# Cacti Collecting!



## Driller64

You can read most of what I have on my profile page. Anyone else here into it?

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## Galapoheros

Yeah I like cacti and any other weird plants, have a few, just sprouted some kiwis from seeds.  I could get deep into that if I had a greenhouse, ..some day.

Just checked your list, I have #2 and #5 on your list, also a few seedlings from the fissure


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## Driller64

BTW I'm planning to get seeds of the Peyote cactus soon. Before you say anything, it is purely for decorative purposes only and even if it wasn't, the mescaline levels found in captive bred Peyote plants is far too low to get any sort of high off of. Besides, they are slow growing. 

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## Galapoheros

The laws on Lophophora are one of dumbest imo, they need to get rid of that but should still have it illegal for people to dig them up, unless you have a permit like some americans do.  I was looking around on the internet and found some for sale from a nursery a year or two ago, I think it was in Florida.  They had them listed as L. williamsii, I didn't buy any though, I don't really know what they were, could've been something else.


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## Driller64

Just pressed the Place your Order button on the Button Cactus seeds. I ordered them on Amazon from a seller I have ordered from in past and their seeds always germinate so I have nothing to worry about there. Unicorns here I co- Oh sorry I was just thinking to myself there


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## Galapoheros

Here's an interesting site about them imo
http://lophophora.blogspot.com/search/label/Texas


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## Medusa

I've been into plants, including cacti and succulents, for many years. I *do* have a greenhouse with half of it for my stuff and the other half my husband's vegetables. I have some nice old specimens. I particularly like caudiciforms. Have 4-5 dioscorea sp., one has a caudex over a foot wide. And my sedum morganianum (s) are to die for, if I do say so. Have been propagating from an original plant that's over 40 years old.


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## pitbulllady

I collect _Rhipsalis, Lepismium_ and many other epiphytic cacti, rather odd-looking plants that most people do not realize are cacti.
I used to be really into the xerophytic cacti, the more familiar desert species, but only have a few of those now.

pitbulllady


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## Cavedweller

Galapoheros said:


> Here's an interesting site about them imo
> http://lophophora.blogspot.com/search/label/Texas


I just read the post regarding extreme cold exposure. That's really cool! Those little peyote plants are really cute! Makes me want some. 

As a kid living in Arizona, I stole cactus cuttings from all over the neighborhood. My parents get to enjoy the fruits of my labors in my absence now. Whenever I visit my parents, I'm amazed how big the plants have gotten. The Indian figs I planted as single pads years ago are about 7' tall now. 

I'm growing succulent cuttings (taken with permission this time haha) on my porch now. Gardening seems to take even more patience than keeping Ts! I'd kinda like to get into some of the more unusual varieties someday. Right I'm trying to save some pencil cactus pieces that fell off my neighbor's plant.

Anyone else seen cactuses with fake flowers glued on them for sale at hardware stores? Home Depot has also taken to selling rainbow spray-painted cactuses, which look butt-ugly in addition to being dumb.


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## The Snark

Cavedweller said:


> I just read the post regarding extreme cold exposure. That's really cool! Those little peyote plants are really cute! Makes me want some.
> 
> As a kid living in Arizona, I stole cactus cuttings from all over the neighborhood. My parents get to enjoy the fruits of my labors in my absence now. Whenever I visit my parents, I'm amazed how big the plants have gotten. The Indian figs I planted as single pads years ago are about 7' tall now.
> 
> I'm growing succulent cuttings (taken with permission this time haha) on my porch now. Gardening seems to take even more patience than keeping Ts! I'd kinda like to get into some of the more unusual varieties someday. Right I'm trying to save some pencil cactus pieces that fell off my neighbor's plant.
> 
> Anyone else seen cactuses with fake flowers glued on them for sale at hardware stores? Home Depot has also taken to selling rainbow spray-painted cactuses, which look butt-ugly in addition to being dumb.


Sigh. Fake flowers glued or even pinned on with a needle thing. Painted to look shiny sometimes. And the medium they are growing in is often colored gravel that has been glued so they won't spill during shipping.


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## Cavedweller

The Snark said:


> Fake flowers glued or even pinned on with a needle thing.


Why would you even need to pin on the flower? A cactus comes with its own supply of needles!


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## Galapoheros

HAHA, yeah, hot glued flowers on the cacti.  I told the cashier they weren't fooling me!, joking around, the cashier thought they were real, a lot of people do.  I thought they were real when I first saw them until I touched them and heard a paper sound ...heeeyyyy, what's going on here!  Yeah I did the "cuttings" things too when I'd take a break at work and walk around the blocks outside, putting seeds in my pockets, whatever, I still have some of that stuff and that was at least 15+ years ago.


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## Driller64

Cavedweller said:


> I stole cactus cuttings from all over the neighborhood.


That how I got my Opuntia plants! Since they are incredibly cold tolerant, they can be grown in the ground in NJ with little trouble. While I was on my bike, I found some plants and thought I'd steal a few pads :sneaky: The spines were painful riding home, but it was worth it, as I rooted the pads and now have two healthy plants. I am planning to try my first attempt at grafting cacti on one of them soon.


