other cactus

[Weiser]

Thought you may like this Opuntia.
This is Opuntia macrocentra and is hardy for me but I have it placed near my south foundation. It will get frost damage if exposed to long stretches of sub 10F temperatures
 I love the long spines, black with white tips, and the purple colored pads in the winter.



http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=OPMA8
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242415203
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/nativeshrubs/opuntiamacrocent.htm

[Hoy]

Thought you may like this Opuntia.
This is Opuntia macrocentra and is hardy for me but I have it placed near my south foundation. It will get frost damage if exposed to long stretches of sub 10F temperatures
 I love the long spines, black with white tips, and the purple colored pads in the winter.

You are quite right, John!

Are bicoloured specimens/species common or rare BTW?

[Weiser]

Trond
 Some of the differant clones of the Opuntia phaeacantha complex can display the same type of yellow and red bi-colored flowers.






In my experience you are more apt to find it occurring in non Opuntia species. Such as these Photos of the Echinocereus complex.





But there are many other cacti genera that show bi-colored flowers. I don't grow them due to lack of hardiness.

[DesertZone]

Here's one of the few I had, they did good but rotted under heavy snow fall one year or was it very cold? I think it was heavy snow.
I was looking around and have a seedling/small plant from the one in the pic, could be hybrid? Does well in cold.  I will try and get a pic and post. 


PS I have lots of these on my place in AZ.  I did not know they were there untill I went down in the drought.  They grow right in the middle of dense bushes, probably for protection from collared peccaries.

[Hoy]

Trond
 Some of the differant clones of the Opuntia phaeacantha complex can display the same type of yellow and red bi-colored flowers.

In my experience you are more apt to find it occurring in non Opuntia species. Such as these Photos of the Echinocereus complex.

But there are many other cacti genera that show bi-colored flowers. I don't grow them due to lack of hardiness.

John, I've seen pictures of some but never seen pictures of any bicoloured here.

This one (yours) takes the prize:

[DesertZone]

Opuntia macrocentra/polyacantha cross, found two in the yard. both found very close were my old macrocantha grew.
Only opuntia I have with long spines like these.
first one.


And the one I found yesterday after looking by the old plants.

[cohan]

I tried germinating Maihuenia poeppigii this past season.  The best info I could find was to try it at 70+ F.  I planted it along with my Echinocereus seeds the first week of July.  The Echino seeds sprouted nicely, but no Maihuenia.

Any hints? (Of course, seed pots are always held over for at least one more season.)

There are some online articles, which I might be able to find links to if pressed...lol Several months cold stratification is recommended by one study ( if I remember right, 3 months was better than one in the study).. I can attest to reasonable success from that strategy.. aging likely also, as Bob mentions... I have some seed several years old I may try.. another suggestion is GA3, and there is another (for me too complicated) approach that involves high temperatures , and those seeds which do not germinate quickly are then pierced .....

[cohan]

Trond, cylindropuntias are the tall cacti for our climate. In the unheated greenhouse I have had them to 180 cm.

That might be a good cactus for over there.  I know Cylindropuntia imbricata can handle wet feet here in the winter.  I bet if it was high on a mound it would do ok, and if it had some heat for growth in the summer.

The challenge for the plants are not the winters, its the cool summers. They simply like it warmer during their growth periode than what we can expect here...

Yes, quite so but I'm willing to try

Same issue here, plus much colder winters than you have, though less wet...lol.. I've started my first cactus area, which is in a 'warm' microclimate on the property- southern exposure, fence behind, trees behind that,  and another fence on west side, so it tends to be sheltered, warmer and drier than surrounding areas; so far a number of pots of seedlings sunk for the winter and one large pot with native O fragilis (which should not have any problems, its Echinocereus that will be tricky).. I'll also be using dark rocks to draw more warmth .. the possible drawback of this site/arrangement is that it retains less snowcover- so I shovelled more on them once there was enough around... they need all the help they can get once it gets to -30/-40.. experiments and observations yet to come!
I hope to try some sort of 'chollas' as well, a couple have been suggested as possibly hardy enough...

[RickR]

The shrunken Echinocereus spp. seedlings are spending a second winter in the fridge before braving my winters outside.

               

       

[McDonough]

The shrunken Echinocereus spp. seedlings are spending a second winter in the fridge before braving my winters outside.

