Cacti in Portugal

[Patrick]

I ordered 'cat litter' from Eurocarparts as previously discussed on the forum. A big bag that will last me for ages (I bought two actually) didn't have a huge delivery charge to Portugal, although I can't remember what it was.

I've had an Echinocactus grusonii (ex B&Q!) in the ground for a couple of years without problems and I have a few echinocereus outside in pots, they are one of the few plants not to go red in the sun at any point during the year. I am planning to put them in the ground. Likewise Echinopsis pasacana.

But temperature and conditions are very localised. Lower down in the valleys you get more frost. I lost some aeoniums in my first November in a property at the valley bottom while plants at my sister's close by, but higher up, were untouched. This year, where we live now, the night time temperature has not dropped below 7C. I have a number of aeoniums planted out here too and euphorbia, crassula, cotyledon, kalanchoe, senecio, lampranthus, aloe and of course lots of agave. Some Agaves I put back in pots until they are bigger because they shrivelled up too much in the summer.

I've found some garden compost that I quite like that doesn't seem to have too much peat in it, (peat free appears to be a foreign concept here) and I mix it with the aforementioned grit that I order from Germany and cat litter.

[Patrick]

Hi,

I would be interested to see some photographs of structures you use in Portugal ?

It sounds as if the care is quite different there, than back in the UK !

Cheers

Tony.

Tony I have inherited a polycarbonate green house at this property which I now have plants in. Even with all the windows and doors open and extra panels I have cut in it, the temp was still getting up to 30c through November. I've put large posts in concrete higher than than the greenhouse and will attach a sail shade https://www.primrose.co.uk/kookaburra-5 ... erial=2759 from about February to October.

A popular form of shade (I don't mean for succulents) is as in these pics. It looks quite nice from underneath but is rain proof due to the panels above. I had all the plants that needed to be out of the sun under there through the summer and now plants that were outside in the sun that I am keeping out of the rain. Lots of cuttings! I plan to make a free standing structure like this so that plants can enjoy the warmth and maximum air but not direct sunlight.

[tonyironscacti]

Many thanks for posting your pictures.

It is not only the high heat but the direct sun and also the rain that you need to protect your arid plants from in Portugal.

In the UK we also need to make sure the damp air is kept away from our plants within a greenhouse structure.

Myself I use 3 fans to move the air around, plus it is set to turn on heat if & when the temperature comes down to 8 degrees.

Also, we are not able to plant many C & S out in the garden because of our weather/sun/rain etc whilst you seem to have that and I guess most of the Portuguese growers tend to plant up in the ground .

Very interesting to see & hear how you manage.

Didn't realise the problems you also have buying appropriate potting compost. Is the trend to grow Cacti & Succulents in Portugal a lot less than we see in Northern Europe ?

Good growing

Tony

[Paul in Essex]

I have some friends in the Algarve who have a stunning garden of cactus and succulent plants. Bob moved his collection from Sussex must be 10 years ago and once the plants were in the ground there was no stopping them. The colour of the plants, the spination, just about everything has improved since they've been in the ground.

Not many individual plants in this overview shot, taken in 2017, about 4 years after I first met them and I think 6 years after the work was carried out. Everything went in small.

[jfabiao]

Many thanks for posting your pictures.

It is not only the high heat but the direct sun and also the rain that you need to protect your arid plants from in Portugal.

In the UK we also need to make sure the damp air is kept away from our plants within a greenhouse structure.

Myself I use 3 fans to move the air around, plus it is set to turn on heat if & when the temperature comes down to 8 degrees.

Also, we are not able to plant many C & S out in the garden because of our weather/sun/rain etc whilst you seem to have that and I guess most of the Portuguese growers tend to plant up in the ground .

Very interesting to see & hear how you manage.

Didn't realise the problems you also have buying appropriate potting compost. Is the trend to grow Cacti & Succulents in Portugal a lot less than we see in Northern Europe ?