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## Driller64

Here are my Dioscorea sylvatica vines of about 1 month:




What is not pictured are the small little caudexes forming at their bases 

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## Galapoheros

Maybe we can start some plant trading or trading seeds.  Cactus people tend to like the bulb stuff.  Sometimes I drop inverts off at a pet store here and was given a Sinningia from the store two or three months ago, never heard of it before then, it didn't have any new growth on it.  I was like, "oh ...uh, thanks, a potato, I 'am' kinda hungry."  Took it home and potted it, I like it now.  I'm not sure of the species though, I'm thinking it's  S. magnifica.

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## The Snark

Snerk. A potato. They do look rather... unprepossessing without leaves, don't they? But then a lot of tuberous plants are stealth. I tossed some really yucky rotten garbage into a compost pile and we have been growing ginger every year since. BTW, whatever you do, don't toss papayas into your compost pile. Unless you want to grow nothing but papayas for the next eon or two.


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## Driller64

I "stole" this yesterday off of a cactus at my local nursery:







It was a cactus offset that was already falling off, so I decided to take it. I rode there on my bike, and it was remarkably painful riding back for obvious reasons. Not even the plastic bag I bring with me for keeping cuttings in every time I go out on a bike ride helped. It was worth it though, cause if I root this I will have an infinite supply of grafting stock! Muhahahahahahahahaha! Sorry.


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## Driller64

Not a cactus, but still noteworthy: 







Pitcher Plant!

They seem to be one of the easier carnivorous plants to keep alive, in stark contrast to Venus Flytraps, which I'm pretty sure I've gone through 20 of by now.

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## Tongue Flicker

I have a strange obsession with epiphytic and tropical cacti


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## JohnDapiaoen

Have yet to see anyone's pics of their cacti collection! *hint* *hint* 

-JohnD.


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## Driller64

Unfortunately I have lost my San Pedro cactus seedlings due to a failed grafting attempt on one of my Opuntia plants. My knife blade I was trying to use was dull, so instead of cutting through the seedlings, it crushed them and ruined them :wall:. Well, time to wait another three months for a new batch to grow. I bought a sharpening stone to sharpen to the knife so hopefully I will have a sharp knife for the procedure next time.


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## edgeofthefreak

JohnDapiaoen said:


> Have yet to see anyone's pics of their cacti collection! *hint* *hint*
> 
> -JohnD.



Thanks for the hint! I knew there was something I needed to do....
I know nothing of grafting cacti, which sounds awesome, but I am learning about growing cacti from seeds, which sounds awesome as well. These little guys only took a few days to sprout, but they've been super slow growing since then.

That's a standard BIC lighter (not a mini) to show size of the pots.



Most of these aren't leaning as much as the picture would have you believe.



The closeup shows how red the base is, compared to the top. There's a tiny, nearly dead, not really growing sprout on the side of the egg. If it is still alive, it is the slowest of the bunch. I frequently forget it's there.



These three have little wings or ledges or fins... they're much darker than any others.



And these three are the best and worst of the collection. The biggest one is thriving, as is the smaller red-based one. The tiny one in this pot has been found uprooted twice (including this morning) and we keep just poking it back into a hole.



Absolutely no idea what kinds are what. These are from a single DuneCraft kit, which boasts five different kinds of cacti. They outgrew the little eggs in a matter of two weeks.
Anyone hazard a guess from this list? Carnegia gigantea (giant saguaro), Lemaireocereus thurberii (organ pipe), Echinocactus grusonii (golden barrel), and Ferocactus wislenzeni (Fishhook barrel). The package only lists four Genus/species, but then clearly states five different kinds... lol.

Anyway, there is my ENTIRE collection of cacti! Enjoy!

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## Driller64

edgeofthefreak said:


> I know nothing of grafting cacti


Neither do I, it was my first attempt at grafting. I thought I had researched enough to carry it out, but I guess not


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## edgeofthefreak

Driller64 said:


> Neither do I, it was my first attempt at grafting. I thought I had researched enough to carry it out, but I guess not


I have a friend in horticulture. He's insanely busy, but has promised me that he'll teach me grafting someday. If he knows anything about cacti grafting, I'll post my findings here.


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## Louise E. Rothstein

I tried grafting with the live "cactus flowers" that are occasionally grafted onto green cacti as novelty items.
Since the live "cactus flowers" are actually tinted mutants that produce no chlorophyll fallen "flowers" cannot grow by themselves...
but,when I grafted scions from (red) "flowers" into young plains cacti cells from the scions dispersed throughout their new hosts'  anatomy until they produced botanical chimeras whose intermingled cells are something that cacti 
are positively not supposed to do...I have never heard of anybody else ever chimeracising any kind of cactus...all of the other cactus grafts that I ever heard of either died out or grew in place.


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## Driller64

Louise E. Rothstein said:


> I have never heard of anybody else ever chimeracising any kind of cactus


http://www.cactuspedia.info/schede/CHIMAERAS/Ortegopuntia/Ortegopuntia_PERCY/Ortegopuntia_percy.htm

This species is VERY high up on my wish list by the way


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## pitbulllady

Tongue Flicker said:


> I have a strange obsession with epiphytic and tropical cacti


Me, too!  I have a pretty decent collection of _Rhipsalis, Lepismium, Schlumbergera_ and a few other genera of tropical cacti, though I'm always looking to expand their ranks.

Pitbulllady


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## Galapoheros

If it didn't freeze here, or had a greenhouse, I'd try to grow Dragon fruit, I've seen the "fruit" in stores,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya  I'll take some pics of some stuff I have later.


