Cold Climate Cactus

These pads are in water on a hot pad under lights. They will start roots, be planted in pots and placed outdoors. They will grow into new plants this summer.

The Opuntia fragilis pads are placed on growing medium in a plastic tray. The medium is mostly rocks and small amounts of sand. The whole tray is wrapped in deer netting to prevent rodents like local rabbits accidentally moving the pads. The pin wheels are around to help keep animals away. The tray is outdoors and will sit in the sun and rain where the pads will put down roots and turn into small plants this summer.

These Opuntia fragilis pads are being kept under lights for four days to insure that they are dry. On April 18th we traveled to make sure we could find the collection site. We were surprised to find that the colony we were taking propagation materials from had been disturbed. Very little damage, but construction had disturbed some of the pads at the outer edge of this colony. These disturbed pads were chosen as collection material over taking more from the center of the colony. They provided about half of the needed collection materials, and the rest of the pads were taken from the edges of the plants in the middle of the colony. They will rest under the lights and then be set up in conditions for rooting next.

The purpose for Obtaining this permit from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is to; propagate Opuntia fragilis for prairie restoration activities. Search on - Endangered and Threatened Species Permit 690 - in this blog to follow this species.

The plants are cactus seedlings wrapped in shade cloth. This will protect them even more for the winter in the cold frame. They also share space with local rodents, so the shade cloth prevents the seedlings from becoming winter time snacks.

The cold frame is still open, and is is clear the see that this is a very low tech device. Under the seed trays the ground is covered in broken bits of old side walk. They let moisture from the ground come into the air inside the cold frame. They have to be kept open until just before the snow comes so moisture does not build up inside. Then in the spring they are opened again as soon as the snow melts off of them.

The cold frames are simply wooden boxes with lids covered in plastic. They let a lot of cold air inside and are not air tight. The key is that snow covers them for the winter, and they are deep enough that the plants sit below ground level.

This is the first truly hot day. The seed trays should not be germination till the end of May or after then. I still decided to spray water on the seed trays because it is warm enough to dry them out today. I suppose it will rain hard later tonight.

The night time temps. are in the 30s and 40s so the Astrophytum myrostigma cactus plants are back outdoors for some more direct sun.

It is still close to freezing at night, but it will start to warm up soon. I scattered Misquito Beater over the outdoor cacti today. This will provide a lot of prevention when soil flies or scaria flies start to hatch this spring. In case there are any eggs present on or around the cacti. This is especially important for seedlings and pots containing seeds that could germinate this spring. Adult cacti usually have few problems with these small flies, but I think it helps protect adult Pediocactus plants too.