Good buy or foolhardy purchase? (cacti)
Good buy or foolhardy purchase? (cacti)
Just bought these on e bay for £50 ,also included were 3 large agave Americana and 1 medium royal agave
Only problem is I have never grown cacti before
I have just unloaded them and staked them and given them a good watering.Now to make room in the conservatory for them for the winter
Only problem is I have never grown cacti before
I have just unloaded them and staked them and given them a good watering.Now to make room in the conservatory for them for the winter
K9's and exotic palms not a good combo K9's 5 :exotic palms 0
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
You got quite a lot for your money and its hard to kill cacti...
Very little water over winter and they'll be OK.
Keep little hands away from them!
You may want to stabilise those tall specimens with straight sided pots... Homebase do them, other than that prepare to shorten them in time.
Very little water over winter and they'll be OK.
Keep little hands away from them!
You may want to stabilise those tall specimens with straight sided pots... Homebase do them, other than that prepare to shorten them in time.
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
Defo a good deal if you have space for them. Cleistocactus strausii is very cold hardy if kept dry. I think you have Opuntia robusta there as well which isn't quite totally winter hardy for me but could plant out and protect in situ. One or two of the smaller ones at the front look like Echinocereii and are potentially very cold hardy too. Some of those larger plants could be very old.
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
Hi Steph
Yes they are quite wobbly I have put a couple of thin canes into them but I thought that they should have been much more stable in their pots I have checked for roots coming through the bottom of the post and there are none ,in fact they do not appear to have much of a root system at all.Is this normal ? If I re pot them into much taller narrower pots will this encourage more root growth? Ideally I would want to grow them to much larger self supporting specimens
Yes they are quite wobbly I have put a couple of thin canes into them but I thought that they should have been much more stable in their pots I have checked for roots coming through the bottom of the post and there are none ,in fact they do not appear to have much of a root system at all.Is this normal ? If I re pot them into much taller narrower pots will this encourage more root growth? Ideally I would want to grow them to much larger self supporting specimens
K9's and exotic palms not a good combo K9's 5 :exotic palms 0
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
Priceless!greyhound wrote:Only problem is I have never grown cacti before
And there was me thinking I would try a few Aloes and Agaves from seed ... what-a-wimp-am-I !!!
When I have unstable pots I stand them in a larger pot and fill the space between with gravel, dunno if that would work?Steph wrote:Keep little hands away from them!
You may want to stabilise those tall specimens with straight sided pots...
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
Looks a good deal......especially if the gloves were thrown in as well!
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
You need BBQ tongs to handle them.
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
A great buy but was it impulse as you said you are not a Cactus collector? It looks like the previous owner new what they were doing as they are in clays, not over potted and look very good specimens.
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
It probably was Clive and I did not expect to get them for my bid price I thought I would be outbid by the end of the auction ,the guy that sold them had been growing them for 15 years but unfortunately he wasn't able to name them for me.he said he hadn't watered them for 2 weeks as he knew they were moving.I have had them outside all day for the last 2 days but I bring them in at night.I gave them a good watering this afternoon with the hose and they are now a bit firmer in their pots
He told me only to water them once each week and stop the water completely from the end of October onwards
If the weather is good in October I will leave them outside all day and bring them in at night I think they may benefit from a bit of fresh air
He told me only to water them once each week and stop the water completely from the end of October onwards
If the weather is good in October I will leave them outside all day and bring them in at night I think they may benefit from a bit of fresh air
K9's and exotic palms not a good combo K9's 5 :exotic palms 0
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
I will be honest, I was like goodness me what a lot,
Well done GH!
Well done GH!
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
Nice haul you have there. I was told by a cacti nurseryman in Yorkshire not to water them after the end of September, until spring.
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
So you can simply lop the height off cactus and it will regrow? and is it essential for pot planted ones to sustain root balance vs growth?Steph wrote:You got quite a lot for your money and its hard to kill cacti...
Very little water over winter and they'll be OK.
Keep little hands away from them!
You may want to stabilise those tall specimens with straight sided pots... Homebase do them, other than that prepare to shorten them in time.
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase?
Good buy! You have a good couple of hundred quids worth of Cacti and Agave. You could probably make the £50 back by selling the smaller ones on ebay.greyhound wrote:Just bought these on e bay for £50 ,also included were 3 large agave Americana and 1 medium royal agave
Only problem is I have never grown cacti before
I have just unloaded them and staked them and given them a good watering.Now to make room in the conservatory for them for the winter
I prefer the Opuntia cactus over the long tall, hairy ones - they are also reasonably cold hardy with dry soil.
Re: Good buy or foolhardy purchase? (cacti)
A really good buy, you will end up being a exspert if you get them through the first winter.