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

[ascott]

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...

 

[wellington]

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

 

[Jacqui]

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.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

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.

 

[bigred]

I think you will have good luck with them

 

[lynnedit]

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

 

[Tom]

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.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

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...

 

[Tom]

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...."

 

[ascott]

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!!!

 

[Tom]

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.

 

[dmmj]

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.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

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...."

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...

 

[ascott]

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

 

[Jacqui]

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.

 

[ascott]

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...

 

[Jacqui]

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.

 

[Tom]

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.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

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...

 

[Kerryann]

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.