Help me understand overwintering in SoCal

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.ilUli.
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2022 2:35 pm
Location: Orange County, CA (zone10a)

Help me understand overwintering in SoCal

Post by .ilUli. »

After years and years of keeping my cacti indoors as mere house decor, I let them enjoy summer outdoors for the first time this year. They loved it (I think :D )

My biggest problem is my little yard, which faces NW and because of the strong afternoon sunlight has a lot of palm trees, etc, for shade. Every day I chase the sun with my cactus table on wheels :lol:

That leads me to my question...during winter I will have zero to no spots where my cacti will get actual sun. Our temps in January, for those of you not familiar with SoCal winters, average around 67F (occasionally we could hit the 80's) during the day and 47F at night (occasionally high 30's, never freezing). What does this mean in terms of winter dormancy? I worry that my cacti will etiolate.
Just a beginner trying to learn and keep my cacti alive and happy. Zone 10a
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MrXeric
Posts: 559
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2020 10:31 pm
Location: California, USDA zone 10a

Re: Help me understand overwintering in SoCal

Post by MrXeric »

Keep them dry. It'll ensure your plants stay dormant and prevent etiolation. I keep my summer plants totally dry from around late October to early March. The one exception is a Melocactus that I occasionally watered but brought in every night. Supposedly these don't like dry winters and like temperatures under 50F even less.

I'm not too far from your neck of the woods, but my nights are a little cooler, hovering around the low 40s and rarely down to freezing. I keep my plants under a south facing covered patio, which is great for the rare rain, but not so much on the occasional hot winter days when they get blasted by the sun all day. I've had a couple burnt plants from that, mostly my winter growers.
.ilUli.
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2022 2:35 pm
Location: Orange County, CA (zone10a)

Re: Help me understand overwintering in SoCal

Post by .ilUli. »

MrXeric wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:18 am Keep them dry. It'll ensure your plants stay dormant and prevent etiolation. I keep my summer plants totally dry from around late October to early March. The one exception is a Melocactus that I occasionally watered but brought in every night. Supposedly these don't like dry winters and like temperatures under 50F even less.

I'm not too far from your neck of the woods, but my nights are a little cooler, hovering around the low 40s and rarely down to freezing. I keep my plants under a south facing covered patio, which is great for the rare rain, but not so much on the occasional hot winter days when they get blasted by the sun all day. I've had a couple burnt plants from that, mostly my winter growers.
Thank you so much for your kind reply. Reading it I feel so embarrassed since of course dormancy means no new growth and therefore no danger of etiolation…I don’t even know what I was thinking.
Just a beginner trying to learn and keep my cacti alive and happy. Zone 10a
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