I'll start with your last question: the trend to grow C&S in Portugal used to be almost non-existent, but it has changed in the past 5 years or so. Unfortunately, it's just a fad (so far?) and we're barely past the "I want that pretty plant" phase. There's no will to learn and develop skills, plants are cared for the same as if they were ferns or Pelargonium and nature takes its course, killing thousands of plants. Eventually, people get fed up and move on to something else (Monstera and Alocasia are on the rise, at the moment). The slow pace of caring for C&S is not for these times of instant gratification.

So, there's no market for things as basic as half-pots or square pots, specialized substrates and fertilizers, etc. And neither is there for the most expensive item, the greenhouse. The most we can easily find are little more than toys, designed to last a couple of seasons at most and sold as "kits" with very limited choice of sizes (and usually very small, for me at least). Of course, greenhouse furnishings like staging, auto-vents, etc., are unheard of for home use.

I tried a couple of polytunnel types, but they're a lot of trouble and managing the summer heat or the winter humidity is a nightmare. Plus, the plastic is destroyed very quickly. The type of sheltering Patrick is showing is a possibility, but the more delicate types will suffer from wind blown torrential winter rain. I have entertained the idea of building a shelter like some you see used in South Africa - open structures with a transparent roof - but again I'm afraid of the effects of wind blown rain.

Building from scratch is, of course, a possibility, but it requires a number of skills I do not possess, nor do I have the time to undertake such a project. I eventually settled for a PVC/aluminum structure with alveolar polycarbonate panels, windowed all around. I commissioned a [custom designed] structure like this and it is currently under construction, I will show pictures of the finished result.

One of the polytunnels. It's 4,5 x 3,0 m, and it is the most presentable one, as it houses primarily the plants of my better half and she invests a lot more time in tidying up than me. The plastic sheet serves as a cover for the original webbed cover. Please disregard the trash, it's a consequence of the works on the new greenhouse.

This was my first proper greenhouse. I had it built to be installed next to the apartment building I lived at in Lisbon, but has since been relocated to my small plot of land some 20 km from home. The new greenhouse will be structurally similar to this, only with windows all around. You can see outside a number of plants that are hardy enough to withstand the Lisbon winter.

[jfabiao]

That is a lovely garden, Paul!

[Aiko]

I'll start with your last question: the trend to grow C&S in Portugal used to be almost non-existent, but it has changed in the past 5 years or so.

I take it then there is no national succulent society in Portugal?

(I do wonder how many national societies on succulent plant exist. I only know of Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, US and the UK. I also think one in China, Japan and South Africa exists, but I am not sure. How about other countries?)

[Paul in Essex]

There is one in the Algarve, The Algarve Succulent Appreciation Society. John Lavranos lived there for some years and was one of the movers for the society. Still exists as far as I know.

[jfabiao]

I take it then there is no national succulent society in Portugal?

(I do wonder how many national societies on succulent plant exist. I only know of Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, US and the UK. I also think one in China, Japan and South Africa exists, but I am not sure. How about other countries?)

Nope, no national society exists in Portugal (no critical mass as yet). The scene in the Algarve is a lot different, as Paul mentions, mostly due to the efforts of british and german expats.
I know of the french society Arides. The czech scene is very pulverized, there are a lot of "local" societies, some of them very active.

[Patrick]

The type of sheltering Patrick is showing is a possibility, but the more delicate types will suffer from wind blown torrential winter rain. I have entertained the idea of building a shelter like some you see used in South Africa - open structures with a transparent roof - but again I'm afraid of the effects of wind blown rain.

Yes wind blown rain is definitely a consideration. The roof has to be pretty wide so that the rain doesn't reach the plants or at least not enough to be an issue. I don't grow anything that would drop dead from a few rain drops in winter. I did have plants on a greenhouse bench with polycarbonate sheets across the top as a roof but some Fero cacti got damp marks last winter but that was a much cooler location. Here I have the greenhouse where plants that need to be dryer can spend the winter.

Lisbon, the Alentejo hills where I am and the Algarve are all different places with different climates,(like London to Leeds) the only constant is a lot of hot sun in summer!