keep em hydrated... they are not desert plants, really they are succulents, that can survive a few dry seasons
i don't know what the optimal is, my guess is too much water and they don't really produce any more and are just bigger and wetter, but they defnitely lose production when they etiolate like they were at first (i remember you showing these ones before maybe?)
Too much water and they can rot on you so its best to underwater them than over do it,
i think if you use the right kind of airy, well draining, sandy soil with them you can't really have that problem, but i'm pretty sure substantial etiolation reduces production
Its depends on the circumstances, if I left them outside here over winter they wouldn't die from the cold but rather from being waterlogged from the wet winter we typically have here.... even in a sandy well drained soil.
The only time I see cacti outside in the U.K is when someone has them in a rain shadow under roof eaves,thatch or greenhouse .
yeah, definitely bring em under cover in the UK... they won't tolerate frost either
That's the counterintuitive thing they really don't like the wet, but can handle the cold well. We rarely get less than -5C on the rainy islands and these ones can handle about -10C..... so things are usually fine frost wise,
Mine have been fine at -3 C (27 F). When it got below -4 C (25 F), they received unrecoverable damage. My peruvian (Blue Mac) didn't survive, and I was able to salvage the rest with cuttings.
The one that seems unaffected by cold (and appeared to grow over last winter while under a clear plastic tent) is my Zeller. It's definitely cold-hardy.
Your right I was thinking it was similar to peyote that's another mescaline containing one but it's much hardier. Either way the rain would kill it here before the frost. Not sure we even had one last winter it just rained continuously.
Yes, constant wetness is a sure death. They love getting soaked, but they need to dry out. When dormant, being wet isn't good. I did give mine drips of water last winter, mostly run-off from the tent. The previous winters they looked like they could have used a few light waterings.
