At 09:56 AM 17/02/01 -0500, Diana Pederson <euphorbia@...> wrote, in
part:
[snip]
>Has ANYONE on this list grown their hardy succulents exclusively in
>containers?; If so, did you have to winterize each year?; How?

Hi Diane, Joe Shaw kept a wide variety of pad and ball cacti from the high
mountains in Western USA for at least ten years in pots. He has moved on to
other interests now and I was fortunate enough to visit him and 'adopt'
several of the more hardy plants he had last September. His method was quite
simple. He grew the plants in pure perlite slightly overpotted in clay pots.
Some pots had lumps of red lava (barbeque type) mixed in.  In the summer he
kept them on the edge of his back porch where they got about six hours of
sun a day. In winter he moved them back into multi-tiered mesh racks close
to the north side of his house and covered the tops of the racks with
plastic sheeting to keep direct rain and snow off. He used a rather smelly
organic fertiliser. I'm not sure what it was but it smelled like a cross
between Fish emulsion and Soy cake. We didn't discuss it specifically and I
only became aware of it as I unpotted the plants.

He did have problems with mealie bugs (Don't we all !!) He simply sprayed
with a Cholinesterase inhibitor as needed to hold them down. They get a lot
of rain in Northern Pennsylvania where Joe used to live and I gather that
watering was not much of a problem.

I grew O fragilis v fragilis outside in shallow pans (actually aluminum pie
pans) for several years. I grew them in a soilless mixture of gravel, clam
shell and a bit of firbark. I punched holes in the bottoms of the pans for
good drainage and kept them on a concrete slab. In winter I moved the pans
close to a large limestone rock but I didn't cover them. None bloomed but
none died and they grew slowly! so this is an easy way to keep them alive
but obviously not the optimum conditions for blooms.

Hope this helps - John


*
John Milligan, Kingston, ON, Canada | 44.25 N, 76.45 W
<millignj@...> |  US Zone 4/5
*

My normal routine for taking pads intended for nursery sales is to break
them off in the late spring, once they have plumped up, lay them in trays in
the greenhouse, allow them to "heel" and pot up.

What this normally means is that the cacti are not ready for sales until
late June to July.

This year, I would like to have the Opuntia sp. ready for our grand opening
on May 19th. Last frost date here is the last week of May.

Is it possible to break the pads in mid-winter, while they are in  the
de-hydrated stage, heel them, etc. so that I will have them ready for sales
in May? This would obviously all be done in heated conditions.

First I would have to find the cactus beds, of course, which this year for
the first time are under mountains of snow....

Thank you for your help,
Kristl

--
Kristl Walek
Gardens North Seeds
5984 Third Line Road, North
North Gower, Ontario
K0A 2T0
CANADA

Phone: (613) 489-0065
Fax: (613) 489-1208
www.gardensnorth.com

(Zone 4b -29 to -34C)

So many species....so little time

Rod:

Thank you for this list.  I'll be getting some cuttings from Dave when
the snow decides to stay away.  I only have one opuntia right now.  It's
in a large clay pot on the northwest corner.  Has never flowered for
me.  I love the way it lies down and them plumps back up when spring comes.

--
Diana Pederson, Ingham County, Michigan, Zone 5, United States
Landscape designer and Garden Writer
http://www.enabling-gardens.com/
Receive information about my upcoming book:
  http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/bibleplants

Diana,

I grow about 20 species/varieties of Opuntias in large (2 gallons and up)
plastic pots.  Denver does not get much moisture in the winter but this
winter we have gotten about 50 inches of snow which usually melts
within a few days of each storm.  Most of the pots have about 50%
of 1/8-1/4" scoria mixed with local montmorillonite-rich clay soil and do
fine. I have not lost any plants to rot in this climate.  The pots are in a
south and also in an eastern exposure, sitting on concrete patios but
several feet out from the eaves of my house.   I fertilize once a year
with a balanced 6 month Osmocote (applied in late March) and I do water
probably weekly during the growing season to increase growth.
Almost all of my Opuntias flower profusely and continue to grow new pads
until the root system completely fills the pot.  I suggest not using anything
less than a 2 gallon pot for a new single cutting and find that I get the best
long-term results in 5 gallon + pots.  I have created "Opuntia gardens" in
some 15-20 gallon pots with several different kinds and sizes in the same
pot.  Here are the species/varieties I've had success growing over the last
10 years:

O. fragilis, O. polyacantha (all varieties), O. aurea, O. phaeacantha (all
varieties), O. engelmannii
(from northern Arizona only), O. atrispina, O. macrorhiza, O. pottsii,
O. cymochila, O. cyclodes, O. humifusa and some hybrids from the above
list.  I also grow most of  the pediocacti and sclerocacti in hypertufa troughs,
made from a mixture of peat, cement, granite, perlite and a fiberglass fiber,
used as a binder.  The troughs are formed in plastic-lined large, shallow
pots, cat litter trays, baby baths etc.  Good luck!.

