# 23 planted....now lets hope they take....



## ascott (May 10, 2012)

So finally planted the cactus my cousin brought me....at her job they are doing construction so they cut down a bunch of mature cactus and trees...so my cousin told me this...I asked her to grab a few for me...lol...so after I separated the piles out I had 30 big pads....23 in the ground this afternoon....two divided up for the four CDTs laying about watching me handle all the yummy cactus...and the rest will be on the menu for all of the torts for the next few days.....

I forgot to take pics of my cactus row...lol..tomorrow...


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## wellington (May 10, 2012)

They shouldn't have a problem growing, they are suppose to even grow in the colder states, like where I am, unless those torts watching get to them first


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## Jacqui (May 10, 2012)

I hope you have better luck then me, I tend to kill mine out within a year's time. Thanks to the constant generosity of a few members, I keep trying to grow them. I do have about six plants that have lived for a year or two now, plus the ones I got this winter. Did you manage to do the planting without getting those little hairy like needles into you? I think I am a magnet and whenever I get closer then a foot from them, they shoot them out at me.


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## Terry Allan Hall (May 14, 2012)

I was gifted with 8 young pads of a variety common to Hawaii (no idea what the exact subspecies)...more of an extended ovalish heart-shape, as opposed to the round pads I grow in my yard. One was damaged, so I cut it up for my herd, where it was met w/ open jaws. 

Hopefully they'll grow OK here in The Republic.


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## bigred (May 14, 2012)

I think you will have good luck with them


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## lynnedit (May 14, 2012)

no wonder you don't have pictures, you were probably too tired!


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## Tom (May 14, 2012)

I just saw this thread tonight. I just put 4 opuntia, 2 jade plants and an elephant bush in the ground today. They have all been in big pots for a year or two, so I had to dig big holes for them. Man, that ground is like concrete... I didn't get pics yet either.


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## Terry Allan Hall (May 14, 2012)

Tom said:


> I just saw this thread tonight. I just put 4 opuntia, 2 jade plants and an elephant bush in the ground today. They have all been in big pots for a year or two, so I had to dig big holes for them. Man, that ground is like concrete... I didn't get pics yet either.



The ground around here is like concrete, too...a few million years ago, this area was the bottom an ocean, so limestone is literally everywhere beneath the ground's surface...

On the +-side, living out here in Da Boonies, as we do, it turns out that, for very large holes, dynamite is a legal option...  ...so when we enlarged one of the stock ponds, all our friends insisted we let them help. 

My wife has forbid me to use any for planting cactus or rose bushes near the house, though...


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## Tom (May 14, 2012)

So can you just go to the hardware store and buy dynamite in TX? 

I can just see the clerks face:
"What do you need all those boxes of dynamite for?"
"So I can plant lots of cactus for my tortoises to eat, of course!"
"Oh...."


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## ascott (May 14, 2012)

I will post pics tomorrow...lol...I planted them all I think last Wednesday...and have resisted watering them...I used the soaker lines in a row where I wanted them at so the ground was pretty saturated....I figure perhaps watering Wednesday with the soakers for about 20 minutes ....it is hard for me to not soak em every other day like I have to all other things I hope live through the hot months...lol

Jacqui, I only had to pull like three of the hairy deals out...now, I had to rub my gloves all over in the dirt before I put them away....they fortunately took the brunt of the hairy deals attack...

Thanks bigred....I hope they do make it...

Tom and Terry...the ground here is that compacted clay concrete crap....the only way I will plant anything these days is to plan where I am going to plant and the night before I set the soaker hoses on and then in the am I turn em off...then wait a couple of hours and then dig...it is then like butter...although I personally think a Texas style planting party sounds like alot more fun!!!


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## Tom (May 15, 2012)

Your area is pretty similar to mine. When I drop a new pad in the ground, I want dry ground and I don't water it for a month. I've had a few rot when I get over-zealous with the watering too early. They turn black right at ground level and slowly rot away. The things are so hardy that you can just drop them flat on the dry dirt and walk away and it will take root and start producing pads in a few weeks. In the summer I water mine once or twice a week depending on the heat. I make a basin at the base of each one and fill it. I don't water them at all in the winter.


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## dmmj (May 15, 2012)

The thing about cacti is that people tend to over water them, they live in desert areas, they are adapted to survive on little to no water.


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## Terry Allan Hall (May 15, 2012)

Tom said:


> So can you just go to the hardware store and buy dynamite in TX?
> 
> I can just see the clerks face:
> "What do you need all those boxes of dynamite for?"
> ...



