New Greenhouses, Last Blooms and Fruit Before Winter

The downside of mega propagation of cactus is where to put them all come Winter. The last couple months of Fall bring worry over preparedness, then ideas and effort prevail. I am getting closer after setting up and securing cactus greenhouses #5-8. Now comes the heavy work of building doorjambs and insulated doors on all of them. Heating the greenhouses to keep temps at or above 43f over the nights until March will not be fun or cheap. I’m already moving our army of spiky green things into the shelters as the weather changes. The Outsunny plastic and metal greenhouse kits, when modified with improvements, have worked great.

The warm part of the year went by fast but not without stunning gains, colors, growth, sales and the toil that made it possible. Many trays of tiny seedlings grew from 3/4in. to five or more inches between March and November. Mature plants put out dozens of colorful fruit and bags of seed, and these red “Christmas ornaments” on the fragrant prickly apple taste a bit like lemon. The three African “Kwango giant” cycads I germinated in July 2019 have reached over three feet and a faster rate of growth in their blue buckets, so they’ll probably go into larger pots by Summer 2022. Even this late in the season, the mother Royen’s tree cactus surprised us with two late pink and cream flowers. Some of the Brazilian Pilo species have reached over three feet tall since sowing in August 2018. A gorgeous botanical gardens nearby, Cedar Lakes Woods and Gardens, asked me through a friend to help with the installation, care and identification of a large acquisition of cactus for their new exhibit greenhouse. I was surprised and touched when they showed me the plaque they’d put up in honor of my contribution. Work continues, and I am thrilled that they bought a lot of Cactus Island cacti to add to the collection.