Planting advice please!

perrycornish · Post by **perrycornish** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:48 am

I got this Opuntia (I think ficus indica?) pad today and am not very sure how to plant it. As you can see some roots have formed well up the pad, I imagine that if I plant it as deep as that the pad will rot? Will it 'do' if I just let thatroot dry out and plant the pad with the main rootlets?

Thanks

Bill in SC · Post by **Bill in SC** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 2:56 pm

Put 1/3 of the pad in the soil and you will be fine. These Opuntias are about as rot proof as any cactus I have seen.. Miles recommends putting 1/3 of it in the ground, and that's what I have always done with great success..
Bill in SC

perrycornish · Post by **perrycornish** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:26 pm

Thank you Bill. I shall plant it this evening, knowing that it will'do'

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:12 am

As most of my collection is Opuntias I'll agree with the other Bill.
As a rule of thumb I plant about 1/3 of the pad.

I got this Opuntia (I think ficus indica?)

I think your right Perry. Thats a good sized Opuntia to be growing indoors

perrycornish · Post by **perrycornish** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:27 am

Thanks the other Bill

You say

I think your right Perry. Thats a good sized Opuntia to be growing indoors
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I'm relying on slowish growth and then if necessary I will move it outside, the temps will be OK, just need to watch the drainage, lots of grit etc as I garden on clay. Should be fun, I'd like to see passers-by faces when they spot a very large cactus in a garden in NI

PinkNailPolish · Post by **PinkNailPolish** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 2:10 am

I have relatives in Ireland, mostly Cork and Galway though. But if they ever travel north, it'd be interesting to hear them say they saw a big cactus growing.

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 2:22 am

Perry,

Sounds like you got a plan going. Out of curiousity whats the winters like in your part of the woods

perrycornish · Post by **perrycornish** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:52 am

Hi people

Jackie said

I have relatives in Ireland, mostly Cork and Galway though. But if they ever travel north, it'd be interesting to hear them say they saw a big cactus growing

Tell them to give it a while Jackie

Bill asked

Sounds like you got a plan going. Out of curiousity whats the winters like in your part of the woods

Wet, hence the need for drainage but rarely really cold, maybe Minus one or two degrees, very seldom more although it has been known

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:41 am

Perry said:

Wet, hence the need for drainage but rarely really cold, maybe Minus one or two degrees, very seldom more although it has been known

So do you have any cacti that grow outside. There are some prickly's that can handle winters like that

perrycornish · Post by **perrycornish** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:33 am

None outside yet, but probably soon, all the fault of this site LOL

iann · Post by **iann** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:32 pm

Perry, start out with one or two plants in a container filled with mostly gravel. An Opuntia is a good candidate to start with, some Echinocereus also. If they survive the winter, and they should if you do it right, then you can plan for bigger things

I'm on the west side of England, climate not so different from yours, and have a few outside over the winter. Lots and lots can survive in a cold frame.

hob · Post by **hob** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:38 pm

i find this topic very interesting

......i'm in the east of england.......i used to put a lot of my cacti out for the summer (still in the pots) after the last frost, and leave them out all summer........as long as the rain could drain out of the bottom of the pots most of them took no harm.........some even seemed better for getting their sunlight direct, rather than through glass. i always used to take them back in before the first frost though.

the idea of actually planting them in the ground never occured to me, i'm guessing to do that you would need to construct some kind of raised bed with a soakaway underneath to stop them rotting at the root.

what about snow ?? this was the garden at my old house in 2005

maybe some kind of glass construction to cover them in winter and remove it in the summer months

i might try that next year ......maybe with some offsets from my bigger plants and maybe buy some opuntia's too........i never bothered with opuntia's before as they seem to take up a lot of room....the only one i have is an O. microdays.....i had also thought about a couple of hanging baskets with epi's in for the summer.....should make a nice change from the usual hanging baskets around here.

perrycornish · Post by **perrycornish** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:45 pm

Iann thank you for that tip it sounds spot on. That is exactly what I will now do

Hob, I certainly planned if and when I plant the cacti actually in my garden ( not a pot)to construct a raised bed with really good drainage as I garden on clay!
Amazing how an apperently run of the mill query like this can develop. Thanks for all your help everyone

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:47 am

Hob and Perry,

Raised beds with that drain well are the way to go. I constructed my hardy garden on a terrace-- this provides fast drainage as rain runs off faster than it soaks in

.
Beware of what you plant in the ground, do some studying on the plants hardiness before you subject it to cold weather.

I would say for hardy's Opuntoids, Echinocereus, Escobarias are your best bet.

Hob, I have some Opuntiods that would laugh at that snow. Oh, your O. microdays will not survive your winter outside.

readymade · Post by **readymade** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:38 am

I have a friend from Saskatchewan (whom I'm luring into cactus addiction, just like a drug pusher!). She says they had opuntias in their yard in Regina that did great. So if they can grow in Regina, Canada . . . !