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## ratluvr76

I'll post my cactus/ succulent garden tomorrow. My prize cactus is a split rock mimic plant. I love it's uniqueness.


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## Driller64

Also apparently Opuntia doesn't even need roots to have something grafted on it, so grafting it rootless might give me more control over the graft rather than having to work with a cumbersome pot in the way 

Also I've identified the cactus cutting I took from the nursery plant as Cleistocactus winteri. It's an okay grafting stock apparently, but it offsets frequently.


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## ratluvr76

here are some of my plants. The purple ivy looking stuff, I think it's a type of wandering jew? and the split rock succulent are my faves.

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## Driller64

Here is most of my cactus collection:

Aztekium hintonii, around 2 months old







Ariocarpus trigonus, around 2-3 months old







Ariocarpus fissuratus, 1 month old, probably







Mixed seedlings, 6ish months old







Ariocarpus retusus, 1.5 YEARS old













Mixed seedlings, 1.5 years old













Geohintonia mexicana, 2.5 months old

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## Driller64

Stuff that hasn't germinated yet:

Aztekium ritteri:







Bowiea volubilis:







The Bowiea volubilis seeds I sowed today, and I have a little story about them. After putting the label on the pot, since it was early in the morning I must have miscalculated the height of the plant shelf, because I banged the pot into the shelf, causing the pot to make a full 180 degree turn upside down and spilling the soil inside :wall:. So I painstakingly searched for the seeds inside (which is a difficult task because the seeds are the same color as the soil and they look much like specks of wood) and amazingly managed to locate two of the three seeds I sowed. The pack I received contained six seeds, so I used one of the three seeds left over to replace the lost seed leaving me with only two seeds left. I am still shaking with rage as I type this, especially since it costs $8.00 for five seeds on Amazon (including shipping).


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## ratluvr76

is there a cheaper way to get the seeds? o.o... these must be a very rare plant?


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## Driller64

ratluvr76 said:


> is there a cheaper way to get the seeds? o.o... these must be a very rare plant?


Yeah it is kind of a rare plant, at least you can't buy it at Home Depot. There is a cheaper way of getting the seeds: buy seeds, grow the plant to maturity and have the flowers self pollinate and produce seeds. Unless the plant is dioecious, this method will get you all the seeds you will ever need


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## Driller64

Just forc- I mean had  my dad order some Pereskiopsis spathulata cuttings on Ebay since there are no sellers on Amazon that sell them. I'm planning to do an experiment in which I graft one of my Aztekium hintonii and ritteri seedlings onto a cutting and compare the growth rate to one on its own roots. I know there will be an huge difference in growth because of Pereskiopsis' growth boosting properties, but the experiment will take place over 2-3 years at least. But of course Aztekium is ridiculously small as a seedling so I will get some experience with grafting larger seedlings first obviously.


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## ratluvr76

One of my mango seeds has a shoot coming up finally. I'm super excited.


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## Driller64

What's new with the cacti:

I took seeds off a cactus in a nursery about two weeks ago. I planted the seeds the day I took them. Here is the parent:







And here are the seedlings of the same plant:







So is should be interesting to watch them grow as big as their parent. Also new San pedro seedlings came up, just waiting to be grafted

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## Driller64

I am attempting to turn an ivy cutting I took last year into a bonsai. It was the result of an experiment in which I took two spare ivy clippings while I was pruning an ivy plant outside and stuck them in a pot with another plant. No rooting hormone, nothing. One of those two rooted. However, I did not appear to have any use for it until I thought to turn it into a bonsai. So here is my progress so far. There are some wires on some of the branches if you look closely

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## ratluvr76

the ivy is kind of a neat idea.. . plus those cacti seedlings are super awesome!

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## Driller64

Pereskiopsis cuttings came today. Sorry I didn't take a picture before planting them. I was just too enthusiastic about planting them! Hope to do grafting with these soon

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## ratluvr76

Those look pretty similar to one of the ones I have in my little succulent planter.


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## Driller64

ratluvr76 said:


> Those look pretty similar to one of the ones I have in my little succulent planter.


Well they probably aren't, because these are quite uncommon. Believe it or not, Pereskiopsis are actually cacti, not succulents. They are one of the few cacti with leaves. Apparently it is the leaves that gives them their fast growing abilities as it allows them to photosynthesize at a much more rapid rate than normal cacti. Also it is believed that Pereskiopsis is what cacti looked like before they evolved to their current state.


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## ratluvr76

That's pretty cool. Honestly though I didn't think they'd be the same plant, just that they looked similar.  

On another note.. another Mango seed sprouted and 4 more of my avacado seeds sprouted.. yayy!!  
(pics tomorrow or sunday).


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## ratluvr76

as promised, these are my mango seedlings.

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## Cavedweller

Driller64 said:


> Well they probably aren't, because these are quite uncommon. Believe it or not, Pereskiopsis are actually cacti, not succulents. They are one of the few cacti with leaves. Apparently it is the leaves that gives them their fast growing abilities as it allows them to photosynthesize at a much more rapid rate than normal cacti. Also it is believed that Pereskiopsis is what cacti looked like before they evolved to their current state.


That's super cool!!! What kind of environment are they native to?