Rod

At 09:56 AM 2/17/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Dave Sierer:
>
>Thank you for starting this list.  I'd gotten so I would no longer say
>anything on the other list for fear of being attacked.  Taxonomy simply
>isn't my game.  Loving plants is!  Am looking forward to getting some
>cuttings this spring to try in containers.
>
>Has ANYONE on this list grown their hardy succulents exclusively in
>containers?  If so, did you have to winterize each year?  How?
>
>--
>Diana Pederson, Ingham County, Michigan, Zone 5, United States
>Landscape designer and Garden Writer
>http://www.enabling-gardens.com/
>Receive information about my upcoming book:
> http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/bibleplants
>
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>Toocoldforcactus-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>

Ingrid <alfmike@...> wrote:

Snip!

> So many throughs to make :-) I make mine with perlite so they weigh
> much less that the conventional hypertufa. Happy to talk more about
> this if someone want to ;-)) also soil and soil mixes are extremely
> interesting.

Please let us know how you make your lightweight throughs!

Benny Moeller Jensen
Hjoerring
Denmark

http://www.bennyskaktus.dk

Dave Sierer:

Thank you for starting this list.  I'd gotten so I would no longer say
anything on the other list for fear of being attacked.  Taxonomy simply
isn't my game.  Loving plants is!  Am looking forward to getting some
cuttings this spring to try in containers.

Has ANYONE on this list grown their hardy succulents exclusively in
containers?  If so, did you have to winterize each year?  How?

--
Diana Pederson, Ingham County, Michigan, Zone 5, United States
Landscape designer and Garden Writer
http://www.enabling-gardens.com/
Receive information about my upcoming book:
  http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/bibleplants

Hello Everyone,

It's nice to have you all here. As promised earlier, I have a few 'House
Rules" to post. Please review them. I will be working on other files and
picture links in the near future. There are so many interesting options with
Yahoogroups.

I am really enjoying the old and new introductions. It's people that share
that will make this hobby and list grow.

Thanks,
Dave

--------------

Welcome back to the original 'Too Cold For Cactus Group'

The Basic Rules:

Any community needs some basic rules to function well. As the list owner, I
have tried to keep the rules simple. I will always be open to your thoughts
on these rules, especially in regards to anything that makes this list
unpleasant for the participants. If this occurs, the best thing to do is to
contact me. Do not e-mail the offender whether it be spam or an offensive
posting.

1) Please stay on topic. Our topic is the sharing of experience with and
growing of hardy cactus and other hardy succulents (companion plants too)
in an outdoor setting: tips, methods, soil mixes. weather, taxonomy, books,
articles, links, references, dealers, and other resources are all on topic.

2) Please be respectful in all postings. Disagreements are inevitable, but
can and MUST be dealt with in a reasonable manner. Disrespectful or
offensive
language and comments will result in a warning and/or immediate banning of
you from this list.

3) On- topic advertisements are welcome.  I ask that they be limited to a
very
  brief paragraph and a link or address for those interested in further
information.

4) All material whether text or photos are the property of the sender or
  original owner of such material. Anyone wishing to use this material for
any purpose
  must secure permission from the owner.

5) Offers to swap or trade plants and seeds are welcome.

No one likes to censor or ban individuals from list participation, but the
need does occur, and I will use the above rules to keep this daily digest a
welcome e-mail in your home.

Dave Sierer, list owner
Westby, Wisconsin
  fro5415@...

Hi all,

I'm a 36 year old guy from Hjoerring, in the northern part of Denmark, I grow
hardy cacti, Yucca, and other plants such as Rhododendron, Bamboo, Iris,
Gentiana and Penstemon, but my primary interest is hardy cactus, Yuccas, and
other drought resistant plants that look good with the Cactus and Yuccas. I have
been growing hardy cacti since I was 12 years old.

