last year. Death tally so far: Agave parryi (not a surprise), Echinocereus triglochiadatus 'white sands strain' (again, not too surprised), Escobaria leei (i think i'm giving up on these, i keep seeing them rated as zone 4 but i think i've got too much moisture...cacti like 30+ inches of rain a year...right....? yeah.), and a pediocactus simpsonii that looked fine until about a week ago and now its a brown mushball. This winter is being so obnoxious i've even got a lot of dead sempervivum and i NEVER lose those over the winter. I'm thinking I might just order a few more E. missouriensis and opuntia to fill out the garden. And maybe a Escobaria/Coryphantha vivipara since those were native to not too far from here. Oh and i might get a few more Echinocereus virdiflorus because I really like that one a lot.
Sorry to hear of your losses. Yes go for the Escobaria vivipara! I always had very good luck with it in North Dakota. Even with very light snow cover and -20s. sierrarainshadow
Tom, sorry it's been such a ferocious and uncooperative winter. E. vivipara is a great idea, just be sure to get a vivipara from colder/more northern locations. Some of the southern forms like bisbeeana, deserti, alversonii aren't nearly as hardy.
As you already mentioned, just about every plant you listed as going to cactus heaven can definitely survive if kept dry. But there's still stuff to grow that takes the cold and the wet.
Hey Andy,
I've inspected my same Opuntia that has been in the same spot in the ground here for about 15 years now. It seems normal for some of the older pads to die off as the new ones spread out and replace them. So you might loose that pad, but I'm quite sure those other pads will keep a nice bunch growing for you.
Daiv
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
Only one fatality detected so far and that was inside. A Turb that turned out to still be in someone else's soil and had rotted from the roots, so my own fault really. There may be others that still look fine on the outside, but everything apparently is taking water on board so fingers crossed.
I have E. triglochidiatus from Wedge Overlook, UT, it seems very resistant to cold and wet. It has even been damaged in the middle of winter, a little bit goes black and sunken but the plant survives.
I have E. viridiflorus from the Sandia Mountains and it seems equally resistant. It seems to get most stressed in spring when the newly arrived sun turns it bright purple.
I also have E. albispinus (with red spines!) from Troy, OK, not a spcecies that gets much mention as good in the cold and wet but its doing OK for me.
Others that aren't really proven outdoors longterm are E. vivipara, E. coccineus var rosei, and E. engelmannii "variegatus", another Utah plant.
Strictly experimental are E. davisii (flowering at one year old so it must like a cold winter!), E. fendleri, E. coccineus from the Jarilla Mts, Coryphantha sulcata, Thelocactus bicolor, Sclerocactus wrightii, Escobaria navajoensis, and Escobaria dasyacantha. Cold hardiness is fine with all of these but winter moisture resistance is doubtful.
OK, I'll add one more plant which has now spent three winters outdoors, although very close to the south wall of my house and under the eaves. Cleistocactus strausii. Some people in England have reported tip kill with these, or rotting off at the base. I suspect that even my mild winters are within a degree or two of its cold hardiness limits and it doesn't look like a good candidate for tolerating winter wet, but you can't argue with results
I managed to keep a few cacti outdoors in my zone (borderline 8/9) such as a couple of opuntias and agave Victoria an a couple of echeverias; I couldn't grow the prickly pear though like they do in western-southern Italy or maybe close to a south facing wall and in a favourable spot, two conditions i cannot fulfill. I'd like to have an agave parrii or ferox maybe.... or one of those hardy cacti. I set up a plastic covering for my plants as they would have resented the winter wet...
or maybe close to a south facing wall and in a favourable spot, two conditions i cannot fulfill. I'd like to have an agave parrii or ferox maybe.... or one of those hardy cacti. I set up a plastic covering for my plants as they would have resented the winter wet...
Yes go for the Escobaria vivipara! I always had very good luck with it in North Dakota.