Moving blues

[ThrivingCacti]

Hi gang,

I have a conundrum on my hands. My wife and I are moving from a house that has plenty of sunshine in the backyard, which my cacti just love...to a house with a shady backyard, which my cacti will not love. I'm not too worried about most of the succulents, as many would like to avoid getting scorched in the first place.

My worry is about the cacti. The front yard looks to get many hours of direct sun in the mornings. My wife suggested we build a small, low greenhouse (maybe waist-high) up against the front of the house. After much deliberation, I don't know how feasible it'll be. The house sits near the street and there aren't any trees in the front to at least obscure a potential greenhouse. Seems like, no matter how aesthetically pleasing it could be, it'd still be somewhat of an eyesore.

I think my collection will fare okay over the winter in a low-light room. The window faces the west, which is the shady back yard. Seems like I could buy a couple of grow lights to help them out, but don't know anything about grow lights or which would be best. My hope is to build a little greenhouse, say 9' x 9', in the back once spring rolls around. However, there are two huge water oaks that must be at least two hundred years old whose branches span the whole yard. They will help cool the house in summer, are very beautiful, are actually on our neighbors' property, and I just can't justify cutting them down for my plants. Dappled sunshine back there at best.

Ugh! Is there an affordable way to build a decent greenhouse back there? And would it be worth it with all the shade? Should I install grow lights to help them out if I do build one back there? As anyone reading could agree, I've put too much care, effort and time into cultivating my green family! Help! Please!

If it helps I now live and, upon moving, will still live in Atlanta, Georgia. My fellow Atlanta Cacti and Succulent Club members could only give me doom and gloom, "your plants probably won't survive a shady back yard". Sheesh! I thought they could at least advise me about grow light options.

My collection is now big enough to warrant building a greenhouse. Atlanta gets plenty of rain, and shlepping all my plants into the basement every time we get significant rain, and then back out again has become exhausting!!! This will be our first home purchase and we're very excited. I do, however, feel a bit blue about the prospect of losing some plants. I could sell, or give away some, but gotta keep most of them! And since buying a new house can be costly, I'll be looking to build something for around $500 or so until I can save for something a bit more efficient. Aaagh! Any advice is gratefully accepted.

Thank you,
Thad

[dustin0352]

I feel your pain as I used to live in a heavily wooded area. The only place that provided about 5-6 hours of somewhat medium sunlight was my front yard. The back yard was just a canopy of trees. If no sun light gets through your back yard they will not make it back there. The front of my old house had a little garden patch by the front door that had a azalea hedge there. So I transplanted the azalea's (pain in the rear), put down some gravel and made it a front porch/cactus area. This area also had a over hand from the roof so it provided a little bit of protection from florida rains. It worked but had to move the plants every time the rains came from the east. It will be a tuff thing to deal with, but if your cactiholism is strong enough you will find a way

[hoven5th]

I think the greenhouse in the front yard sounds like a good idea. An eyesore? So what! You might want to check with the city first - they could make you take it down later on if it's in the front yard.

Depending on how large your collection is, and how large the plants are, you could possibly get away with using grow lights. If you have any large adult cacti they'll need some sun. But if your collection is small cacti in, say, 4 inch pots you could put them under full-spectrum grow light for 18 hours a day and maybe avoid etiolation.

[ThrivingCacti]

Thanks guys. Okay, maybe a small greenhouse against the front of the house wouldn't be so bad. Also, there are spots in the beds for prickly pear. Anyone know how they fare during very cold weather? I live in Atlanta and below freezing temps aren't unheard of. Meanwhile, I think a coupla grow light hoods and spotlights will help my collection overwinter this year. I'll hafta come up with an alternate plan for a greenhouse with lights in the shady back yard. Yep, I'm a cactiholic and will do anything I can to cultivate them to their fullest! Thanks again.

[daiv]

Boy that's tough. I suppose putting them in the front of the house would be best, but then as you point out, the structure will need to be appealing to look at. This is easy enough if money were no object. But for $500, you won't be able to make a nice glass, lean-to greenhouse.

Are there any branches you can trim in the back maybe? So as not to lose your trees, but at lest get more light?

[hoven5th]

Boy that's tough. I suppose putting them in the front of the house would be best, but then as you point out, the structure will need to be appealing to look at. This is easy enough if money were no object. But for $500, you won't be able to make a nice glass, lean-to greenhouse.

Are there any branches you can trim in the back maybe? So as not to lose your trees, but at lest get more light?

I had thought of that too, but you'd likely have to pay someone to do this, unless you're up to climbing up into the trees with a chainsaw. At least if you build the greenhouse you get something useful out of your money, something more than a hole in your canopy.

But that's just me. I'll choose function over aesthetics every time.

[ThrivingCacti]

Yeah, it'd be tough to remove branches. These trees are huge! Aaaand magnificent. Besides, I may just have to bite the bullet and build something small and pleasing in front.

However, I'd still like to build something bigger in back. Preferably about 9'x9'x6'. Anyone have any suggestions for grow lights to give supplemental light if and when I do build? I'm an intermediate cactus grower, but have never built a greenhouse and just have no idea what lights would be adequate. I purposely didn't say "what lights would be best" because the back does get some light, just dappled.

Also, an employee of a local garden supply company told me that the government is notified when anyone buys grow lights and that power companies look for "spikes" in power usage. What does that mean for a cacti and succulent grower? Do they really drain energy? Am I just making too much out of this? My green, spiky family will survive if it's the last thing I do (limited budget allowing)!

Thanks for everyone's input

[iann]

To make even the slightest difference in your near 100 square foot greenhouse, you'd need something like a 1000W HPS. Imagine running that for even 4-6 hours every day and you can imagine your utility bill. Not illegal to grow cacti yet, but illegal to start a pot farm in your bedroom

You'll never achieve the same results with your grow lights as with direct sun. Even a couple of hours a day is massively benificial for cacti.