Hi! Help wanted please !Spring seems to be near and that caused me and my cacti trouble besides happiness. Let me explain myself. I keep my collection of cacti and succulents,outside at the balcony(protected from rain), thanks to the mild weather of Athens and especially the suburb I live in. I keep inside only those genera that need 15 C minimum, like Melocactus and Pachypodium. Most of the balcony has northeastern exposure (so direct sunlight for about 6 months) and the rest faces west. This means that this time of year It's better to put all the genera that need direct sunlight at the west balcony. Well, I did so…but casualties occurred. My Ferocactus covillei (emoryi) got scorched(it’s skin that faced the sun remained smooth but turned yellowish) and my Euphorbia trigona lost many of it’s leaves,in just two days!I had them removed from the sun,and I’m still wandering what went wrong?
I have to admit that the rise of the temperature was sudden( it’s now 20 C from 5 C only a couple of weeks before),but then plants received sunlight only for some hours in the afternoon, when sunlight is not as damaging as on noon. Ferocacti are sun lovers, but maybe this is only the general theory and other things play a big role too??? Emoryi doesn’t have the heavy spination of other Ferocacti, the specific plant wasn’t hardened enough because it’s too young ,the heat was sudden and the plant wasn’t prepared little by little for direct sunlight…to name a few. Do you have any ideas?Will my cactus recover and regain it’s green color all over, cause now is half yellow half green. Shall I expose it to sunlight again, if it recovers ?
Thanks!
Help! My Ferocactus emoryi got scorched!
So it turned yellow, that means that some of the chlorophyl was destroyed. I'm not sure if it will recover or not (I wouldn't count on it, to be honest), it really depends from one plant to another and of how soon you reacted.
Probably all of the factors you're mentioning had an influence. I'd let it recover and then let it adapt very slowly from shade to full sun. Be extra careful though!
Probably all of the factors you're mentioning had an influence. I'd let it recover and then let it adapt very slowly from shade to full sun. Be extra careful though!
Christos,
First I'd like to point you to Andy's article on the subject here: http://www.cactiguide.com/article/?article=article4.php
I would guess the sudden change in conditions is entirely responsible for the problem. Cacti are like people in that if you've been wearing long sleves and pants all winter and then on the first hot day, you go out in the hot sun with shorts and a t-shirt, you will soon be in pain and red! If you slowly aclimate yourself, you will instead develop a nice tan and be able to go out in the sun without getting burned. Still there are some people who never tan and they can't go in the hot sun without protection ever.
If your plants are just stressed, they will come back to normal. If they were really burned, they will develop scars. (See pictures in Andy's article on this.)
Conclusion: I would definately recommend getting your sun-lovers into the full sun, just do it carefully.
First I'd like to point you to Andy's article on the subject here: http://www.cactiguide.com/article/?article=article4.php
I would guess the sudden change in conditions is entirely responsible for the problem. Cacti are like people in that if you've been wearing long sleves and pants all winter and then on the first hot day, you go out in the hot sun with shorts and a t-shirt, you will soon be in pain and red! If you slowly aclimate yourself, you will instead develop a nice tan and be able to go out in the sun without getting burned. Still there are some people who never tan and they can't go in the hot sun without protection ever.
If your plants are just stressed, they will come back to normal. If they were really burned, they will develop scars. (See pictures in Andy's article on this.)
Conclusion: I would definately recommend getting your sun-lovers into the full sun, just do it carefully.
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
Thanks a lot Dieter and Daiv!!!
The article was very good indeed!Age of the plant should play a great role though.The large Echinocactus grusonii(12 cm wide) seems to love direct sunlight.On the contrary the little one(5cm wide) turned a little red at the side facing the Sun,exactly as Graptopetalum paraguayense and some other succulents do(that's normal for them though).
Anyway i'm starting the ...rotation as advised.
Bye!
The article was very good indeed!Age of the plant should play a great role though.The large Echinocactus grusonii(12 cm wide) seems to love direct sunlight.On the contrary the little one(5cm wide) turned a little red at the side facing the Sun,exactly as Graptopetalum paraguayense and some other succulents do(that's normal for them though).
Anyway i'm starting the ...rotation as advised.
Bye!
It proved i was quick enough (this time) because the emoryi is recovering fast and regaining it's green color!!!It seems that the tissue of the skin wasn't destroyed, maybe that's why it felt smooth when i touched it.
The whole situation was a fortunate one after all.I was given a warning,a good lesson and to my cactus...a second chance!!!
The whole situation was a fortunate one after all.I was given a warning,a good lesson and to my cactus...a second chance!!!
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