I have a friend who had someone taking care of her house for her while she stayed in Ca. When she came home she found many of her plants dead but the ones I'm writing about are her cacti. She has many different types of cactus in her yard the problem is the gentleman staying there didn't bring them in this winter and they all froze. One cactus looks as if it has white hair all over it and the others she said has a pink flower on them when they bloom and another she told me if you stick your finger in it the cactruas grabs your finger and you can't get it back out. I know this doesn't help a lot but I just don't know if they can be saved. I told her I would do some reading and see what I can do. I live in Idaho and so the winters do get pretty cold.
How cold? And were they wet? If they have survived this far they will probably be ok, frost-damaged cacti usually die in early spring. White hair - could be Oreocereus (which is relatively cold-hardy). Or Mammillaria. Or something else ... Pink flowers - most cactus genera have members with pink flowers, not much help there. Grabs fingers - hooked spines? There are many Mammillaria, Parodia, Sclerocactus and a few more with this annoying feature. Any pictures?
Around 20-35 degrees on average, sometimes down to 5 degrees. Yes they would have been wet often as they were in the flower beds in the yard in pots were they could have been snow covered and rained on.
Fahrenheit, I presume? 20-35 °F is low but not always dangerous for cacti (it depends on the species) if the soil is dry. 5 °F is too low for most cacti, and only a few can survive that if the soil is wet. I have seen several types of frost damage (a sometimes experiment with my cacti): Some tender cacti just collapse as soon as they thaw, especially if they were not used to cold before they froze. Damage to the epidermis. Ugly, but the plant usually survives. Root damage. This is serious and the plant often dies. It can take weeks before the damage is visible, but then it is too late. The base of the plant becomes soft and the plant falls. Sometimes a part of the plant can be saved, but it can be more difficult than usual. If this had happened to me I think I would have unpotted the plants, inspected the roots and removed dead parts, let them lie bare-rooted until they were dry and, repotted them and hoped for the best. I guess the cacti had been in a much warmer environment for some time now? Are they still upright? If possible I would be very interested in some photos (especially if they survive), I (and many others) collect information about the hardiness of different cactus species.
