had a wierd experience las` weekend. I was exhausted while being sick and having to work overtime,so the moderate storm of friday night didn`t mean much to me..
Walked out on my patio sunday morn,and looked towards the end of the cacti dancing line.
Gawd,the last three pots were totally destroyed,like a bomb hit! My 6' bridgesii and it`s 5'+'mate plus pups,had somhow toppled over,and taken out the 3.5' SS01`s. Beyond that, the two new bridgesii I had aquired were completly flipped out of thier pot. What really got me is that I had missed the event by a day or so,but the snails hadn`t. I saw 5 or 6 chowing down ,as I assesed.
I Figuered it out. there was some moderate winds during friday night. They must of rocked the 6' bridgseii untill finally, the angle and momentum was reached,and they crashed down on the other two pots. This could only have happened because I keep them on some variation of a castored platform so I can roll them around. Suprised me tho`,these are large pots,enough for 1.5 cubic foot of soil. And that probably,in it`s own way,contributed.
This ended up terminating the SS01`s as I knew them, and spashing out the 12" bridgseii from Bas. Sh., out onto the ground.
Funny thing was,the 6' cacti suffered very little. The two tips of the cacti landed in the grass,and there was hardly any damage to the columns.
A few weeks from now,I will replant the two tips( of the SS01`s). The short 2' log i`m thinking of cutting up into 6" sections,and either planting them vertigally,or on the horizontal. Being the worst,It could not have happened at a better time,spring is coming,and I find cacti can root fast.
Live and learn. The bigger they are,the harder they fall. And yet(thankyou!) they( the bridgesii) came out okay,though lifting that pot back up was no fun!
Yeah I've been having problems with my larger peruanoids toppling over. Which doesn't take much, since they're 3-4 feet tall and in 6 inch pots!
I know, I need to repot them. :oops: I've got a bunch of rocks and bricks around the base of them, but sometimes these prairie winds are just too much for my guys. It hasn't warmed up enough to keep them outdoors over night so we have to lug them in everynight, getting stabbed at least twice a night, but it's worth it if I can get them a nice headstart for the coming growing season.
Taht's a shame CJ, you've got some beautiful cacti! I hope they make a quick and full recovery!
Iv`e already been giving it a little thought,Vpirate,but it requires some prequisites. ideally,what one has is a line of cacti, on a flat even surface,on one side side of the house,against a common wall. All the pots should be uniform,like you were saying,need to repot anyways.
Now what I was thinking of,was running a simple redwood border,at the top of the pots,locking them in. Alternativly,the horizontal board could run right under the 'lip' of the pot. One could imagine several legs,suporting the 2X4 border. In essence one would have a frame fitting up to the wall of the house,and against the sides of the end pots,and againt the fronts of all the pots. The pots can be square. This would make it easier for moving,also. But this wouldn`t be neccesary,and mabe a hassle to find the 'right ' thing. I know an expensive version out of redwood.
If need to,lock the frame to the house w/anchors,or to the surface w/anchors(drop in heads into the concrete. many other approaches to locking up the frame,if it even needs it. When fall comes,you can pull the frame back,break it down if need be,and store it for spring.
This is one general idea I`ve had. For you though,mabe jus` large(stable) square pots w/more cacti in them. That would mean fewer pots ,and easier to move with a two wheeled dollie.
That was a sad tale.
I like the pot in pot approach myself, tipping isn't possible that way, the cactus would break before that happened.
The method is that a single plastic 5 gal size nursery pot is placed in the ground up to about an inch of its lip and then another one with the cactus in it is put in that one. The method keeps them secure and keeps the root zone at a stable temp being earth insulated and the pots can be removed for overwintering and care as needed.
With a nice mulch to hide the pots such as lava rock it makes it look like you have cacti growing in the yard!