Does anybody grow cold-hardy cacti? Particularly in the midwest? How did yours do this winter? What did you do, if anything to keep them alive
( Read more... )
Woah, where are you that you can get cactus to grow? I'm in 7a and killed one agave over the winter, and we got little to no snow, although it was rather wet. Some yucca do well here but they're suited to this zone. I've been meaning to research more succulents but other than prickly pear cacti had never occurred to me.
Probably should have mentioned I'm in southeast Wisconsin, zone 5a. I have an area of dry soil under some eaves, on a south-facing wall. It gets rain only a couple of times a year. The problem is that snow gets under there rather easily. A wet winter is deadly.
One species of prickly pear is native to the midwest, and do well in sandy soil, but there are many others that are hardy.
The opuntias shown are all tiny (pads are all 1 to 1-1/2"), but I have one with "regular" sized pads.
Well you're certainly colder than us. I have a bunch of assorted succulents under a tree, which tends to stay pretty dry, and they're doing well (exploding is more like it). I amended most of the soil with a lot of compost to break up the clay so the drainage is good, but I think where I put the agave wasn't as well amended. I would just put some in pots then bring them in when it got cold but I do terribly with indoor plants. Perhaps something that will go dormant, as we have little natural light. New obsession. Great.
I don't do as well with succulents, mostly due to rabbits.
I'm not sure about the soil where my cacti are. It was always dry and powdery (there were roses there before), so I figured it would be fine for cacti (and I added sand), but it seems like it's clay-type. Water doesn't go down in, and when it gets very wet through, it seems to stay that way. If true, that seems to make winters worse.
I have trouble with indoor plants, too. I killed half of my wife's plants, when we moved in together.
Comments 5
Reply
One species of prickly pear is native to the midwest, and do well in sandy soil, but there are many others that are hardy.
The opuntias shown are all tiny (pads are all 1 to 1-1/2"), but I have one with "regular" sized pads.
Reply
Reply
I'm not sure about the soil where my cacti are. It was always dry and powdery (there were roses there before), so I figured it would be fine for cacti (and I added sand), but it seems like it's clay-type. Water doesn't go down in, and when it gets very wet through, it seems to stay that way. If true, that seems to make winters worse.
I have trouble with indoor plants, too. I killed half of my wife's plants, when we moved in together.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment