long cold spell and rain

This area has had mid to low 20's for 7 nights . Three in a row, then tons of very cold rain and then 4 more mid to low twenties nights. All my plants are covered and the covers stayed on through out the rain and most are still wet. I have not dared to look under the covers for fear of all the dead plants I will find. There are always a few isolated nights in the winter in the mid to low 20's but never continuous like this terror spell. ish.
xuling

Cold and wet ... most succulents hate that combo. Hope yours are okay xuling!

It is a bad feeling !!! We invest a lot of money on these plants which makes us happy.

All my tropicals are in my sun room and at first DH told me that he does not want any plants there but I just kept quiet and slowly arranged them. the room is almost full but my plants are happy.

Good luck!!

My daughter who lives in Birmingham Alabama had that problem one year, lost a lot of her plants but her husband made a greenhouse against the house and purchased a heater for peace of mind.

Belle

bellieg, sounds like your daughter found herself a good man.

Yes he is a gem!!!
I wish DH find time to9 make one for me but I think the heating bill will be more the sun room.

We were in
Phoenix, mesa and gilbert area playing golf last year but it was very cold that I ended up buying winter clothes. We wanted to escape the cold weather here!! LOL!!!

Belle

This message was edited Dec 11, 2013 3:57 PM

Must have been January when we had a 5-day hard freeze with lows at or near 20.

Yes it was January-Feb this year. We are not going this year. There is no warm place nearby but Hawaii. No budget for Hawaii though. LOL!!!

Belle

After nine nights of from 23 to 29 degrees F. temperature and one rain early on, I finally removed all the wet covers expecting the worse; the only cactus/succulent that died was one that was already dead during the fall, but for which I had hopes for recovery. My Agave attenuata does have a little wilting but I think that it is probably ok. I am really surprised and happy. xuling

Good for your plants! I had sub 20 temps and an ice storm here. I covered my one bed with plastic shower curtains to keep off the ice and then some old quilts. Mine look ok too, even the mesembs. I hope none of us has another cold snap this winter. I hate ice!!!
C

I just dislike all the hours spent covering and uncovering and plants./ I mean it is necessary but hopefully I don't have to do it any more this season, just like you said - no more. x

Glad to hear almost all are okay xuling. I lose more to lack of water than too much or cold. Not sure I would have taken up this hobby if I had to do so much covering. Right now I just have to pull in a few from the rain.

How lucky those of you are who have greenhouses and sun rooms! I'm itching for a greenhouse but can't decide where to put it, if I want my potting bench in it or if it will be just for plants to be protected. Actually probably a lean-to with just a top cover would suffice and since my DH has been consumed with a science contract for over a year it might just have to do. Just need to move to 3/4 size oak barrels with citrus in them and I have 12' x 6' of space.

I'm also considering turing the dining room into a combo craft (clay) and plant room. We don't use it more than once or twice a year and my thoughts are since we're not fancy people our occasional guests could do with a bit of a crowded space. It's the only room other than our bedroom that has a sunny window in the house, plus an 8' sliding glass door and a tile floor so it would be very practical. Now to find some inexpensive sliding room dividers.

I do have a front porch for a number of plants but all the rest are in the ground. And I do not unfortunately have room for a greenhouse. There is plenty of room in the house but the plants are mostly in the ground and I ain't digging them up. :) xuling

Xuling I agree with you about not digging plants up for the winter. I was speaking with someone a few weeks ago at the San Diego C&S group who lives in Alpine, 35-45 miles east of San Diego, who digs up some of his large frost prone tree type aloes each year. Way too much effort and I wonder if it doesn't stunt the plants' growth.

We have lots of eaves but no covered porch areas, and depending on the way the rain and wind is coming from they are all potentially susceptible. I did put up an awning over my potting bench and put a few plants that don't want winter rain under it, but it's too small for much. I really haven't had to deal with this since I started collecting since we've had so little rain in the county for quite a few years. Although we desperately need it, it sure has made it easy.

I have seen pictures of people who put up hoop houses over their beds, mostly to protect from cold but I think they would work for rain just as well. Not an option if you have a huge space but I have a few raised beds and I keep meaning to give it a try. This winter I lost only a couple mesembs so far but we do get winter rain so the cacti are in danger too.

I have never covered my cacti from the rain. They get what winter brings. Each year I have a couple of loses but that just goes with the territory. The larger the plants get the easier they seem to handle the rain as well as the cold. Apparently the last several nights have been down to 25 - 28 and I didn't know it and didn't cover them, but so far they seem fine. I did cover my dwarf pomegranate just a few minutes ago and gave it a watering also. I don 't want it to die as it has gone through freezes before and barely made it. xuling

Hey all! Long time I know but I am back for a year. I have had some good luck on certain plants but more bad luck than I hoped for. Everything I planted in the sand inside the greenhouses have fared nicely with a blanket and/or foam cups. Unfortunately 1/3 of all my potted cacti inside the greenhouses have perished even with cups and blankets on top. I am guessing the constant humid air mixed with really cold and then warm days are just melting them.

I plan on building a small glass house just for cactus should I have any left come summer.

I only have a few that need to come inside. I have concentrated on cold hardy types for my beds.

My daughter who lives in Birmingham Alabama lost all her citrus that were in the greenhouse. She also had some tropicals.

The citrus are several foot high and she is heart broken.

