Growing Opuntia Ficus-Indica outside

[Cactusgirl]

Has anyone got any experience of growing these in their garden in the UK? I live on the East coast in the Anglian region. my garden is South facing and I want to try growing this plant outside. as I have grown these from seed planted in Nov 2017 I don't want to plant one out if ultimately it will perish. however, if it's fairly hardy then I certainly want to try

[RAYWOODBRIDGE]

Not the hardiest of Opuntias, and will rot if it has wet feet for long, I did have a large plant outside in a pot, and I got lazy and left it out one winter with what I thought was enough cover, but I should have taken it back inside as I had done other years and it would have been ok.
Once rot gets in its gone, the plant is very soft and fleshy to start with, that's why they feed it to animals.

[Cactusgirl]

Thanks Ray for the advice. My plants will be staying put in the greenhouse and I won't be risking them outside

[Paul in Essex]

Clacton is probably the very best bit of the UK to try one. If you have more than one, give it a go!

[Cactusgirl]

Hi Paul I'm about 25 miles north of Clacton on the east coast. Do you think that will still be worth a go? I have a South facing garden but it's very open and exposed and the wind blows across the fields at times.

[Paul in Essex]

Sounds perfect! Wind is good when growing cacti and succulents outside.