Hello all
My first post here so be nice..
I have taken some cacti from the wild to plant in my soon-to-be rock garden and I wonder (since the time of the year) if its best to plant them in pots until they start growing and later move them to the garden (planted in the soil without pots) next spring or can I plant them direct now in the soil?
Regards
Lelle
Plant wild cacti in a garden
First off, Welcome to the forum 
I'll take for granted the cacti you collected are native to your area and thus cold hardy. Since there is still a couple months of decent weather left I would go ahead and plant them in the ground.
As long as they have time to reestablish themselves they should be fine.
I'll take for granted the cacti you collected are native to your area and thus cold hardy. Since there is still a couple months of decent weather left I would go ahead and plant them in the ground.
As long as they have time to reestablish themselves they should be fine.
Bill
If it sticks ya or pokes ya, I like it
If it sticks ya or pokes ya, I like it
Canada has four native cacti. Opuntia humifusa has a very small range around Point Pelee and is protected. Ironic really since this species is extremely widespread in the USA and essentially a weed in many locations. O. polyacantha and O. fragilis are fairly widespread and common across the eastern half of the country and not formally protected in any province so far as I know. Escobaria vivipara is also widespread in the south prairies as well as much of the eastern US and I don't think it is protected either. That said, collecting cacti in the wild is a sensitive subject and generally disapproved of in a hobby where nearly all species are vulnerable in habitat and readily available in cultivation.
Large wild plants often take time to re-establish and will not be fully hardy until they put their roots down. If you are near the northern limit of the range of the collected plants you might want to think about protecting them for their first winter.
Large wild plants often take time to re-establish and will not be fully hardy until they put their roots down. If you are near the northern limit of the range of the collected plants you might want to think about protecting them for their first winter.
--ian
Right but the species can be provincial protected, for example Escobaria is protected in Manitoba but not in this province.iann wrote:Canada has four native cacti. Opuntia humifusa has a very small range around Point Pelee and is protected. Ironic really since this species is extremely widespread in the USA and essentially a weed in many locations. O. polyacantha and O. fragilis are fairly widespread and common across the eastern half of the country and not formally protected in any province so far as I know. Escobaria vivipara is also widespread in the south prairies as well as much of the eastern US and I don't think it is protected either. That said, collecting cacti in the wild is a sensitive subject and generally disapproved of in a hobby where nearly all species are vulnerable in habitat and readily available in cultivation.
Large wild plants often take time to re-establish and will not be fully hardy until they put their roots down. If you are near the northern limit of the range of the collected plants you might want to think about protecting them for their first winter.
I understand that species that are protected should be left alone unless they are cultivated, but the species here grow like weeds and are in no danger.
Personally I have no trouble with taking a few of them home since I know the impact Im doing is next to nil.
/Lelle
I think that what Dieter-xz is trying to say is not that YOU will 'overcollect' but that if everyone is going to take 'only one or two plants', thinking that what they are doing won't harm the plant's population, then soon, there won't be much of a population left.
Günther.
For those about to grow succulents, we salute you!
For those about to grow succulents, we salute you!
I need to chime in on Huggorns behalf. The reality is that "everybody" doesn't do it. In fact, VERY few people collect wild plants or even give a rat's butt about them. I collect wild plants all the time where I live. (We have no cacti except O. humifusa - which I have collected).
We all understand the need for conservation. But the reality is, as long as the habitat is protected, and the plants are abundant, individual collecting of common plants will never make a dent in populations. COMMERCIAL collecting OTOH, can do massive damage.
I collect butterflies & moths and run into the same arguments.
In fact, 30+ years ago, I found a patch of Yellow Ladies Slippers (Cypripedium calceolus - if I remember properly) - an EXTREMELY rare plant here in Maryland - growing on an isolated hill near the Gunpowder river. All on protected State Park property. There were hundreds...so I dug a few up and put them in Mom's Garden (I still lived at my parents then). They did well - and when I moved out, I took some with me - where they also flourished. When I moved to my current house, I, once again, dug them and brought them along. They are again, doing extremely well and multiplying.