LOL...no, it's not quite as simple as all that...I bought some through a friend who works in demolition, due to the odd fact that our government gets nervous about the general citizenry having access to that sort of thing...

It sure made doubling the size of the stock pond easier/faster than busting through all that solid limestone with a pickaxe and sheer muscle...I'd likely still be working on it, 2 years later!

OTOH, after watching this, my wife still insists I dig holes near the house in a quieter, less spectacular manner...


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## ascott (May 15, 2012)

Ok Tom...so I wont water them for another few weeks...especially since I saturated the ground as they went in....fingers crossed....


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## Jacqui (May 15, 2012)

Tom said:


> The things are so hardy that you can just drop them flat on the dry dirt and walk away and it will take root and start producing pads in a few weeks.



... well maybe for some folks, but not for this black thumbed person. 


All this talk about the hard ground made me chuckle. This weekend while my son was home, I had him dig some holes for me. Seems I had 8 more grapes needing to be planted. Here was this big strong guy having the hardest time making some of those holes. I think he was rather surprised about it. He did end up soaking the area for three of the holes.  I can already hear him groan the next time I find another good sell on grapes.


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## ascott (May 15, 2012)

Jacqui that is funny....this is likely going to start to sound like a "my ground is so hard that" (lol) I have to attach a piece of pipe to the end of my water hose And push it against the ground and someone has to be by the faucet and once the pipe is in place the faucet person turns it on really fast....this then allows the hose and pipe to be a water canon and create a perfect deep hole which is how we had to install all of the solar light stakes...otherwise they would break being pounded into the ground...uh a word of warning though...the faucet person has the most fun (unbeknownst to me the first time) because the poor hose man (my son..teehee) gets a sudden and rapid mud bath.....in an instant....I know, terrible...


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## Jacqui (May 16, 2012)

ascott said:


> Jacqui that is funny....this is likely going to start to sound like a "my ground is so hard that" (lol) I have to attach a piece of pipe to the end of my water hose And push it against the ground and someone has to be by the faucet and once the pipe is in place the faucet person turns it on really fast....this then allows the hose and pipe to be a water canon and create a perfect deep hole which is how we had to install all of the solar light stakes...otherwise they would break being pounded into the ground...uh a word of warning though...the faucet person has the most fun (unbeknownst to me the first time) because the poor hose man (my son..teehee) gets a sudden and rapid mud bath.....in an instant....I know, terrible...



I don't think my son would have much of a sense of humor, if he were the one who got the mud bath.


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## Tom (May 16, 2012)

Soaking the ground doesn't work here. The water only penetrates about a quarter inch over night and then its back to sparks flying from the pick axe... I have to wear protective eye wear and keep a fire extinguisher close by.


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## Terry Allan Hall (May 19, 2012)

Tom said:


> Soaking the ground doesn't work here. The water only penetrates about a quarter inch over night and then its back to sparks flying from the pick axe... I have to wear protective eye wear and keep a fire extinguisher close by.



How close are your neighbors, Tom? I may have a viable suggestion, but itll be pretty noisy...


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## Kerryann (May 21, 2012)

I need to find somewhere around here that sells prickly pear cactus. They can grow in MI. I'd like to add some to the tort section of my garden.


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## Terry Allan Hall (May 23, 2012)

Kerryann said:


> I need to find somewhere around here that sells prickly pear cactus. They can grow in MI. I'd like to add some to the tort section of my garden.



I've had a VERY abundant crop of spineless PPCs this year...would be happy to send you some small ones (6-8" tall) for the cost of the shipping (the 11 1/4" x 8 3/4" x 6" Priority Mail Flat Rate box is $11.35, and will hold 12-15, I'd estimate...the small box, @ 8 11/16" x 5 7/16" x 1 3/4" will hold about 6-8 and that runs $5.35). Let me know if you're interested, and I'll go harvest some...by the time you recieve them, they'll be ready to plant in a good sunny location, in a well-drained area or a large pot.

As previously mentioned, they need VERY little water, and over-watering is about the only way to kill them...
.


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## ascott (Jun 11, 2012)

Soooo, as much as it kept me awake several nights.... so OCD Queen here....

Today was the day I finally watered the cactus I planted a month or so ago....I would look at them every day when I would get into the truck and when ever I would put the dog out...and sometimes I would just walk out there and peek at them making sure they were not laying flat and wilted sadly dying...waiting for one of them, just one, to speak to me "water us"...but alas, no such thing took place (thank goodness...lol)...