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## Driller64

Cavedweller said:


> That's super cool!!! What kind of environment are they native to?


The tropical parts of Venezuela, I think.

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## Driller64

The Pereskiopsis are showing signs of rooting. I potted them up separately yesterday as I did not want them to get too established. The roots break easily it seems when they are young, so I was really careful while repotting. Here they are:


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## Louise E. Rothstein

Mango is related to both "Indian lemonade," aka "staghorn sumac," and to poison ivy.

And all three of these can be grown as chimeras.

I first found this out when I tried to "tame" poison ivies by grafting them with staghorn sumac.
Their transforming leaves revealed that their new cells were very much alive: but that the plants had become two-in-one botanical chimeras that are not species pure.
They were,however,poisonous from the poison ivy...so I tried to "tame" them forever by grafting them with tropical mango cells whose death by cold would presumably be fatal to the chimeras' normally hardy
 consituents shortly after the first hard frost...but,although transforming leaves revealed that the mango cells had taken hold,the poison ivies kept them alive!!! Through hard frost!!! Through that winter!!! Through 
the NEXT winter!!! Until I was compelled to permit my "noxious weeds" to be completely destroyed!!!

I have wondered ever since...Whether these experiments might be repeatable...Whether other mango cells could be wintered in "poisugo" plants...Created like mine.

P.S.

I tried to propagate mango cells in "unpoisoned" grafts to "plain" staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina))
None of my three "sumangoes" survived one winter...And my "poisugos" survived more than one.

If somebody else tried creating "sumangoes" and "poisugos..."
I wonder what would happen: Is my work repeatable?


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## Driller64

Driller64 said:


> The Pereskiopsis are showing signs of rooting. I potted them up separately yesterday as I did not want them to get too established. The roots break easily it seems when they are young, so I was really careful while repotting. Here they are:


While I was testing out an old container to see if it would be a good humidity chamber for grafts, I took the Pereskiopsis in picture #2 out to see if it would fit. While taking the lid off the lid banged into the Pereskiopsis with a flesh crunching sound :wall:. The Pereskiopsis looked unhurt, but why did it make a flesh crunching sound then? I pulled on it lightly to test for root damage. It resisted, so I assumed it was undamaged. But still, I am going to be keeping an extra eye on it now


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## The Snark

*How about an ID?*

Our neighbor gave me a 4 inch chunk of stem which I haphazardly shoved in the ground. It started growing. The stem is cacti with spikes. Then it started growing succulent leaves. Where I planted it was on the drip line from the roof. Seems it doesn't mind swamp 4 months out of the year. And it grew. And grew. Finally I was visiting a friends garden which was nicely shaded. 50 feet across with lots of places to sit. It's a restaurant. The shade 'tree' was one of these in monster proportions. They are wonderful patio type plants since they don't shed leaves but don't even think about touching the trunk or branches unless you like ouch. I would advise not planting one in your terrarium. This one is about 12 feet tall now.


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## JohnDapiaoen

The Snark said:


> Our neighbor gave me a 4 inch chunk of stem which I haphazardly shoved in the ground. It started growing. The stem is cacti with spikes. Then it started growing succulent leaves. Where I planted it was on the drip line from the roof. Seems it doesn't mind swamp 4 months out of the year. And it grew. And grew. Finally I was visiting a friends garden which was nicely shaded. 50 feet across with lots of places to sit. It's a restaurant. The shade 'tree' was one of these in monster proportions. They are wonderful patio type plants since they don't shed leaves but don't even think about touching the trunk or branches unless you like ouch. I would advise not planting one in your terrarium. This one is about 12 feet tall now.


Definitely looks like a  Euphorbia drupifera which resembles a cactus but it's not a cactus. This plant's actually pretty rare here in the states, I would consider yourself lucky, I bet you think it's just another random plant lol. Where was this photo taken?


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## The Snark

JohnDapiaoen said:


> Definitely looks like a  Euphorbia drupifera which resembles a cactus but it's not a cactus. This plant's actually pretty rare here in the states, I would consider yourself lucky, I bet you think it's just another random plant lol. Where was this photo taken?


Looks like you bullseyed it. Just wonderful, the giant of the euphorb family. It's growing about 10 inches from the edge of our porch. I thought it was just going to be a slow growing cacti as it had no leaves at all when I got it. I'm lucky I killed the acacia that was shading it as it was forcing the little monster to grow sideways. But now it looks like it will grow up over the porch roof. I hope it doesn't have the toxins they are so good at producing.
Snerk snerk. A little tongue in cheek. Other wants me to clear an area to grow a garden. I tried for 2 years. Mingy nutrient free silt and clay for soil. So I planted a seedling tree and imported a stump from the forest. 4 years later the seedling is a 35 foot tall giant silk tree competing with an equally large broad leafed forest tree. The only remaining area where we could plant a garden has this monster shading it. Unfortunately, giving her the soulful puppies eyes for several years as I make excuses is now wearing as thin as her patience to get a garden growing. "Are you sure we can't just have a rainforest and buy our veggies at the market? Please?"


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## Galapoheros

My Avocado plants died but hose can be a little hardier than I thought.  If you don't know where Del Rio tx is, look it up, I saw a mature avocado tree and a grapefruit tree next to each other next to a motel.  They had been there many years and had fruit on both when I saw them.  It's a dry hot place and freezes at times during winter, they of course give them extra water.