Our property is situated at around 57.40N 10.00E latitude, it's only 15 km from
the shore of the North sea, a few kilometers
from south of the City of Hjoerring. The property, where we are gardening, is
2600 square meter. I have two small greenhouses (7 and 17 square meter) filled
with hardy cactus and Yuccas, 10 frames at 3,5 square meter each, protected with
plastic roofs in the winter, and 10 cactus beds from 2 to 30 square meter in
size. Two of the beds are protected against winter moisture. Some of the "old"
members of hardycacti_etc may know my website which is dedicated to hardy cactus
and North American Yuccas (+ one Canadian!) for the "new" members take a look
at: http://www.bennyskaktus.dk here you can see some of all the plants that I
grow (or at least try to grow!).

The climate in our part of the world is very variable, both in the summer and
the winter. The coldest winter here in our garden was in 1995 - 96, that winter
the temperature was down to -21C in the three week after Christmas, and the
temperature wasn't above freezing for four months in a row that winter!!. The
soil was frozen 100 cm down and in the peat bed, the soil was frozen to May
20th!! Normally we have temperatures down to -15 C to -18 C each winter. This
winter has been quite warm with minimum temperatures down to -12C and most days
above or just below freezing. We rarely have any snow cover. Annually
precipitation is around 600 to 800 millimeter, but the last three years has been
record years with a yearly precipitation of 970 to 1177 millimeter! The summers
here in Northern Denmark is not very warm normal summer temperatures is around
20C to 28C (occasionally up to or above 30C), fortunately is the summers usually
sunny. (not the last three wet cold summers!) You can see more details about the
Danish weather on this page on my website: http://64.177.111.31/Climate_UK.htm

I look forward to friendly discussions about cultivation, propagation,
nomenclature, yes anything about hardy cactus. After reading Rod Haenni's
posting about hardy cactus from South America, I may try once again with plants
from this part of the world (I lost all my South American cactus except
Maihuenia poepegii in the winter of 1995-96!)

Regards

Benny Moeller Jensen
Hjoerring
Denmark

http://www.bennyskaktus.dk

Hi all,

I hope that I´m welcome to this new list and that I did´nt hurt someones
feelings when I asked Steve and Peter to stop writing about the "New Cactus
Group" (and abusing each other). I thought that I had a diplomatic tone in my
email that was directed to them.

Anyway I´m a 34 year old guy from Stockholm, SWEDEN, and I do enjoy hardy cacti
(and other plants) and I´m looking forward to learn from you all! :) I have only
been growing hardy cacti since 1998 but I have got valuable info and advices
from several members of the "hardycacti.etc list" such as Benny Moeller Jensen,
Art Scarpa (who was the first member to contact me on that list), Dave Sierer
and others. Many thanks to them! :)

I grow mostly different types of Opuntia but also some Echinocereus, Maihuenia
(but they have´nt enjoyed this winter), Yuccas and other rockgarden plants such
as Sempervivums and Sedums.

You can check the link to Benny Moeller Jensens homepage and go to the "Yucca
page" where he have a page with his "Cactus and Yucca friends" to see some
pictures of my cacti and Yuccas.

http://www.bennyskaktus.dk/

//Patrik Flank


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

As a long time 'lurker' on the hardycacti site, I too look forward to
more reasonable discussions. Have corresponded some with Dave -
including shipping some plants - and learned a good bit from some of
the more sane discussions -
Hello to all- Scott

Hello All!

My name is Art Scarpa and I live in Reading, Massachusetts, USA, about 20
miles north of Boston.

Massachusetts' proximity to the Atlantic and the warm Gulf Stream waters
offshore, present some interesting contrasts.  About 100km/60 miles away on
Cape Cod, the winters are mild compared to here.  They are a Zone 7.  Reading
is a very cold and wet Zone 6, bordering Zone 5.  This typical winter, we
have had temperatures which never went above freezing for over a month in
Dec./Jan. and for the first time in years have had snow cover since the
beginning of Dec.  Last week we had temperatures ranging from 46F to 4F on
the same day (+5C and -15C).

I have a 20 ft. x 30 ft. (6.5m x 9 m?) greenhouse in my garden in which I
grow hundreds of cacti and succulents, including large collections of mesembs
(100?), haworthias (200), aloes (75), bromeliads, pelargoniums, agaves plus
many euphorbias, crassulas and South African bulbs.  I also grow palms, ferns
and Australian and Mediterrranean shrubs.   My greenhouse is kept on the cool
side (56-50F / 5 - 8C).

