Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds (links on page 9)

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Mrs.Green
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Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds (links on page 9)

Post by Mrs.Green »

After much debating back and forth with myself, wether to start a blog or not , I take the chanse and hope I don’t upset the serious cactiphiles to much.. :D

If you are looking for stunningly beautiful pics of flowering cacti , this isn’t the place for you. As mentioned in the heading, I am really keeping cacti against the odds. I live in a place with long winters and very little daylight for several months, I have no greenhouse and no growlights so I don’t expect much flowering. The Schlumbergeras and an old Echinopsis do grace me with flowers every year though.

There are lots of really lovely blogs here with gorgeous pictures of cacti, this little blog will try to look at growing cacti and succulents ( and some other plants) from a another point :wink:



Why you shouldn’t repot in winter..

I normally don’t repot plants in winter apart from small plants in minipots. Thinking that disturbing the plants in winter isn’t a good idea for several reasons. Today I learned thats even another reason this isn’t a good idea.. Even though I haven’t been collecting cacti for a really long time, I have had a few cacti for more than ten years. These should have been repotted a long time ago and normally I would have waited untill spring but a couple of them didn’t look good so I decided to go ahead today.

As mentioned I usually repot larger plants in summer and I do it outside, very practical since you don’t have to worry about soil/ substrate everywere and you can use the garden hose if needed. Since its winter, to cold to do repotting outside and the garden hose is stashed away I had to do it in the kitchen. Lecaballs rolling all over the place was the least problem.. Since the soil was impossible to remove without damaging the roots, what do you do when you can’t use the garden hose? The shower off course! Which I can tell you is a bad idea.. All the soil coming off the rootclump clogged the shower, resulting in a lot of water on the bathroom floor.. on the bright side the floor got very clean.
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Aiko
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Aiko »

Long winters and shortage of daylight is not a problem. Just as long as you keep the plants dormant and withhold water during those months and keep them in a cool place (in an unheated room, for example) they will be fine. When the weather improves, give them the best sunny place you can provide, even outdoors in full summer (unprotected from rain even, maybe?) through the summer if that might be possible.

My winters are probably less cold, but probably gloomier than yours, especially December which is the darkest and dullest of all months up here. Good thing is, if your winters are long and cold, the summer usually makes up in number of hours of daylight and sunlight. And those summer months are when your plants are active.

I think you might be surprised what your plants might like. Just as long as they are not on a windowsill aimed at the north.
Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

Aiko, thank you for answering 🙂 All my new cacti ( except the Melo with no roots) are in an unheated room and as soon as the sun is back will have several hours sun. I do not water the desertcacti in winter. Even the windowsills in the livingroom/kitchen are rather cold as I don’t see the point in using a lot of money on heating, when its much cheaper ( and healthier too) to put on more clothes , rather than to pretend it’s summer clotheswise. I guess thats the reason the Schlumbergeras in the bathroom put on more flowers than the ones in my kitchen. The bathroom is even colder than the other rooms, since it’s the room one spends least time and therefore no point in wasting money heating. In fact keeping a cold bathroom has an extra bonus..familymembers who tend to spend to much time in the shower, will hurry up when its cold , even more money saved :D

I am hoping for flowers on the Gymno and the E.subdenudata I bought this fall, since they both had dried up flowerbuds.
Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and show you a couple of the flowers on one of my Schlumbergera’s. This one have the largest flowers, they are 8,5 cm long . A true Christmas cactus this one , blooming right on time :D Since I don’t have a ‘real’ camera and don’t like to move blooming plants, please excuse the quality of the pics.
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bbarv
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by bbarv »

Lovely flowers, mrs. Green and Merry Christmas!
Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

bbarv wrote: Thu Dec 24, 2020 10:37 pm Lovely flowers, mrs. Green and Merry Christmas!
Thank you Bbarv and a Happy New Year! :)
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anttisepp
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by anttisepp »

Lovely julekaktus, Mrs.Green. Godt Nytt År!
Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

anttisepp wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 10:54 am Lovely julekaktus, Mrs.Green. Godt Nytt År!
Thank you Anttisepp! Hyvää uutta vuotta! :) ( I do hope the translator I used is correct...I have seen some really funny translations using google translator.. :lol: )
Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

Ooops..I did it again...

I wasn’t planning on buying any more cacti for a while but visiting a flowershop and seeing that they had cheap cacti... :o These babies followed me home..
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teo
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by teo »

#2 looks like Euphorbia meloformis ?
Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

teo wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:21 pm #2 looks like Euphorbia meloformis ?
Oh..I thought it was E.obesa? :) Studying pics of both species they seems to be very similar as young? (all the pots in these pics are 5 cm’s)
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teo
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by teo »

obesa should be more smooth - not so 'edgy' I think. Then again after looking at my obesa seedling (from obesa seed) I'm not so sure anymore ?
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Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

teo wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:20 pm obesa should be more smooth - not so 'edgy' I think. Then again after looking at my obesa seedling (from obesa seed) I'm not so sure anymore ?
DSC_6174.JPG
Just a thought..is it possible to crossbreed the two species? If so, wouldn’t that make matters a bit difficult? Regarding identifying them .
Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

Flowers...

My Rhipsalis cassutha has a flower and more to come. :) Not much to ‘brag’ about for the majority of you I would guess but for me cacti flowers aren’t something I take for granted, it’s more like a bonus :) Not a great picture either but the plnt is entangled in other plants and not easy to move.
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Mrs.Green
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Re: Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds

Post by Mrs.Green »

Gollum

I guess this is Crassula ovata ‘ Gollum’ . Plantsale in a grocery store, who can resist? Not me.. :D Soaking wet so I have to dehydrate it and repot it but its about 15 cm high for a very reasonable price.
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