CactiGuide.com

Tell me again that cactus are worth the hassle! It's 5AM & 8 degrees. My sweet, sweet husband just went outside & turned up the SECOND electric space heater in what we call the "new greenhouse". Needed #2 for cactus from a club rescue(deceased member). Kind of like a "free horse" - the horse was free but you have to feed it & build a barn. The "old greenhouse" is a lean-to off the house, so I just open the door & it sucks heat from the dining room. But the epis & Al the saguaro are happy. Trying to keep the ones that need a cold rest around 42-45 in the new GH & the jungle types in the old GH above 55. Can't wait to see this month's electric bill. How are the rest of you coping?

I haul all my plants - but the winter active ones - into the house keep them in an unheated room from November to March. The winter active ones I keep in a small safekeeping area inside the greenhouse, which I keep just above freezing. Hardly takes up energy, the two cubic meters I have in use to keep frost free.

The winter growers like gasteria are in the living room, the rhipsalis ( blooming like crazy) are on the sunporch & the melos are nice & warm in the office. The house is maxxed out. The GHs are 8 by 10 & 9 by 13. The new GH has all the rescued copiapoas, big barrels & the rescued Schick hybrid echinopsis. They should be OK down to 40, I hope. Sue