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## The Snark

Galapoheros said:


> My Avocado plants died but hose can be a little hardier than I thought.  If you don't know where Del Rio tx is, look it up, I saw a mature avocado tree and a grapefruit tree next to each other next to a motel.  They had been there many years and had fruit on both when I saw them.  It's a dry hot place and freezes at times during winter, they of course give them extra water.


EXTREME frost and freeze intolerant, saplings more than mature trees. After a freeze it can be several years before they produce fruit again. They were grafts I assume. Do you know what root stock?


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## Galapoheros

I have no idea about the graft, almost a certainty for the grapefruit though.  Yes it was very odd to me, a big mature Avocado and grapefruit, both had fruit at the time too.  The manager didn't have much to say about it, didn't care to discuss it.  They had been there for many years.  They were on the south side of the building though which is very important in areas where there is a cold season, I should have pointed that out, and right next to the building.  This is done as far north as central texas btw, some people put a citrus tree inches away from a south wall of their home.  During the winter, a freezing wind hits the north side and kind of rolls over the house.  I've imagined some barrel-rolling against the south side of the house, picking up some heat from the home.  I planted a mandarin tree this way at my parents home in the Bryan tx area over 10 years ago and it has gotten into the upper teens since, the tree is still going strong.  It's the only orange tree I've ever seen in that town planted in the ground and surviving winters with no problems.


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## ratluvr76

This all gives me hope for my little avocado seedlings. I have, I think six now, along with 7 lemon seedlings. I think I'll go take some pictures of everyone's progress sometime tomorrow and put together a new thread for this type of plants since we seem to have sidelined the cacti collecting thread..


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## The Snark

Galapoheros said:


> I have no idea about the graft, almost a certainty for the grapefruit though.  Yes it was very odd to me, a big mature Avocado and grapefruit, both had fruit at the time too.  The manager didn't have much to say about it, didn't care to discuss it.  They had been there for many years.  They were on the south side of the building though which is very important in areas where there is a cold season, I should have pointed that out, and right next to the building.  This is done as far north as central texas btw, some people put a citrus tree inches away from a south wall of their home.  During the winter, a freezing wind hits the north side and kind of rolls over the house.  I've imagined some barrel-rolling against the south side of the house, picking up some heat from the home.  I planted a mandarin tree this way at my parents home in the Bryan tx area over 10 years ago and it has gotten into the upper teens since, the tree is still going strong.  It's the only orange tree I've ever seen in that town planted in the ground and surviving winters with no problems.


As memory serves... The mandarin orange, the satsuma and the owari are the fore-bearers of all sweet oranges and originated in China. All are adaptable to grow in cold climes. Satsuma is commonly harvested in the snow in northern Japan. The grapefruit is a hybrid of the satsuma, and possibly mandarin, and the pomelo.

Friends of my family owned a large avocado orchard in So. Cal. The trees are extremely labor intensive in order to keep a good crop going from year to year. They must receive an exacting amount of water, be carefully pruned, and protected from frost and hard freeze. Prolonged or heavy frost would pretty much stop the next years production. All commercial avocados are grown from a hearty hybrid rootstocks and are grafts, much the same as decorative roses. Avocados grown from the seed of commercial trees rarely produce fruit and even more rarely will the fruits mature. The tree will also be susceptible to branch breakage as the wood will be much weaker than the hybrid rootstock. (My info is 40 years old and things may have changed quite a bit.)

My mother in law here was the recipient of a royal orchard project avocado introduction. She had no idea how to prune and tend the trees. Subsequently over the years most of the trees died (Broken branches must be healed with tree seal immediately and so on.) The trees went unpruned and grew to mammoth proportions but yielded less and less fruit each year. When she sold the orchard 3 years ago the 6 remaining trees produced about 10 fruits each, each the size of a hefty cantaloup. It required being a very good catch and a 50 foot bamboo pole to harvest them.

South slope or south side (of the green house) is a common practice in colder climes for a wide varieties of fruits, veggies, shrubs and sapling trees.


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## Galapoheros

ratluvr76 said:


> This all gives me hope for my little avocado seedlings. I have, I think six now, along with 7 lemon seedlings. I think I'll go take some pictures of everyone's progress sometime tomorrow and put together a new thread for this type of plants since we seem to have sidelined the cacti collecting thread..


But they're green like cacti haha, yeah OK, yeah that'd be a good thread.  I still need to post some of pics of cacti I have here.  The sinningia I posted a pic of is blooming.  It's a plant 'cacti people' like but not a cactus either.  I can't figure out what the sps is.  I gave my parents a San Pedro cactus, it's 5 feet tall now and bloomed, it was huge.  My 78 year old dad pulled the seed pod off before it matured, oh that hurt, he didn't know what it was.


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## Driller64

Mah Pereskiopsis cuttings have started to grow! Yay!


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## Driller64

Driller64 said:


> Mah Pereskiopsis cuttings have started to grow! Yay!


Also when these things get bigger I would be more than happy to ship cuttings to anyone who wants some


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## Driller64

Some non cactus plants I just brought in for the winter 

Banana







Grafted dwarf orange tree







Ginger


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## The Snark

I don't think your pot is large enough for ginger. They grow a pretty massive root glop around 6 inches long.


