A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Can indoor Cactii be acclimated to outdoors Texas?

Anyone have any experience doing this if it's possible?

I bought a bunch of Cactii in 2" pots a couple of months ago and I'd like to add to a desert "patch" in a part of my yard next to the driveway. I already have a Century plant, Aloe, and something that I believe is commonly called "Prickly Pear" that puts out these beautiful yellow blooms for one week in early spring. So these others...if they could adjust to the outdoors..would make awesome additions.

Look each type of cactii up before placing in ground to make sure they take full sun....and plant away....I am a cactophile and have at the very least 80 cactii/succulents etc. planted in the ground!!!! Just move them out slowly to acclimate to the sunny conditions or they will burn, look bad and possibly croak. Make sure the ground has quite a bit of sand....they do not like clay soil at all. I have decomposed granite, clay, no top soil and mega hard granite soil...(if you can call it that)...In my case I just dig up the area thoroughly and incorporated quite a bit of compost/soil(no sand because I already have the crushed granite) and planted away.
So to answer your question YES by all means you can plant in the ground!!! Remember I live in California so I am not sure what your weather is like...if it rains a lot make sure there is plenty of drainage. Also while looking up the info on full sun etc....look up how tall, wide etc. that cactus will eventually get so you don't have to go transplanting them again...when they are over 8 feet tall and towering over you with mega sharp stickers they are not fun to move....you will have to TRUST me on that one....been there done that! Might I also suggest good gloves, and newspaper help immensely!!!
Catlover

Oh yeah....please don't forget to update this thread with some pictures and progression pictures!...or if you have a photo link you can place it in the photo link topic Loz has set up in Banter!!!

Thanks for your help!

Do you have any links you'd recommend in helping ID these critters?

And web hosting services that allow image uploads to display here...any recommendations there also?

You have to be sure they can take the brief cold spells.I grow my aloe in ground in summer and it winters a few months in a pot.course will likely need to pot it in a wheel barrell next year.Its barely fittin the 3 gallon pot.I have a cholla typpe cacti and a few prickly pear varieties,one thats tender is up by house over wintering.Its sheltered and covered tonight.

Hi Nick...I have found Desert Tropicals to be a pretty good one for ID purposes....they have linked us a couple times for extended information.

Since most cactus are outdoor plants - and very few from cool climates - it's very reasonable to expect success.

Actually, there are a few that do grow outdoors in rainy cool west Oregon, especially if kept in areas protected from excess rain.