growing cacti in darwin?

[applesnail]

I wondering if there is anyone that grows cacti in darwin? and how they do with the humidity and rainfall, since im a victorian and have no experience with the tropical monsoon weather that darwin has constantly and its wet season? would humidity levels be an issue with, slowgrowing cacti such a turbincarpus, arios and lophophora and other mexican genera of cacti? are there any forum members growing trichocereus or mexcian species in the northern territory(darwin) and how do they do?

Im after this information as im considering on relocating alot of my cacti to the northern tip of Australia to preferably relocate them into a greenhouse environment ??? to perhaps deal with the rainfall that darwin receives in its wet season, I am considering this as land and space is not an issue for me, where as here ive run out of space, i have family there with acreage property.. would hate to loose my collection of slowgrowers that ive collected over the years and are acclimatised to victorian weather tho.. So if there is any darwin or related areas cacti enthusiasts I would love to hear your advice...thanks!

[GoOnThen]

Kada is in Taiwan and grows cacti at a commercial level http://www.kadasgarden.com/ and I think there are a number of members that are up in the top end of QLD.

I would presume that you would need to grow in purpose built green houses with large amounts of ventilation.

Cheers

Got

[applesnail]

cheers got, i imagine it can be done and most likely cacti would thrive in these conditions with the adaptions that you say...im thinking a purpose built green house would be ideal excess ventilation and fans in the hot house to remove the excess heat...this what ive been thinking also....

Edited December 10, 2012 by applesnail

[Foo]

You might be better off with a shade house? Its already hot and humid enough for cacti growth, or so i would have thought.

[rahli]

Here is some info on growing peyotes in the tropics -

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=25780&hl=%2Btropical+%2Bpeyote+%2Bhouse&fromsearch=1

Columular cacti tend to flop in the monsoon as the cells burst from overwatering and loose structure. Would be good to shelter them too.

Rot isn't too much of a problem as they grow so quickly in the heat.

Are you moving to Darwin or just your cacti?

[applesnail]

thanks rahli, just my cacti moving, i may have to do fly in occasionally to tend to them, as my brother has been known to have a black thumb and to his property they are going as he is jungle style.....and I can put hothouses on his property which is my plan as im in a rental.....yeah shade houses sound like the go with some kinda rain protection...

Edited December 10, 2012 by applesnail

[Foo]

Yeh, my point was that a total plastic sheet enviro would be aweful! Some kind of roof and some shade cloth on the sides to keep out some extra rain and extreme morning/afternoon sun.

Also rather then fixing the shade cloth to the bottems. You could drill the shadecloth to a length of wood. The wood would need to be as long as the side its on though

Edited December 10, 2012 by eatfoo

[applesnail]

he has a massive drinking patio thats undercover like most ppl in darwin do they seem to put there beer drinking area before the rest of there house, so perhaps i can just deck that out with cacti....the problem with some kinda undercover shadehouse(greenhouse) is if I want something of considerable size it has to be built cyclone proof which could be $ jinka $ so it doesnt blow away in cyclone season otherwise my cacti may end up in several nearby propertys which would suck!