This spring, I went back to the original spot where I had found them - just to see how the wild population were doing
None, not a one. I searched for several hours on 3 separate occasions and found not a trace of them - nor the Orchis spectabilis that was also abundant there. And this was and is protected property. They weren't dug up - deer were the culprit - along with the natural progression of the forest. Due to encroaching houses, deer trails now ran all through the only hill they grew on. All of the plants on the hill showed signs of damage. In addition, the trees and vines had grown over previously semi-open areas - rendering them too shady for the lady slippers to survive.
I probably have the only remaining link to this once glorious and beautiful wild population. And had I not done the "despicable" - and illegal task of digging them in my youth - there would be no record of them having ever even existed. I have since shared them with other terrestrial orchid specialists and the genetic line lives on - probably for a long time to come.
And, there will probably be a strip mall or new housing cul-de-sac at the place you collected them from in 10 years anyway - destroying ALL of the plants. THAT is the problem.
We all understand the need for conservation. But the reality is, as long as the habitat is protected, and the plants are abundant, individual collecting of common plants will never make a dent in populations. COMMERCIAL collecting OTOH, can do massive damage.
I collect butterflies & moths and run into the same arguments.
In fact, 30+ years ago, I found a patch of Yellow Ladies Slippers (Cypripedium calceolus - if I remember properly) - an EXTREMELY rare plant here in Maryland - growing on an isolated hill near the Gunpowder river. All on protected State Park property. There were hundreds...so I dug a few up and put them in Mom's Garden (I still lived at my parents then). They did well - and when I moved out, I took some with me - where they also flourished. When I moved to my current house, I, once again, dug them and brought them along. They are again, doing extremely well and multiplying.
This spring, I went back to the original spot where I had found them - just to see how the wild population were doing
None, not a one. I searched for several hours on 3 separate occasions and found not a trace of them - nor the Orchis spectabilis that was also abundant there. And this was and is protected property. They weren't dug up - deer were the culprit - along with the natural progression of the forest. Due to encroaching houses, deer trails now ran all through the only hill they grew on. All of the plants on the hill showed signs of damage. In addition, the trees and vines had grown over previously semi-open areas - rendering them too shady for the lady slippers to survive.
I probably have the only remaining link to this once glorious and beautiful wild population. And had I not done the "despicable" - and illegal task of digging them in my youth - there would be no record of them having ever even existed. I have since shared them with other terrestrial orchid specialists and the genetic line lives on - probably for a long time to come.
And, there will probably be a strip mall or new housing cul-de-sac at the place you collected them from in 10 years anyway - destroying ALL of the plants. THAT is the problem.
Well, different opinions is what makes a forum interesting!mikayak wrote:I'm sure I just whipped up a hornets nest...but what the heck. I always enjoyed poking the nests with a stick anyway! (Never got stung either!)
Perhaps you need to live on a place where Opuntia form rugs to really get a sence of how little a few of them collected makes othervise its easy to get a feeling that everywhere is like for example AZ where cacti collecting becomes a problem when they target rare and slowgrowing species
Speaking of wasps, I flipped a rock the other day (looking for reptiles) and found a buzzing nest of wasps, they were very calm though (pheeww...)I was hoping for a buzztail but...
We have some interesting groundliving solitary wasps in our backyard - fascinating critters!
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stephen.prout@uk
- Posts: 272
- Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2007 10:45 am
- Location: kent uk
ive had i idea buzzing round my head for a wile if you took/pick up seed/seed pods from the wild and scatterd some near to were you found it and then planted/sowed it in your garden would that be more ethicly right than legaly right?
plus were i live in the uk we plant lots of plants for butterflys and we leave lots of places to grow wild for other incects and animals,
would incorperating a part of your garden with the natural landscape be a contradiction to law if protected plants grew on your land,
which would also help your enviroment rather than planting cultivated plants with diffrent variations changing the wild plants around you?
plus were i live in the uk we plant lots of plants for butterflys and we leave lots of places to grow wild for other incects and animals,
would incorperating a part of your garden with the natural landscape be a contradiction to law if protected plants grew on your land,
which would also help your enviroment rather than planting cultivated plants with diffrent variations changing the wild plants around you?