Baby cacti seedlings are just soooOOOO cute. Rick, how do you handle them in the fridge?  Don't they need more light? I'm interested in particular details about how you overwinter them in the fridge... and might such a technique be applicable to other plants?

[cohan]

The shrunken Echinocereus spp. seedlings are spending a second winter in the fridge before braving my winters outside.

Baby cacti seedlings are just soooOOOO cute. Rick, how do you handle them in the fridge?  Don't they need more light? I'm interested in particular details about how you overwinter them in the fridge... and might such a technique be applicable to other plants?

While dormant, cacti do not need light, you just have to be careful re-acclimating them in spring; some people grow tender spp outdoors and winter plants in dark basements--just make sure they are dormant- cool/cold and dry for a while before...
No basement and no extra fridge space here, so my seedlings only got one winter indoors, we'll see what has survived by spring! I won't cry too much if the Echinocereus seedlings don't survive (not that I'll give up after one try)- my favourite plants and flowers for hardy cacti are Escobarias (esp missouriensis) and Pediocactus!

[RickR]

Baby cacti seedlings are just soooOOOO cute. Rick, how do you handle them in the fridge?  Don't they need more light? I'm interested in particular details about how you overwinter them in the fridge... and might such a technique be applicable to other plants?

Cohan is right.  When practically any plant is dormant, you don't need light.  Obviously, when a cactus shrinks down, you can be positive it is dormant.  My fridge is kept very cold: if you put a cup of water in the back, it will freeze on top.  And I am the only one here, so the door doesn't opened that often. 

I was pretty apprehensive the first time I put these cactus in the fridge last season.  I had only planted the seed the second week of July, and plants were so teensy, and even more so when they shrunk down!  These pics were taken in mid August 2010:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=501.msg5305#msg5305

Now compare that with this pic taken in mid July 2011, and how they shrunk to the image in my previous post, and you REALLY get the idea how teensy they were the first winter in the fridge.

               

Outside, pots sat under the roof eve for for several weeks before transferring to the fridge, and even then I put them in the fridge uncovered for a month before I enclosed them in a plastic bag.  Materials stay this way until removal in spring.  Remember that if you enclose materials and then put them in a colder temperature, you risk a lot of moisture condensation - in the soil and on the pot and plant surfaces.  Water that was water vapor and innocuous, becomes liquid that can be dangerous and promote rot.  The goal, in my opinion, is to reduce dessication, but not allow any free water liquid.  If your plastic bag has water condensing on its inner surface, than the humidity is too high inside the bag.

I regularly overwinter other plants that I expect to not survive zone 4 winter (but still need a good winter) in the fridge.  This also includes cuttings I root in the late summer, or cuttings that don't root until late summer/fall.  These new plants, I have found through trial and error (well, error, really) just don't ready themselves for winter, even though they are outside, and even though they will be perfectly cold hardy next season. 

When in the refrigerator, always err on the dry side.  It really is amazing how dry plants survive when temps are low.  Other seedlings that are in my fridge now, in their pots DRY are tender Gladiolus spp.  There will be a few others that are still in the unheated garage.

[cohan]

Cute little things
I just kept my cactus seedlings under lights and more or less watered for the first winter. Many xerophytes seem not as concerned about moisture while young, so I usually don't worry about giving them a dry season the first year. of course if they are kept growing/not dormant you need reasonable light-- though I found with my Escobaria (vivipara and missouriensis) and Echinocereus seedlings (no great depth of experience here, this is all more or less one batch) were just fine under not fresh fluorescent lights for a year and half until I put them outside..

[RickR]

After sleeping on my last post, there was one thing I did forget:
The first time in the fridge, when the cactus was so excruciatingly tiny, in mid February I did take them out spritz them with perhaps a tablespoon of water per pot, let the surface dry, put them back in the sealed bag and back in the fridge.  But I made sure there was no residual condensation.

I don't plan on doing this now (the second winter).  Plants are much bigger.


My experience backs up Cohan's, regarding Escobaria.  Seedlings did not require lots of light inside the house in the young growing stage.  (I've germinated them in winter and late winter.)  Although, I never grew them for more than a few months inside, before transferring outside.

[Weiser]

Opuntia macrocentra/polyacantha cross, found two in the yard.

Those are very attractively spined badboys. I hope the flowers are something special too.

Cohan and Rick
Thank you for your input.
I just don't have the patience it takes to start cacti from seed. The years required for the plants to reach flowering size doesn't fit well with my need, for instant instant gratification.