We Get Questions
From our Facebook page:
Do you guys cover up your plants on the shelves outside at night? Some of my plants have been damaged and have started to rot. Especially my Neocardenasia herzogiana and my Coral Aloe. Haven’t been home in three months to see them.
Michael
We did have a freeze 2 weeks ago, and covered up some of our Aeoniums and Aloes, and other smaller succulents too. On top of the freeze we had in December, and hail too, there was some damage. For the column cactus the danger is to the growing tips. If you had damage recently they might have started growing again just before the freeze.
Peter
A longer answer would include being sure you have them in a fast draining cactus soil which helps them stay stronger through our winter rains and more able to handle sudden freezes. However when you’re gone for 3 months at a time it can be hard to use a frost blanket for a freeze anyway. I wonder if anyone has set up an internet-enabled cam with a frost-blanket-dropping system all run through weather.com.