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## Driller64

The Snark said:


> I don't think your pot is large enough for ginger. They grow a pretty massive root glop around 6 inches long.


Gonna have some left over large pots once my potted tomato plants die from frost exposure. I'll put it in one of them. 

Pereskiopsis update! 













What's this? Where did the second pictures' growth go? It stopped growing for some reason so I decided to cut the new growth off and root it as a cutting and "reset" the plant in the process.


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## The Snark

You're growing a banana indoors?
Which plant stopped growing?


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## Galapoheros

You have a lot going there!  It looks like that over here.  I went to the store and bought Dragon Fruit.  I planted some seeds in a pot and forgot what I put in there.  They came up and still couldn't figure out what they were until I went to the store and saw dragon fruit, ..yeah that was it!  I think those will be kind of cool.  A lot of stuff you can get seeds from at the store that aren't hybrids, or at least you can still get something from growing from seeds.  I just got through picking the seeds out of a pineapple, I've never germinated a pineapple seed before.  I've got about 10 Kiwi seedlings going.  There are cold hardy varieties so I think people could grow Kiwis that assume they can't where they live.  I think the reason I like plants is because there are always changes going on, something new to see, every few days, or even day to day sometimes.


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## ratluvr76

Galapoheros said:


> You have a lot going there!  It looks like that over here.  I went to the store and bought Dragon Fruit.  I planted some seeds in a pot and forgot what I put in there.  They came up and still couldn't figure out what they were until I went to the store and saw dragon fruit, ..yeah that was it!  I think those will be kind of cool.  A lot of stuff you can get seeds from at the store that aren't hybrids, or at least you can still get something from growing from seeds.  I just got through picking the seeds out of a pineapple, I've never germinated a pineapple seed before.  I've got about 10 Kiwi seedlings going.  There are cold hardy varieties so I think people could grow Kiwis that assume they can't where they live.  I think the reason I like plants is because there are always changes going on, something new to see, every few days, or even day to day sometimes.


I'm growing a pineapple too, but I cheated, I bought a pineapple, cut the top off.. stuck that in a pot of dirt and kept it well watered for a while... I water every other day outside, it's growing wonderfully.  much much easier then a seed, although seeds would give me more plants. LOL


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## Galapoheros

I cheated too, the two tops are in pots.  I've never seen a pineapple seedling so I'm going to give it shot.  I want to move and have a greenhouse so I can grow more cold sensitive plants like this, sick and tired of moving things to the garage, back and forth, back and forth.  I like this area but it's too hard to grow things on bedrock(austin tx area).  I grew two others from tops and they got huge, but I let them get too cool in the winter and left it too wet, they died.  I never did get to see them make a pineapple, have you got any to produce a pineapple yet?, I know it takes at least a couple of years.


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## ratluvr76

Galapoheros said:


> I cheated too, the two tops are in pots.  I've never seen a pineapple seedling so I'm going to give it shot.  I want to move and have a greenhouse so I can grow more cold sensitive plants like this, sick and tired of moving things to the garage, back and forth, back and forth.  I like this area but it's too hard to grow things on bedrock(austin tx area).  I grew two others from tops and they got huge, but I let them get too cool in the winter and left it too wet, they died.  I never did get to see them make a pineapple, have you got any to produce a pineapple yet?, I know it takes at least a couple of years.


nah I really only planted it about 2 months ago. I live in SW Louisiana... crazy long growing season and if you keep your stuff on the south side of the house, most of the time at the most you'll need a blanket to cover at night.

---------- Post added 09-12-2014 at 11:32 PM ----------

I'll post a pic tomorrow afternoon of it


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## The Snark

Pineapple season here. They cut them while still pretty small for reasons I'm not sure. About softball size. But with pineapple it seems the more water you give it the hotter it needs to be, the better drainage required and the faster it will grow though the flavor drops off if too fast. Right now it's rain every day, 100+ degrees and trucks loaded to the gunwales in them everywhere I look.


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## Galapoheros

I read some about them, there are different cultivars.  I saw a show only about pineapples a few years ago and I remember somebody on that show said the cultivars shipped around "aren't as good as this one right here..."  And she held up a cultivar on the island she lived on.  It might have been the 'Pernambuco'  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple  that doesn't ship well.  When getting the seeds out of one of these today, I ate the whole pineapple haha.  Not a good idea, my tongue feels like it's been on a grinding wheel.  I guess it's from the bromelain(?) I read about at wiki.


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## The Snark

Galapoheros said:


> I read some about them, there are different cultivars.  I saw a show only about pineapples a few years ago and I remember somebody on that show said the cultivars shipped around "aren't as good as this one right here..."  And she held up a cultivar on the island she lived on.  It might have been the 'Pernambuco'  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple  that doesn't ship well.  When getting the seeds out of one of these today, I ate the whole pineapple haha.  Not a good idea, my tongue feels like it's been on a grinding wheel.  I guess it's from the bromelain(?) I read about at wiki.


I know the pineapples you are probably referring to. Among other 'assets' they are ultra high acidity which helps prevent rot. Most of the produce commonly found in markets is, if you will pardon the expression, edible garbage. I believe I got that expression from a consumers union review.  Taste and nutritional content is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is getting the product to the consumer with minimal spoilage and financial loss. Rock hard green tomatoes gassed or immersed in a chemical to turn them red, bananas with the flavor of rice cakes and so on. No doubt the commercial pineapples are the same. The rule of thumb is to buy locally, even if the price is far higher. You get higher quality goods and at least your money stays in the community instead of enriching stock holders so they can buy condos in Dubai.