I store many marginally hardy cacti and other succulents under the benches
during the winter where the temperature hovers just above freezing.

I have had a love for all plants, but especially C&S, since I was a kid in
the 50's.   I have been growing hardy cacti since around 1978, when I saw my
first echinocereus and opuntia species growing outdoors in a small nursery in
New Hampshire.  I was a member of the C&SS of America, and joined a
winter-hardy cactus round robin which was a wonderful group of about 8
people.  Among them were John Spain of Connecticut and Ed Skrocki of Ohio.
John and I traded lots of cuttings back them and became friends.  I've lost
track of Ed, but I understand he is still one of the foremost hybridizers of
sempervivums

Our friendship remains to this day.  As many of you are aware, John has a
beautiful collection of hardy cacti in Middlebury, Conn. and he was one of
the founders of the Conn. C&SS.  He has also written two booklets on growing
winter hardy cacti in our cold wet climate.  In 1991, he and 13 other Conn.
cactophiles attended the first meeting of our new C&SS of Massachusetts at
Wellesley College and our groups' friendships have continued to grow since
then.  Wonderful hobby shared with wonderful people.

Well, I guess I've only made a dent in my background, so I think I'll sign
off and leave the rest for later.  There's a lot more!

I will try not to be a lurker as I was on winterhardycacti_etc.  I must admit
that I was not comfortable with the hostile exchanges which have pervaded for
the past year or so and I thus kept a low profile.  There is nothing more
enjoyable to me than exchanging views and discussing experiences about plants
with other people in a friendly exchange.

I look forward to being in the company of people like Dave, Ingrid, Benny,
Gerd and others who have given me many happy hours of lurking in the past.

Thinking Spring......still two months away.

Art Scarpa
Reading, Mass.
USA

Hello everyone,
   I'm very happy to be involved in the Too cccold for cccactus group. I'm
sitting here in Boulder Colorado with my coat on, wondering what I'll plant in
all the new space I'm bound to have after the spring thaw. After the coldest
November in 120 years, we're having one of the coldest winters in my half
century of memories here in Boulder.
    I'm a member of the Colorado Cactus and Succulent Society. We are having our
annual show and sale, the last full weekend in March, the 24th and 25th. We are
looking for a vendor to fill a recently vacated spot. The S&S is at the Denver
Botanical Gardens, every year we have a huge turnout, each one larger than the
previous.
     If anyone has an idea or is a vendor wanting to make the trip, remember
"When it's springtime in the Rockies....." well let's just say it's a grand time
and large sales are virtually guaranteed, please contact me, Steve Miles,
smiles7@....  Thanks, I look forward to sharing and learning from all the
experience out there.

           Sincerely,
                    Steve Miles


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Greetings from Sweden!

My name is Ingrid and I really am a hardy cactus-grower wannabie ...
generally speaking as my endeavours haven't been all that successful
so far. I hope to change that!!!
According to some maps I am in USDA zone 7 but I am one of the 'wet'
humid bare frost people, so it is a question of providing adequate
drainage and finding the right clones. It is a struggle, but I hope
to show some better results this year. This Winter temps have dipped
to abut -15 C so far and might other years dip to below -20 but only
for brief period. It might happen without a protective snow cover!!!

Have a greenhouse full of tender cacti, succulents ( Fat-plants),
citrus and wild pelargoniums, and an outdoor garden where I grow
oldfashioned roses with all their lovely companion plants and lately
have I gotten hooked on troughs....
my first love is cacti, and I have planted some in my new troughs
.... Sedum & Sempervivum is another interesting area for me, just
getting started!!
So many throughs to make :-) I make mine with perlite so they weigh
much less that the conventional hypertufa. Happy to talk more about
this if someone want to ;-)) also soil and soil mixes are extremely
interesting.

All the best from Ingrid in Sweden ( lurking mostly but enjoying to
hear from people all over the world)

Friends,
can anybody explain to me why I have so many phrases in the
mail text which are obviously in HTML that it is hard to read
the text? How can I alder this (I sit in front of a Unix machine)
Regards,
Gerd Esser
Giessen, Germany

Please view our website for Cold Hardy Northern Cacti.  We are in Zone 5 - Six
Nations, Ontario, Canada.
www.sweetgrassgardens.com/cacti.htm

     -----Original Message-----
     From: millignj@... <millignj@...>
     To: Toocoldforcactus@yahoogroups.com <Toocoldforcactus@yahoogroups.com>
     Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001 3:46 PM
     Subject: [Toocoldforcactus] Intro and Comment


     Greetings to you all and best wishes for our discussions here.

