What's the place where you live like?

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Patricia-CR
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What's the place where you live like?

Post by Patricia-CR »

I've seen people here in the forums from around the world, which is very interesting. So, how's the place where you live like for growing cactus and succulents? What steps should you take in order to keep them healthy and alive?

I live in Costa Rica, Central America. Tropical weather with two seasons, rainy and dry. Though we have some native cactus here, most of the ones I grow won't tolerate the rainy season if planted in the open. They just rot to death. Different Opuntias do resist the weather, as well as some gigantic ones (don't know their names). I keep most of the cactus and succulents in a GH. I have adapted their resting period to the rainy season, where the relative environmental humidity is terribly high (from August-Sept to Nov-Dec).
Pat :cac2:
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by Thord »

Hi Patricia.
I live in Sweden and it´s not too bad for growing cacti. We have (usually)nice and warm (+23C)weather from the beginning of june until the middle of september. During that time I empty the greenhouse and put all plants in the garden,most with and a few without rainshelter.I have even convinced my wife to put all her houseplants on the outside,they certainly thrives on it. At the end (sometimes earlier)of September all my plants gets back into the greenhouse and stays there for six-seven months. last watering at the end of September and the first small one at the beginning of April. I have to heat theGH of course, temperatures in winter ranging from -2C till -25C, mostly -5C-15C. Have grown them this way for the last twenty years and it works OK.There are of course a few losses during winter, but then there are always plants that die for no obvious reason. The only plants that follow me home to the flat in the fall are the brazilians (my GH is located 130km from where i live),also my seedgrowing is in the flat. The temp. in the GH is kept at around +4C, a bit on the low side for some species,but they do survive without any greater problems, some of them might not be as floriferious as they could be, but others really thrive and in the end of may you almost hurt your eyes with the amount of flowers and colours that abounds there. I think most of us here in the north of Europe treats our plants more or less the same....
Thord. All kinds of smallgrowing cacti.
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DaveW
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by DaveW »

"I've seen people here in the forums from around the world, which is very interesting. So, how's the place where you live like for growing cactus and succulents? What steps should you take in order to keep them healthy and alive."

Completely unsuitable, I should move to a warmer climate! :lol:

DaveW
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Devrim
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by Devrim »

I live in the Aegean coast, we have typical mediterranean climate. I don't have to do much for my plants, they are happy to live in a favorable climate :lol:
All plants are in the open air, I only have rainshelter, but many may still get a bit wet when it rains horizontally (rain+wind). I try to be careful with the more tender ones if its going to be cold after the rains.
I don't use shadecloth, none of the plants are under sun all day, some get sunlight from morning till noon, and some from noon till afternoon. But still, some might be stressed from the sun, so I move them to a shadier place.
Most of my plants are small seedlings. I'll be experimenting with them in the future by planting in the garden or in pots without shelter.
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iann
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by iann »

UK, not enough sun, not enough heat, too much rain. Also a little too cold in winter for most species. Very little can be grown outside.
Cheshire, UK
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Aiko
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by Aiko »

iann wrote:UK, not enough sun, not enough heat, too much rain. Also a little too cold in winter for most species. Very little can be grown outside.
I live in the Netherlands. The climate is not very different from the UK, except we might have more wind and less rain. We don't have any mountains (nothing much stopping the wind) but a lot of water on the west side, that will keep most excessive heat in summer and cold in winter away, although we can hit temperatures of 30C in summer and -10C in winter.

Depending on the summer, we can have very bright summers with a lot of sunlight. But we can have very dull summers too. A bad summer has been past some time, lucky enough. The summer of 2010 was even quite well. I tend to expose most of my plants to every bit of sunlight we get up here. The days with daylight can be long during summer. End of June we have about 18 to 19 hours day light (after that day they nibble off a few minutes of day light each day until the end of December).

All in all not the worst place to grow succulents, but we still are very dependable upon greenhouses, except maybe for the second half of June to September. Many plants can probably tolerate those few months outside, if shielded from too much rain. But from September to early May one should keep an eye on the occasional frost during nights.
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jfabiao
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by jfabiao »

Lisbon, Portugal. Mediterranean climate, with a hot, dry summer and cold (*), wet winter. Summer maxima up to 40C and winter minima rarely down to 0C. About 600-700mm of rain per year. July and August are usually bone dry. A lot of cacti and succulent have escaped cultivation and live happily everywhere - Agaves, Aloes and Opuntias, notably. Most "hardy" cacti and succulents will survive and even thrive out in the open, although a particular cold and wet winter will eventually kill a few. Shelter from winter rain is everything you really need here.

(*) Please, bear in mind that your body will accomodate to whatever extremes it is exposed to. Thus, my apologies to you out in Sweden and the UK...
Z

In sunny Lisbon, Portugal.
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Lindsey
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by Lindsey »

UK :roll: though the humidity is lower in my frost-free conservatory and on windowsills of unheated spare rooms than in a greenhouse!
Ever hopeful, trying to grow plants from arid sunny climates in the UK!
Lithops, Haworthia, Adromischus, other south African succulents including Ceropegia and some Crassula.
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by CoronaCactus »

Corona, California USA. On the edge of the Mojave desert where it meets with the Colorado desert. Very arid and hot. Temps range from 5C - 45C (40F - 110F) Needless to say an ideal climate to grow almost anything. Lots of plants grow out in the garden with no issues. Greenhouses are still very beneficial, but attention to cooling is a must. We mainly use shadehouses but cover them during the winter to protect from rain, we never need to heat them. We never get summer rain. Our winter is our rainy season, from Dec to Feb.
Darryl
Zone 10 - Southwest USA
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Dot
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Re: What's the place where you live like?

Post by Dot »

I live in Sheffield in England, and agree with what Ian has said. I keep my plants in two greenhouses which are under the shade of our neighbour's trees, so only have sun up to about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and less in winter. The greenhouses were there before the trees!!
I think that our big problem in England is the dampness; plants can tolerate some cold if dry, but not so much if damp. It often seems to be a miracle that we can grow cacti and succulents at all in our adverse climate.

I tried growing some Agaves and Opuntias outside about 3 or 4 years ago, but this last winter had killed off most of them, except one Opuntia, name unknown. Succulents in pots have survived , some Delospermas in particular, and also a Crassula sarcocaulis.

Thank you Patricia for asking this question, I find it very interesting to hear of growing conditions in other parts of the world.

Do you find that succulents tolerate your conditions better than cacti?
Dot
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