Replacing Lawn with Desert Landscaping (Phoenix: buy, scorpion, living in)

[wit-nit]

The number one cause of cactus failure is overwatering. Let mother nature take care of the outdoor in ground plants. All the ribbed cacti, such as barrels, saguaros slow down or even shut down during the hottest summer months, like hibernating, and it's unnatural for auxiliary watering. Their waxy skin and ribbed cages expand and contract to hold water in them for survival. Too much water and they eventually rot. The rule of thumb with cactus is if in doubt don't water. They'll survive.
Golden barrels once established can take full sun forever.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Golden barrels are fine. I have (had) some of what I think are euphorbia type ones that got frozen back pretty good this winter. Freeze means dipping to 20s for a few hours one or two times each winter. The natives are all fine, of course. You'll just have to research the frost hardiness of your plants you are bringing. You should not have to bring them in, but it may be necessary to provide a cover or some heat source once in a while. You see people putting styrofoam cups on the tips of some the the slightly sensitive ones on cold winter nights.

I like the idea of Styrofoam cups; sort of like the rose cones I have to use often here in chicagoland when it gets unusually cold. Sometimes I will make a "tarp" type cover out of sliced garbage bags to tent over the cactus if we get a cold night in the summer, which happens more often than you would think..wow, 20's only one or two times per winter for a couple of hours..sometimes we're excited when we get a high temperature in the 20's for a few days is jan/feb..

Originally Posted by stevek64

I also add a bit of fertilizer sporadically to our cactus. I've found it makes them grow a bit faster and they just look healthier, both native and non varieties. I've found the agave's are the one's you have to be really careful about watering. They like it very dry and will yellow out/rot quickly if they get too much water. Once a month at most on the water I found works well when I want to get some quicker growth out of the smaller agave's.

On frost nights in the Phoenix valley, I've never covered our golden barrels planted in open spaces and they have no issues. They can take some pretty low temps that our valley will never see.

Golden Barrel (Echinocactus grusonii)

Low water use plants for Arizona

They also are very forgiving of watering/don't complain if you water them every few weeks in the warmer months. Given they are slow growers, a bit of extra water will get them bigger faster if that's one's goal.

The tropical/some of the sub-tropical cactus or succulents are the one's you have to watch for. On sites like the one's I listed above, just type in the name of the plant you have and you can find the low temp it can take. When you see they are sensitive in the 30's or at 32, you know you better cover that plant if it's in an open area. For tropical sensitive cactus/succulents, I made my life easier and plant them as understory plants under trees like our Palo Verdes. They provide just enough frost protection and let enough filtered sun in to keep the plants happy and no covering is needed for frost nights.

I like the fertilizer idea too; I just brought my plants outside yesterday, since its finally in the 60's and 70's here, and I usually wait a few weeks and substitute a fertilizer watering for a normal watering once it actually gets into the 80's here in a few more weeks..
We havent picked an exact house yet, and I hope the one we finally settle on does have some trees on it so I can put the succulents like the Desert Rose and plants like that outside, and have the cover of some shade, and also some protection from those frosty nights.

Can I safely assume that any plants that are already established in the house we end up buying shouldnt need a special care, since they have been there for awhile already?

thanks!

[stevek64]

Here's another useful document I posted in past threads but figure for those who haven't seen it might find it useful on how to best/most efficiently water plants in our low desert to have healthy plants and using water most efficiently:

http://wateruseitwisely.com/wp-conte...ring-Guide.pdf

Page 12 has a nice summarized table of watering trees, shrubs, caci and succulents, etc for various times of the year

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by wit-nit

The number one cause of cactus failure is overwatering. Let mother nature take care of the outdoor in ground plants. All the ribbed cacti, such as barrels, saguaros slow down or even shut down during the hottest summer months, like hibernating, and it's unnatural for auxiliary watering. Their waxy skin and ribbed cages expand and contract to hold water in them for survival. Too much water and they eventually rot. The rule of thumb with cactus is if in doubt don't water. They'll survive.
Golden barrels once established can take full sun forever.

Thanks, thats exactly what my mindset is as well

[stevek64]

Originally Posted by wase4711

Can I safely assume that any plants that are already established in the house we end up buying shouldnt need a special care, since they have been there for awhile already?

thanks!

I think it all depends on how the previous owner took care of the existing trees/shrubs in the yard. Some people shallow water plants and trees, setting their timers to run for a very short time with little water used and that creates shallow roots and requires frequent watering as a result. You'll know pretty quick if you pull the water frequency back to about once a week say for a mature shrub and it wilts after 2 days of no water. And make sure the wilt is still there at night, not in the middle of the day with 110 temps as some plants that are healthy/watered deeply will still have wilted leaves during mid afternoon hot summer temps. If they were shallow watered, I'd start acclimating the plant to a deeper/less frequent watering schedule to get the roots deeper. Page 12 of the water document I just posted a few posts above will give you an idea on what to shoot for in terms of water frequency.

[wase4711]

thanks steve, thats great advice

[stevek64]

Originally Posted by wase4711

thanks steve, thats great advice

Super, I'm glad that was useful to you.

The Phoenix low desert is a great place for people who love to grow an almost endless variety of plants. Best to you on your home search with lots of healthy plants along for the ride.

[wase4711]

finally spring in Chicagoland!

[barbaz]

I'm in the process of building a house on a large lot 22,000 sq ft. I am paying extra from the builder to have the backyard done in desert landscape. We will be putting in a pool, cement slab, fake grass and other misc. There will still be plenty of areas with just stone. I was told I would be picking weeds like crazy in the rocks even if I weed kill. Is this true?

[FloppyRunner]

Originally Posted by barbaz

I'm in the process of building a house on a large lot 22,000 sq ft. I am paying extra from the builder to have the backyard done in desert landscape. We will be putting in a pool, cement slab, fake grass and other misc. There will still be plenty of areas with just stone. I was told I would be picking weeds like crazy in the rocks even if I weed kill. Is this true?

Probably, unless you use a simple "pre-emergent" twice yearly.

That's my understanding anyway.