     I am one of the Canadian originals in the old Too Cold Group. I have
     only been growing Cacti outdoors for the last ten years and only
     seriously for the last four. I have a complete collection of all
     native hardy cactus for Canada. I need O fragilis from Saskatchewan
     and Manitoba to complete the local varieties. Last September I
     acquired a wide variety of higher altitude hardy Cactus from the USA
     when Joe Shaw decided to break up his very large collection. I have
     kept these dry over winter at 4 C. They will be planted out in the
     Spring in a new Cactus garden that I have been working on for two
     years. My goal is to get blooms and seeds.

     I am interested in any hardy succulent that can survive ou US zone 5
     autumn and our US zone 4 spring here along the north shore of Lake
     Ontario. We have a rather harsh climate for hardy cacti but only 50 km
     north of us there is a small patch of relic O fragilis. This small
     patch of plants probably was brought in by another group of fanciers,
     the original inhabitants of Canada, who used the spines for tattooing.
     Anyway, I don't feel that I am unique in wanting to grow cactus here.

     Just for your information Dave, please not I was able to subscribe to
     this group directly by going through the Yahoo page. I sent you an
     E-mail anyway but it is possible to subscribe right now without your
     knowledge or intervention.

     Good growing - John Milligan  - 44.25N, 76.45W , Kingston ON Canada





     To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     Toocoldforcactus-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Jeff ...
	 I looked at the photo and yes it does look like Opuntia robusta. Some in
the picture look greener than others. Mine are all more blue than green.
	 After thinking on this is occurred to me I took plants that had been
accustomed to a greenhouse year round and put them outside in early fall
when there was a lot of moisture in the air and increasing cold.  Had I
been thinking straight  I should have put them outside in spring and summer
and allowed them to get used to being outside before fall arrived. I've
advised countless peple to always move plants gradually to a new location
.. and there I go not practicing what I preach.
	 Maybe I'll try again if I have pads to spare later. These are such heavy
plants when they put on growth that it would be a boon to be able to grow
them outside.
	 Marina

Marina Welham
Editor/Publisher
THE AMATEURS' DIGEST
Cacti - Other Succulents - Caudiciforms
www.TheAmateursDigest.com

Hi Everyone and Welcome to this list,

I am up to my ears with all the changes going on, but will get to
your individual questions soon.  I will also post the "house rules"
for the new group in the very near future.

In the meantime, it's nice to have you all here. The introductions
and reintroductions will get us off to a great start getting to know
each other.

Hello again John; good to see you again!I did leave the membership
door open for all respectful people to join the group(with one
exception).

Take care for now,

Dave

Hello Everyone.

I garden in the Ottawa Valley of Ontario, Canada. Hardiness Zone 4(b) (-29C
average), but it can get much colder. As I am the owner of a seedhouse
devoted to rare, hardy herbaceous and woody species, my 6+ acres of gardens
are largely devoted to  seed production. But they are also display gardens,
open to the public. Most importantly, they are my gardens, where I spend
most waking moments from May-November,  both for business and pleasure.

My primary  interests are alpines and succulents although I grow a very wide
range of unusual, hardy plants in an equally wide variety of environments
from woodland to rock and crevice gardens. There are 3 very large ponds that
interconnect with streams and canals, borders, scree beds and both wet and
dry  sand beds.  I have large collections of particular genera, and am also
specifically  interested in hardy, out-of-the-ordinary climbers, always
seeking to find new species to add to the gardens.  I love  troughs and the
tiny plants that prefer to  live in  them and build many new ones each
summer.

Cacti have been a growing passion for about 10 years, and I have slowly
started to connect with other Canadians equally afflicted.  They are housed
in huge, ever-expanding sand beds, which now comprise perhaps one acre of
space, with plans to add another section this year. I grow most species from
seed, as this is my primary passion and some members of the former list have
been very generous in sharing some of their treasures with me. I grow most
species of hardy Opuntia, Escobaria, Mammilaria, and  Pediocactus  as well
as  numerous cultivars, forms and crosses and am always seeking to expand.
I have collected  seed throughout the Canadian prairie  and now have some
fascinating regional forms of O. fragilis and  O. polyacantha.

