arnold500 Posted January 9, 2010 Living in the UK we have been used to mild winters. This has led to some complacency and in my case disaster. We have just had a cold snap of -16c. 200 lophs and 60 trichos 30 ariocapus and a variety of other cacti and succulents have frozen solid. I fear the end has come, Is there any coming back from this situation? What if anything is the advice of knowledge base? A500 :-( Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bℓσωηG Posted January 9, 2010 this blogger had similar http://lophophora.blogspot.com/search/label/Lophophora%20williamsii Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bℓσωηG Posted January 9, 2010 (edited) oops double clicked, dont give up hope man Edited January 9, 2010 by blowng Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
culebra22 Posted January 9, 2010 Yikes, -16 degrees. In the midst of a summer heatwave and after today's 38 degrees celsius I can't even begin to imagine those sort of temperatures right now. I believe Lophophora have been proven to be able to survive minus 10 degrees C, and so perhaps tentatively below this for short periods. Honestly these sort of extremely cold temperatures are not a common event in many of the places where these plants are grown... possibly their actual cold tolerance just hasn't been tested? What is the minimum temperature most Trichocereus can tolerate? I really hope some survive man. I would be shattered. FINGERS CROSSED!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ref1ect1ons Posted January 9, 2010 I know our culture generally never gives up hope, but in this case I think it is more honourable to accept what has happenned and look to the future. Sorry for your loss but I am sure the lophs are perfectly edible, diffusa species only of-course. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kindness Posted January 10, 2010 I still want to know if a slow thaw after frost/freezing is better for cacti than a fast one. I believe that this factor may play part of the role in survival in different temperature ranges. Also in terms of frost, a surface frost isn't so bad in my understanding but a sub-surface frost can be much worse as this could/would bust the roots. When I move, (any day now....) I'm going to try putting my cacti in different parts of the yard and see which ones fare better i.e. an area that gets immediate morning sun, (meaning a fast defrost) and an area(s) that recieve light/warmth later in the day. I'm really interested to see how this affects them. How are your cacti looking today arnold? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnold500 Posted January 10, 2010 How are your cacti looking today arnold? Well I have accepted that I will have a massive loss. They are all still solid and I plan to leave them to defrost slowly. There may be some life deep in the root, I guess after a wait the tops will come off and will have to hope for resetting. I cant believe my complacency in preparing for winter. luckily I took a late summer holiday so stopped watering a few weeks before needed and then we had a warm period so the roots are best prepared. Looking at what I've written I realise I'm talking it up, ever the optimist. I had thought as the trichos are from high altitude they would be resistant however they too are solid. Any ideas on survival temps? (ever hopeful) some are 5 foot or so others are 12". and all places between. A500 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ethnodude Posted January 10, 2010 Hey arnold, that really sucks mate. So sorry to read that. I'd feel like part of my heart was ripped out. What sort of temps were you getting in the lead up to the cold snap? All the best on the recovery. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KanJe Posted January 10, 2010 I'm sorry for you loss. I don't think it matters how you let them defrost, once the water content expands the cell walls are already ruptured. I feel your pain mate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chiral Posted January 11, 2010 Can we have some details of where the plants are...? Are they housed inside a greenhouse, outside, plastic covered room or what's the story...although it's probably too late it would have been ideal to cart them all inside and put them anywhere you could to keep from getting frozen. England and pretty much the whole northern hemisphere has been plunged into the worst cold snap they've seen, I've never seen so many I'm freezing posts and threads on other sites, some are just praying it will go away soon, thing is it's only really the first half of summer here and winter there, so there maybe a lot more of this extreme weather to come. I know it can stay hot here well into March and often April. I grew bonsai trees in the UK for 6 years all indoors, they were under a bright window that full sun all day pretty much everyday, i built a shelf for them and they sat perfectly at window height, I wouldn't risk growing them outside with the weather there, sorry for your loss man and hope it's minimal, you will have lots of tea to drink anyways... sometimes it's better for a plant to wet a lot, than be frozen dry and hard, some sort of regular fine misting system with small amounts of salt in the water would keep the air around the plants moist but not so cold as to freeze. Just a random thought is all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quill Posted January 15, 2010 Hey Arnie, how about an update. All the best mate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnold500 Posted January 30, 2010 Well I think the rule book can be rewritten. There are survivors or at least not all is lost. Lophwise there has been loss, but not to the extent that I first thought. The thaw was slow and I think this helped. In despondency I left them where they were and I think this saved them. A lot of the bigger plants Ceopositas 5+ inches diameter perished as well as multi headed williamsii's. The smaller (3-6 year olds) faired best,the ones that had buried themselves did well. The clay pots may have helped as those in plastic faired less well. difusa faired worse. Some are borderline, if they do get through they will have a lot of work to heal. My test is if my finger breaks the flesh its beyond help, and every time the roots are mush, those that offer resistance I am hoping will pull through. The trichocerus suffered more. the only survivors are some 6 inch seedlings all the rest (some 16 year old) perished.(it was a sad sight to see them flopped over and split as they defrosted) I have cut them off as short as possible but there is now mould and I cant seem to do anything about it. My hope is that the roots will be dormant and sort themselves out in spring! (I have moved these inside) Will have to wait until spring to work out ariocarpus loss rate as they remain firm. The seedlings - I am afraid to dig out - in case I damage the root. All in all, all is not lost and nature has won through, and if I think about it freak weather must happen everywhere once in a while, sort of survival of the fittest, and as williamsii may be the evolution of diffusa they have an advantage, certainly the less "pure bred" faired the best. So here's to variation. Thanks for all the support A500 BTW Chiral they were in a glass fronted potting shed, I guess this helped as a wind shield. They are on shelves so the cold air falls away. There is no insulation. We live on top of a hill again this was probably better than a valley. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
