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Hey guys

I have a 7" diameter (18 cm) plant in a ceramic pot. Think it can stand winters as cold as 21 F? We get several such nights each year...

BarryRice wrote:Hey guys

I have a 7" diameter (18 cm) plant in a ceramic pot. Think it can stand winters as cold as 21 F? We get several such nights each year...

I wouldn't pull something like that with one of mine (I think). But if it is only a few nights and warms up again in day time it might do well. And if it is completely dry!!!

I'm not an expert but I think that would be pushing it a bit,but maybe a 7 inch plant can......

It is such a fantastic plant, I don't want to risk it. Guess I'll have to come up with a frost protection scheme for it.

Barry: Do Y'all use frost cloths in N. Cali? I have in the past for my wife's outdoor succulents and will use on my cactus bed this winter if the temp is expected to drop bellow 26 F (-4 C) for a prolonged period. I can't control the soil moisture living in Florida. The frosts always hits when our Hibiscus are in full, but this years I will follow my neighbors lead

Yeah, whenever the temperature is to drop below freezing. But this is just to improve the looks of plants with marginal cold tolerance--I try to minimize the burning on our Aloe and other landscape plants. My wife has sewn together bed sheets to simplify this, and so for a few weeks every winter our front yard looks like the interior of the haunted mansion (furniture covered in sheets).

Unfortunately, we live in a cold pocket, so even Echinocactus grusonii die, despite attempts to cover them.

I do have a large Ferocactus latispinus. Our climate here fortunately is usually dry during the winter months, but the temperatures drop to the low 20 degree F mark usually several times a year. However, during the daytime it normally warms up to over 50 degrees F. So the relatively short duration of frost does not cause any damage.
However, I do cover the plant with a large plastic pot during the time when it is trying to flower. That generally happens in November, December, and/or January.
Only once have I dug up the plant and brought it inside. That was during the severe frost in February 2011, when the freeze lasted 72 hours and the thermometer dropped below 10 degrees F. That action saved the plant.
A smaller specimen was left outside and had absolutely no chance of surviving.

Harald