My nursery customers are still amazed at what they see when they visit. Most
still do not realize that *any* cacti can be hardy in this climate. To my
astonishment, many actually believe  that the  cacti are "bedding out"
plants that I have overwintered!!!!    It boggles the imagination!

Cheers!
Kristl

--
Kristl Walek
Gardens North Seeds
5984 Third Line Road, North
North Gower, Ontario
K0A 2T0
CANADA

Phone: (613) 489-0065
Fax: (613) 489-1208
www.gardensnorth.com

(Zone 4b -29 to -34C)

So many species....so little time

Here are the Patagonian cacti I have been growing in my xeriscape
gardens since 1989:
Maihuenia patagonica
Maihuenia poeppigii
Opuntia darwinii and var. hickenii
Opuntia glomerata
Opuntia andicola (name is probably invalid)
Gymnocalycium gibbosum
Gymnocalycium bruchii
Pterocactus australis
Pterocactus valentinii
Pterocactus kuntzei
Austrocactus bertinii

I've also been successful with Opuntia stapelioides (a great spineless tephro
with no location data)
and Opuntia microdisca, from several localities.  Opuntia weberi is also doing
well this winter,
with maximum lows of -15F so far.

Rod Haenni
One foot of snow, roller coaster temps
from high 40's to below 0F past two weeks

Littleton, Colorado  Zone 5

Greetings to you all and best wishes for our discussions here.

I am one of the Canadian originals in the old Too Cold Group. I have
only been growing Cacti outdoors for the last ten years and only
seriously for the last four. I have a complete collection of all
native hardy cactus for Canada. I need O fragilis from Saskatchewan
and Manitoba to complete the local varieties. Last September I
acquired a wide variety of higher altitude hardy Cactus from the USA
when Joe Shaw decided to break up his very large collection. I have
kept these dry over winter at 4 C. They will be planted out in the
Spring in a new Cactus garden that I have been working on for two
years. My goal is to get blooms and seeds.

I am interested in any hardy succulent that can survive ou US zone 5
autumn and our US zone 4 spring here along the north shore of Lake
Ontario. We have a rather harsh climate for hardy cacti but only 50 km
north of us there is a small patch of relic O fragilis. This small
patch of plants probably was brought in by another group of fanciers,
the original inhabitants of Canada, who used the spines for tattooing.
Anyway, I don't feel that I am unique in wanting to grow cactus here.

Just for your information Dave, please not I was able to subscribe to
this group directly by going through the Yahoo page. I sent you an
E-mail anyway but it is possible to subscribe right now without your
knowledge or intervention.

Good growing - John Milligan  - 44.25N, 76.45W , Kingston ON Canada

Hi folks,
                   Jeff the chronic lurker here. Glad to be aboard this latest
permutation
of the list devoted to
cold/wet hardy cactus( and succulents?),although I technically do not belong
here since I
am in a
9a situation, I can comment on the thread about O. robusta. First I would like
to
determine if we
are talking about the same plant. I have an image posted at:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=85936&a=2120511&p=29225180
which I have been led to believe is O. robusta. If everybody agrees that this is
what we
are talking
about, I can verify that these plants do very well in my situation which is 40"
of
rain,all in the Winter,with marginally frosty(well, frosty for me!) temps of
26-32F a
common occurrence.  I have these plants in pots in the greenhouse and outside
and also
have several in the ground, in raised beds. The outsides plants all do
excellently for me.
I have seen much larger specimens spread throughout the Napa Valley as it has
seemed to
have naturalized itself here. If it weren't for the grapes, I'm sure the Napa
Valley would
be covered with it! There was a time a couple of years ago when we got down to
22F. At
that point, all the very large top heavy specimens were knocked down, as most
Opuntias are
likely to do in colder situations. There appears to have been no damage to these
plants as
they all righted themselves when Spring came around. Now I know these conditions
don't
even come close to some of the conditions that most of our list members are used
to, but,
just to prove that we do have some weather here, check out what has happened to
the Napa
Valley in the last few days at:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=85936&a=11558667
As an asides, every specimen I've tried to keep in my heated greenhouse,
developed a nasty
fungus concentrated around the areoles, which dry off and leave nasty looking
patches
around the areoles.
So, in conclusion, I think these plants can take a bit more than the 22F
mentioned, but
I'm not sure how much more.