Belle

Strange weather and it does get depressing when it affects your plants.

It is such strange (and damaging for so many) weather this year. I'm still waiting for winter rains to show up so am putting off planting any spring plants the nurseries here are filling up with. I started collecting succulents about 4 - 5 years ago, but my collection only got large the last three years. Since we've been in an extended drought for three years I don't know what I'd do if a real winter storm does come as 90% of my plants are in pots on tables, shelves, etc on the uncovered patio. I do know which are most sensitive to rain, but guess I'd learn about the rest.

A greenhouse is the Honey-Do List for my husband. Just trying to figure out what type I want, and an open lean-to with sides, and a front cover that can be rolled down, is what I'm currently considering.

One thing I would recommend, given our shared climate and probably some fauna too, is a metal mesh or screen under the floor of the greenhouse to keep burrowing animals at bay. Once they take an interest in your succulents (esp. in drought conditions) they are really hard to control otherwise. This is a lesson I had to learn the hard way. They will get in regardless but there's no point in making it easier than necessary. It's no fun playing whack a mole in the greenhouse! :)

Thanks for the tip Baja. We do have moles, an occasional vole and gopher, and rats. We did line the bottom of the raised veggie boxes with 1/2" hardware cloth, but having a long steep bank covered in ivy they tend to stay in that area. Except for the rats, which do come chew on misc. succulents at times and are very hard to catch as they're so smart.

To start with I'm just thinking of an open lean-to instead of an closed greenhouse as my goal is protect the particular succulents from sun, cold, and rain, depending on the season, and for propagation. Figure I can branch out from there and will keep in mind the idea of lining under the floor if I end up enclosing it. It's something I never would have thought of for a greenhouse.

We have a hawk that visits daily and I think it keeps lots of the vermin somewhat under control. I just hope it never visits the one neighbor who uses poison for the rats.

Well I spoke way too soon. Further along into winter, although we are officially in a drought, some more rains came, and over the last few days also, but about 3 weeks ago I was winter pruning and weeding and must have found about 12-15 dead plants. I hate this so I block out the numbers. Even one of the Barrel Cacti rotted. But one of the x-Mangave 'Macho Mocha daughters is starting to grow a stalk and her sister planted right next to her I believe is going to grow one also. Lots of other cacti etc. are starting to bloom and there are many buds growing so not all was lost and the garden is looking better now. (Especially with my good size Peony in bloom)(I have such a funny mixture of plants in my front yard; not so bad in the back). xuling

Sorry about your losses x u ling (my spell check is blocking your name.) I have to bring all my succulent and cactus plants inside for the winter. But the 'polar vortex' that came down into Georgia last winter wreaked havoc on many of my perennial plants and shrubs that otherwise do fine here.
Ah, such is life. We all have to go with the flow so to speak, especially with plants.
Now a trip to the cactus nursery may be in the future for you?
Helen

Even here there have been losses to rot, though it hasn't rained hardly at all. I had to remove about 10 heads from an aloe clump last week because they were going all soggy. Like Helen says, maybe there's an opportunity in all the mayhem... and how cool that you're going to get more Macho Mocha flowers!

I covered my bed 4 times this winter and it looks like it paid off. I only had 2 losses and even the mesembs left in the bed came through. It was a pain in the butt and next year I think I am just going to make something to stay on for the whole winter. I would love to see pics of the mangave.
C

Well, here's some of my damage over the winter. :(

Oh too bad.

For the most part I am giving up on buying more cacti unless they are good sized ones which seem to hold up better. But I have so many babies growing that I am just going to replant the new spaces with the babies. And money is rather tight right now so to find good sized plants that I would like to fill in the garden is not in the horoscope right now. (I can't even travel- until the fall anyway- but I just came back from 3 weeks in the Yucatan climbing Mayan ruins almost everyday so should not complain. actually I am grateful that I have done so much traveling and am just greedy to do more - like all of South America - over several trips of course.) xuling

If you have to make a choice between traveling or buying cactus I think you made a the right one. ^_^
I am not buying many new plants these days. I just had too many and the maintenance was taking the fun out of the hobby. So now I just keep the ones that do well and am enjoying having fewer bigger plants instead of lots of little ones.

yes Helen, me too. that is what I was trying to say :) xuling

Well said.

I wish I wasn't so addicted to the plants! When I see one I have read about, I want it! If it is small then I am more likely to be able to afford it and grow it big myself--I hope!

My problem is even worse. When one of my favorite plants makes seed, I immediately go to work sowing it, imagining all sorts of interesting things will grow out. The little dinky seedlings consume way more space than one would guess, and it's the primo real estate with good protection from the sun. Over time I have learned to pace myself, but it does not come naturally.

Nancy, I totally sympathize with you. I use to have TONS more plants and was always perusing for more. And I enjoyed every minute of the activity and every little plant. For me circumstances and mind-sets change over time, not to mention just the aging factor (mine) and I am not interested in my plant collection in the same way as I use to be. I didn't keep up and saw a lot of the plants suffer and that took the fun out of it. But now thats just good really. I am enjoying them as much as always just in a different way.
Baja your climate makes keeping your plants a whole different story from me in my northern location. Your results are to die for. Apparently you have space and time to get wonderful results. I enjoy everything you have to say and show us about your plants. So as they say "if it ain't broke don't fix it" - I think this applies to you.
Helen