But today, was the day....I did not over water them, I made two passes down the line at all of them and to my surprise, with no water for over a month!!!!! There were more than half of them that even had new pads growing on them...crazy I tell you....so to all of you that encouraged me to not water...to not over water...and to leave them alone (lol) I thank you...now the next month count down begins again......


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## Tom (Jun 11, 2012)

You are too funny...

With this weather we've been having I've been watering my established ones about every two weeks now. As it gets hotter, I'll bump it up to once a week. When we have those super hot spells in the middle of August, I hit 'em twice a week. In areas with more humidity than ours, they do need less water, less often, but out here they will get really pale and start to wrinkle and die if you don't water enough. If you keep watching them as you have been, they will tell you what they need. There is a large margin of error once they are established, so don't worry too much. If they get a little dry, you can bring them back pretty easily with some watering.


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## ascott (Jun 11, 2012)

> If you keep watching them as you have been, they will tell you what they need.



Oh great! Add to my paranoia, now I will so be waiting to see if I hear them tell me to water them....



> I've been watering my established ones about every two weeks now. As it gets hotter, I'll bump it up to once a week. When we have those super hot spells in the middle of August, I hit 'em twice a week.



Now I feel just terrible, I have been negligent in their needs.....I suck!!!!


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## cljohnson (Jun 11, 2012)

Luckily I live right next to a big canyon. There are huge stands of the spineless variety 15 feet across literally 50 paces from my front door. 
They just finished blooming and are starting to set fruit. I'm sure they will be a welcome occasional treat for my Sullys.


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## Tom (Jun 11, 2012)

No, you did good. I don't water new pads either for the first month. Its just once they are established that I start my regular routine.

And now you gotta watch out for gophers. They will get under your cacti and eat all the roots. If you see the tell tale dirt mounds anywhere near your cactus patch, break out the "big guns" right away.

Oh and I forgot to say earlier that I don't water them at all as soon as it cools and we get our first rain in the fall. I don't water them all winter long. I usually start up again in May.


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## ascott (Jun 11, 2012)

> I don't water new pads either for the first month



Oh good....Yayyyy I am not horrible...



> now you gotta watch out for gophers. They will get under your cacti and eat all the roots



[email protected]#$s....great, I totally forgot about them....well, the gopher killing cat patrols the front porch and so hopefully if they even think of going over where the cactus are she will notice....ooooo, I know, if I see the signs I will move her food dish over there, as she likes to lounge about where she can see her food dish....hahahaha....

Okay, all is good again in the world of cactus leering....lol ...


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## Edna (Jun 12, 2012)

Jacqui said:


> All this talk about the hard ground made me chuckle.



All this talk about hard ground in making me chuckle, too. I have planted 11 small trees and 2 shrubs this summer. My yard is very fine sand over an alkaline gravel-soil mix. The gravel-soil is at least a shovel depth down, and on the north half of the yard much deeper. Most of the holes I dug were in slightly damp sand, with not even a single gravel chunk.

On the other hand, I'm not going to attempt optunia here. Too cold!


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## Jacqui (Jun 12, 2012)

ascott said:


> Oh great! Add to my paranoia, now I will so be waiting to see if I hear them tell me to water them....



Of course your going to have to bend down closer to them, after all they are just little pads with tiny wee voices. You do know Cactusnese correct?





cljohnson said:


> Luckily I live right next to a big canyon. There are huge stands of the spineless variety 15 feet across literally 50 paces from my front door.
> They just finished blooming and are starting to set fruit. I'm sure they will be a welcome occasional treat for my Sullys.



Lucky you! I bet that looked pretty when in bloom.





Edna said:


> On the other hand, I'm not going to attempt optunia here. Too cold!



Are there any wild cactus in that area at all? I know we have some. There are some "tame" varieties around that do seem to take the cold and could maybe work there. .. or there is what I do (or try to do) pot them and bring them inside in the winder.


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## ascott (Jun 12, 2012)

> after all they are just little pads with tiny wee voices.



Jacqui, you are killing me here *wrenching side due to laughing pains*


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## Jacqui (Jun 12, 2012)

ascott said:


> > after all they are just little pads with tiny wee voices.
> 
> 
> 
> Jacqui, you are killing me here *wrenching side due to laughing pains*



I always believed, turnabout was fair play.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Jun 12, 2012)

lynnedit said:



> no wonder you don't have pictures, you were probably too tired!


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