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## Galapoheros

Yes I've been wanting to grow much of my own food because of all that you mentioned.  I would like to get some seeds from these better pineapple varieties somehow.  I would like to know where what I eat comes from, I want that to be from my property, heirloom varieties mostly.  I need to move, can't do it well on bedrock.  We are all brainwashed to buy food somebody else grew.  I understand the "time" issue and some just can't do it where they live but a lot more people could grow at least some of their own food.  I think there are some people that think growing your own food makes you look poor, hahahahaha, ridiculous.  Not many like(or maybe there are), I think some think that and just don't say it out loud.  Or they are so programmed that they think, "grow your own food, I've never heard of that, you must be crazy."

Reactions: Like 2


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## ratluvr76

Galapoheros said:


> Yes I've been wanting to grow much of my own food because of all that you mentioned.  I would like to get some seeds from these better pineapple varieties somehow.  I would like to know where what I eat comes from, I want that to be from my property, heirloom varieties mostly.  I need to move, can't do it well on bedrock.  We are all brainwashed to buy food somebody else grew.  I understand the "time" issue and some just can't do it where they live but a lot more people could grow at least some of their own food.  I think there are some people that think growing your own food makes you look poor, hahahahaha, ridiculous.  Not many like(or maybe there are), I think some think that and just don't say it out loud.  Or they are so programmed that they think, "grow your own food, I've never heard of that, you must be crazy."


I want to start doing something like this too. I'm better able than you there then I am here but my health holds me back somewhat. This year though, I did grow my own tomatoes.(marginal success) and my own hot peppers, (wildly successful) as well as my own green onions.. successful, and tried radishes.. that was a dismal failure lol but I gained A LOT of experience and learned alot. I'm stoked for next year and  have in mind about 75 different varieties and types of vegetables I would like to try to grow next year.

I believe that if people who CAN grow food in their yards the share it with their neighbors, people planting community gardens etc, I think we can take our food back from commercialism. I want, some day, to be able to completely independant from commercially produced produce. And possibly eggs and poultry, and some other meats as well. I need a friend that's a hunter, lol. I'm not averse to eating game on a regular basis....

and again, I'm rambling. I seem to do that alot LOL


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## freedumbdclxvi

Some beautiful plants in this thread.  I really wish I had a green thumb.  It seems any plants I try and grow, outside of those in with animals, just upd and die no matter what I do.


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## Galapoheros

Galapoheros said:


> Yes I've been wanting to grow much of my own food because of all that you mentioned.  I would like to get some seeds from these better pineapple varieties somehow.  I would like to know where what I eat comes from, I want that to be from my property, heirloom varieties mostly.  I need to move, can't do it well on bedrock.  We are all brainwashed to buy food somebody else grew.  I understand the "time" issue and some just can't do it where they live but a lot more people could grow at least some of their own food.  I think there are some people that think growing your own food makes you look poor, hahahahaha, ridiculous.  Not many like(or maybe there are), I think some think that and just don't say it out loud.  Or they are so programmed that they think, "grow your own food, I've never heard of that, you must be crazy."


Did you buy heirloom?  I'm kind of obsessed with being independent, not that I'm so opposed to buying food but, I like knowing I don't have to depend so much on other people.  For example I don't like community water and community waste disposal, I like the idea of having a water well and on-site septic system.  Even though I plan to move any time, I just slapped up a fence to keep the deer out of a small area, plan to put native cacti and other native plant there, I collect seeds when I hike around.  I used 4 trees to put the fence up.


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## ratluvr76

Galapoheros said:


> Did you buy heirloom?  I'm kind of obsessed with being independent, not that I'm so opposed to buying food but, I like knowing I don't have to depend so much on other people.  For example I don't like community water and community waste disposal, I like the idea of having a water well and on-site septic system.  Even though I plan to move any time, I just slapped up a fence to keep the deer out of a small area, plan to put native cacti and other native plant there, I collect seeds when I hike around.  I used 4 trees to put the fence up.


I planted a couple of hybrid tomatos but most of them were heirloom varieties. I didn't save any of my seeds this time since this years experience was mainly to see if I COULD grow them LOL. I've always been a little intimidated of vegetable gardening. My peppers on the other hand, I don't think they were hybrid varieties, but I don't think they were heirloom either... not sure really on those. I grew habanero, Hungarian hot wax, ghost pepper, super chilis and also Giant Marconi, gypsy peppers, Orange bell peppers. 

Next year I will be planting almost exclusively heirloom variety tomatos and peppers with an emphasis on making sure I save seeds. But I will also be planting peas, pole beans, 2 to three squash varieties, and greens for sure. I want to have enough to start learning how to can too.

This is all of course if all goes as planned LOL


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## The Snark

Galapoheros said:


> Did you buy heirloom?  I'm kind of obsessed with being independent, not that I'm so opposed to buying food but, I like knowing I don't have to depend so much on other people.  For example I don't like community water and community waste disposal, I like the idea of having a water well and on-site septic system.  Even though I plan to move any time, I just slapped up a fence to keep the deer out of a small area, plan to put native cacti and other native plant there, I collect seeds when I hike around.  I used 4 trees to put the fence up.


