I'm over the other side - near Cognac. Unfortunately it can get too cold here - most winters we get to around -10c as a minimum on at least one night. I think the only places it would be OK are right on the coast of the Med (including as you say, Nice) and Corsica or very close to the Spanish border...

That looks about right, doing a bit more digging on line. Yes it definitely looks like that.

It appears that it's not particularly cold hardy so I'll have to have it indoors over the winter.

Thanks

Hi, At the weekend I bought this. Only €33 which seemed good value as it's a big old thing. The spikes are around 10cm (4 inches) long and the whole thing stands around 40cm (over a foot) high. It was from a supermarket so there's no information about what it is. Any suggestions ? https://i.ibb.co/C...

Thanks for the response. I'm in South West France with a climate similar to Bordeaux - so there is the influence of the Atlantic and it's not a Mediterranean climate.

When you say "water" do you also mean "feed" ?

I feed my cacti with seaweed feed every couple of weeks, but I wonder when the best time to stop is. Have you already stopped feeding your cacti, or if not, when do you intend to stop for the winter ?

Incidentally I can't find a soil based compost (like John Innes) here, so I tend to use a mix of decent all purpose compost (sold here as compost for geraniums) mixed with cat litter and crushed limestone (left over from some building work). I've also never seen horticultural grit being sold, only g...

Wow - well done. I would never have imagined that cacti could survive outside in Finland. I know that some grow in the cold in Canada but the winters there are much drier. Presumably your winters are cold and wet with milder thaw periods ?

Thanks for the welcome. I don't know of any specialist cactus nurseries around where I am. The garden centres will often tend to have a smallish range but I expect there's more choice further south. I have bought things online from this company http://www.letempleducactus.com/PrestaShop/ , based dow...

Hi, I've already been seeking advice from the forum so thought I'd introduce myself. I live in France not far from Cognac. I have a small collection of cacti with just one rule - they have to be able to survive in a greenhouse outside through the winter. As can be seen below I leave them outside fro...

OK thanks. I've now cut off the head and it's somewhere safe to callous over. I didn't use sulphur simply because I don't have any and wanted to get on with the cutting. :grin: Sorry - but one more question. Do I just treat the remaining stump as per normal (ie out in the sun with water as needed)? ...