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I have lost hundreds of plants this year!

Anyone else in the UK had plant losses?

I see you grow mainly Other Succulents which can be more tender therefore need a higher winter temperature. I only grow cacti with most of the tenderest brought into the house over winter. Those left in the unheated greenhouse came through the cold spell with a layer of newspapers over them when the greenhouse dropped to -5 Fahrenheit for a few nights. Obviously you have had it colder in Scotland being further north than I have in Nottingham.

I presume the plants concerned are not winter growers therefore have been kept dry at the roots and have not simply rotted? Hopefully somebody who grows your type of plants can advise you better.

https://succulentsnetwork.com/temperatu ... ucculents/

DaveW wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 4:53 pm I see you grow mainly Other Succulents which can be more tender therefore need a higher winter temperature. I only grow cacti with most of the tenderest brought into the house over winter. Those left in the unheated greenhouse came through the cold spell with a layer of newspapers over them when the greenhouse dropped to -5 Fahrenheit for a few nights. Obviously you have had it colder in Scotland being further north than I have in Nottingham.

I presume the plants concerned are not winter growers therefore have been kept dry at the roots and have not simply rotted? Hopefully somebody who grows your type of plants can advise you better.

https://succulentsnetwork.com/temperatu ... ucculents/

Hello Dave, we had a very hard frost for just over two weeks. The lowest temperature I recorded was -10, but in the daytime the sun was quite warm so everything had weeks of being frozen at night then thawing in the daytime!
It was a fight!
All the succulents were kept on the dry side before the frost started.

With that information, I would say they succumbed to being frozen long enough to kill

The weather is getting worse

I'm in the north of England, hard by the North York Moors in a notorious frost pocket. I grow cacti only. Apart from a dozen or so tender plants the rest are overwintering in a greenhouse. This year I lined the greenhouse with fleece and packed shredded paper around the plants (I always knew my old office shredder would come in handy one day!).
I've had one casualty so far, a Stetsonia coryne, which may have had an existing problem as the spines broke off at the slightest touch. Everything else seems very happy.
The fleece is specifically for greenhouses and forms a pocket of air against the panes.
My main problem is high winds, that regularly blow out panes of glass.

Thin leafy succulents will probably loose heat quicker than globular cacti and so freeze quicker. Fleece is a good idea for lining the greenhouse when the plants are not growing, but more opaque than bubble wrap if you want to leave it up all year.

Normal polythene bubble wrap usually only lasts a couple of years if you leave it up all the time due to UV (ultra violet) degradation by the sun. I used the more expensive UV resistant bubble wrap which lasted about 8 years but has now degraded and gone brittle and is now breaking down and "snowing" on the plants so I will have to take it down!

I cover the plants in my cold greenhouse with a layer of newspapers in cold weather. Provided your plants are dormant it can be left on a couple of weeks day and night without them etiolating. You could use fleece over the plants themselves but if you do I would suggest a layer of newspapers first since hooked spined plants may hook onto the fleece.

We have had virtually no snow so far here in Nottingham, though both north and south of us seemingly have. However this winter has been extremely wet if reasonably mild but for an odd very cold week. Seemingly climate change means we have had dry summers for the last few years and a "Monsoon" season in winter!

Evidently you are not the only one with Other Succulents to suffer in the UK. See:-

https://www.forum.bcss.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=173975

They look frost damaged. Many succulents can't take as much frost as cactus.

Here we had 4.5 " ( 11.43cm ) of rain yesterday, I measured it in the buckets I leave out , and more on the way and all my cactus are covered with plastic . No frost its a pineapple express or what they call now a Bomb cyclone. This would rot most desert cactus which can take frost but not cold rain at least not in Pots. Should have a good desert bloom in Spring all this rain after a drought.

PlantCrazy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 4:05 pm I

Anyone else in the UK had plant losses?

Yes. That horrid cold spell in December has killed all but 6 of my plants and 3 of the surviving ones don't look great. Absolutely devastated. I grow mine in an unheated greenhouse and the next cold spell I will be bringing them indoors.

Next cold spell is predicted in a few days, so better get them in the house!