Lodgers

[Eric Williams]

Hi all, just wondered how many cacti, (and what genus) have been seconded to the warm environment of the living room. Spouses permission of course. I have moved in some Melos. and some euphorbias that I think will need the extra warmth. Cheers

[Thord]

All my discos,melos and uebelmannias are with me in a spare room in our apartment, also a few euphorbias:The rest stays in the greenhouse that´s heated at about +4C.I´ve heard that some other species shouldn´t get temperatures below 8-10C,but since they are all bone dry during winter i haven´t noticed any problems.This year i have left a few older melos at the summerhouse where temps seldom will get lower than +8C. If that works OK I will try some discos next year.

[Eric Williams]

Hi Thord, yes I have always thought that it is wiser to do this, and as you say, bone dry is the way to go during winter. Cheers

[Julie]

I have Euphorbia obesas on the sill with a max min thermometer... so far the min recorded is 10.

They are all bone dry... can they stay there at below 10 C? Everywhere else that is well lit is just as cold.

[EuphorbianDM77]

I have about sixty-seventy (not sure) different Euphorbia species that have survived several winters in my room, with a minimum of 2°C for only a few days, and 5°C for longer periods of time. E. obesa is one of them. They are of course kept dry.
Downside is that I lose a lot of new plants because I have to test whether they can stand the "cold" or not. The upside is ... nothing, I just can't afford heating my greenhouse (being a student and all).

But on topic: I keep only my Stapeliads in the living room during winter. Main reason that I don't have more plants in there is because my parents won't let me.

[Thord]

I have kept E.obesa in my GH at +4C with no problems at all.There should be no problem with a windowsill except for a possible draft which may mark the plants and draft is something to consider for other plants also on a windowsill !

[georged]

My E.Symmetrica's (sometimes listed as ssp. of Obesa) have regularly gone below 10C for the last 4 winters but never below 0C and have been ok. This includes first year seedlings.

[rodsmith]

My only cactus or succulent indoors for the winter is Echinocactus grusonii. It suffered last year in the cold and damp, even though I have a heated greenhouse kept at a minimum of about 4 deg. C. Almost all my other plants were ok but E G appears to be susceptible to cold and damp conditions. I have it in the back bedroom which has a minimum temp of about 13 deg C.

[iann]

E. grusonii is comfortably hardy below freezing but it does seem to mark up in our climate. One of the reasons that it is so widely grown as a bedding cactus is the ability to withstand some frost along with some moisture. Unless you grew it yourself from seed, and maybe even then, it is likely to have got used to warm cosy conditions and won't have anywhere near its potential hardiness. I had one that had come from the Canary Islands as a moderate sized plant (although it may have originally come from elsewhere) and after a couple of winters it developed a tide mark with the bottom half thoroughly messed up and the new growth clean. I eventually sawed it in half and rooted the top. Took nearly a year.

[rodsmith]

Yours is a lovely specimen Ian. I grew mine from seed in 2009. The picture below shows the damage caused in the Feb 2012 cold & damp spell. Since then I have repotted it and it has grown so much during the year that the damaged portion is now on the lowest third of the plant. I hope next season it will be completely hidden.

E grusonii frost damage Feb 2012