So I have my raised beds, and I got to thinking that I might put one to use to get greater cacti growth with less effort overall than the usual parade of pots in and out each year. The idea is to plant certain members of the cactus collection into the raised bed after the last frost and leave them there all spring and summer.
Then in fall, dig them out and stored them with their roots naked until the following spring.

Has anyone else at this forum tried such?
What were the results?

I've thought about this alot actually, never tryed it tho. Give it a go!

I'm wondering if that teck might shock the plants and cause them to grow slower in the spring than if they were allowed to maintain their root hold through the winter, but who knows?

Also, some types of plants do better with root systems that don't mingle with others. Not sure if'n cactus plants fall into this category or not. Although untangling roots would surely be part of the process in the fall if the plants were allowed to mingle. And dividing them might also affect future growth by destroying the mingled root structures.

lw

I donno how many Trichocereus cacti you grow LW but that isn't really the case, I've actually just sliced off the entire root ball before, and then allowed it to grow new roots over the winter indoors. I really don't think what your talking about would be a problem.

I have a ton of trichos. All in pots.

I'm guessing your method still saps energy that could be used in the Spring for more growth. But that's an opinion.

Keep us posted, eh?

lw