--
Jeff in Calistoga,California,
At The Bulldog Cactus Ranch
Located at about 38.56°N 122.58°W.
Height about 112m / 367 feet above sea level.
40"(1016mm) rain per annum, at least
USDA Zone 9a, feels like an 8a to me!
Sunset Zone 14
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=85936

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out
and your dog would get in....Mark Twain.....

To Dave and others.

My name is Martin Tversted from Denmark,
I have been on the other list more than half a year,
but I have only taken part of the diskussion very little
as I do not have the large amount of knowledge about
gardening with hardy cacti.

I am glad this new list has been formed as the diskussion
on the other list was becomming too off topic.

Hardy cacti are relative new to me, and I will mainly be listening
and maybe asking questions. I am still testing many plants, but as
I mainly starts the plants by seed it takes some time.

At the moment I have some Austrocactus waiting for germination
when temperature gets warmer, and I have had frozen Maihuenias
and Oreocereus outside.

I would like to hear more from
Argentina and Chile and what species of cacti Rod is cultivating. This is not
a topic that has had much room on the other list and I was thinking that there
must be many species that are hardy in the northern part of the globe.

Best wishes

Martin Tversted - Denmark.

fuer unsere freunde:

thank you for your statements rod. so i am probably in south argentina next
month (before my us/mexico expedition) or in spring november. looking for the
hardy austros, maihuenias, etc. (but no collecting from cacti) drive  west
(40) to chile area and south (3) in argentinia.
thank you.

ciao fritz hochstaetter

http://www.fhnavajo.com
http://home.t-online.de/home/bassbubbis  (see the photos from our garden)

pedio/sclero/navajoa/toumeya/yucca irt
mannheim, germany, hamlyn valley utah cotterel mts idaho


hamlyn valley  3 GC
bariloche 18 GC
mannheim  9 GC

Dave,

I look forward to becoming an active participant
of this new group.   My primary interest in gardening
is hardy succulents and I do have one of the largest
collections in the world.  I would like to propose a
cuttings exchange (for US members primarily) and I
will be glad to get the ball rolling by listing what I have
for exchange, both cuttings and seed.  I have large
quantities of Maihuenia poeppigii from Shangri La,
Chile and Austrocactus bertinii from near Bariloche,
Argentina that I would be willing to trade to members.

I have traveled extensively in both Argentina and
Chile with the sole object of bringing new species
of hardy cacti into cultivation.  I am also interested
in leading future seed collecting trips to Chile and
Argentina if interest and finances make sense.

I look forward to a list of interesting discussions
and no flaming or pseudo-erudition.

Warm regards,

Rod Haenni
303-795-3676
Zone 5, Littleton, Colorado

Hello,

The group is now open for business. Thanks for your help in setting things
up.

Dave Sierer-    Happy to be back with the 'Too Cold For Cactus Group'
Westby, Wisconsin

Marina,
A friend of mine 2 years ago had a very large O.robusta in his
greenhouse and was working away. When he came back the winds had
demolished his greenhouse so all the plants were open to the UK
elements. The Opuntia robusta was one of the plants that survived.
Some pads were black and rotted but most were unmarked, With the aid
of a hacksaw I took eighty-six pads all of which rooted up and were
sold by my local branch at shows. The average pad weighed in at 1¾ kg.
The plant was open to heavy rain, snow, ice and temperatures down to -
6C. I suppose the clone has a lot to do with it.


Regards  John

Hello to all of you (3),

I am still playing with all the settings and hope to announce this list soon.
Thanks for your help John!

Dave



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Testing to see if this works to begin with.

Somebody a few months ago asked me about the cold hardiness of Opuntia
robusta. I've seen it listed in a few places as a cold hardy plant. It is
NOT cold hardy.
I put three large, thick pads outside in early fall. They were against a
south wall in sunshine and protected from rain by an overhand from a
building.
Even before we had any really cold weather (below freezing), all three
promptly turned black and rotted off. I think it was a combination of cold
(but not freezing) and atmospheric humidity.
I have several more about the same size in my greenhouse which this winter
I kept at 49F and they are all doing well. All of these rooted pads were
from the same original plant.

Cheers
Marina


Marina Welham
Editor/Publisher
THE AMATEURS' DIGEST
Cacti - Other Succulents - Caudiciforms
www.TheAmateursDigest.com

This one is from my other e-mail address: fro5415@...


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Test Message 2/10/01

Deadwood