Just keep in mind an 6 foot fence is childs play to deer and they will dig and crawl under it.


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## ratluvr76

The Snark said:


> Just keep in mind an 6 foot fence is childs play to deer and they will dig and crawl under it.



tie up little bags of garlic in the plants? would that even work? I've heard of people scenting their gardens and bushes with cougar urine... *ick*
What a wonderful aroma amongst your flowers. LOL


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## High Lord Dee

I have started adding some live plants to my T enclosures.  They are all doing well and I am enjoying it.  I suspect I will regret it down the road as they are doing TOOO well.   Worried about the maintenance over time.  We bought a few cacti and some succulents recently.  I can see how one could get addicted to them like I am addicted to arachnids.  Keep posting!  Thanks.


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## Galapoheros

ratluvr76 said:


> I planted a couple of hybrid tomatos but most of them were heirloom varieties. I didn't save any of my seeds this time since this years experience was mainly to see if I COULD grow them LOL. I've always been a little intimidated of vegetable gardening. My peppers on the other hand, I don't think they were hybrid varieties, but I don't think they were heirloom either... not sure really on those. I grew habanero, Hungarian hot wax, ghost pepper, super chilis and also Giant Marconi, gypsy peppers, Orange bell peppers.
> 
> Next year I will be planting almost exclusively heirloom variety tomatos and peppers with an emphasis on making sure I save seeds. But I will also be planting peas, pole beans, 2 to three squash varieties, and greens for sure. I want to have enough to start learning how to can too.
> 
> This is all of course if all goes as planned LOL



If you can grow giant macaroni, you could grow anything.  You can order any heirloom seeds on the internet.  I ordered any heirloom seeds yet, I have several mags that have anything in there a person could want.  I tried to grow cantaloupe out here, there was only one and it was about the size of a tennis ball, tasted great but didn't last long.  Yeah Louisiana would be a good place to grow things.

White tail deer "can" jump a 6 footer but will avoid it.  They shouldn't jump it for food but more likely to jump it in a panic.  I talked to a fence co around here about it that deals with it all the time.  They can't see the top of the fence(wire) very well, the further the top is, the more they will avoid it, it's a matter of risk.  It would've cost $20,000 to deer proof this place so I passed.  They're more designed to shuffle around for food at a few inches in the dirt but they just aren't good at tunneling, no natural reason for it.  Deer would normally not be smart enough to dig under a fence they can see through but they aren't going through bedrock anyway.  Had to edit a few important words in there I left out!  the macaroni thing just jk around there in case anybody is saying  ..is he serious? ha!


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## just1moreT

*no stickers but cool*

These are my young seedlings Monilaria moniliformis there over 2 months old seeds where like fine pepper very small need fast draining soil pretty much just granit chippings lol


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## Galapoheros

Yeah those are cool, had to look them up.  I've got a Stapelia about to bloom, don't know what species it is but I'm guessing it's S. gigantea, it's going to be huge.

Reactions: Like 1


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## The Snark

Galapoheros said:


> If you can grow giant macaroni, you could grow anything.  You can order any heirloom seeds on the internet.  I ordered any heirloom seeds yet, I have several mags that have anything in there a person could want.  I tried to grow cantaloupe out here, there was only one and it was about the size of a tennis ball, tasted great but didn't last long.  Yeah Louisiana would be a good place to grow things.
> 
> White tail deer "can" jump a 6 footer but will avoid it.  They shouldn't jump it for food but more likely to jump it in a panic.  I talked to a fence co around here about it that deals with it all the time.  They can't see the top of the fence(wire) very well, the further the top is, the more they will avoid it, it's a matter of risk.  It would've cost $20,000 to deer proof this place so I passed.  They're more designed to shuffle around for food at a few inches in the dirt but they just aren't good at tunneling, no natural reason for it.  Deer would normally not be smart enough to dig under a fence they can see through but they aren't going through bedrock anyway.


Deer can be stopped with an electric fence. (Non lethal and considered humane). It MUST be a quality fence charger like a Gallagher http://www.gallagherusa.com/
Now there is a trick to it. Deer will push through at ground level, going under nearly any normal fence. They will also jump a fence without giving it a thought if it's 5 foot or less. You must have 3 hot wires, but not in a normal configuration. 
The first wire encountered is 8 inches high. The second wire is back from that 18 inches about 3 feet high. The third wire is above and behind the second at 4 feet high and about a foot back.. 
The first wire is a nose wire as they graze and an ankle wire when they look over, start testing. The second wire shocks them when testing. The uppermost wire hits when they rear back to jump or step through/over. 
The thing about hot wire fences is they aren't fences to a deer. The shocks create an unjumpable barrier in their minds and if hit no matter which challenge they try, they will give up. Use of high tensile heavy gauge wire is mandatory.

This method has been tried and proven at orchards and vineyards. The backwards leaning ramp is an absolute beast for virtually any animal to get through. The real hot chargers don't give a localized shock. They smack like you've been  hit in the face with a board and it's almost impossible to tell where the shock came from. The high tensile wire strung tight (100+ pounds tension) assures that an animal can't break or get tangled. It must be smooth wire, not barbed. You don't want to poke, stab or grab the animal. (I worked with a New Zealand fencing company for a half year putting myself through college. I also took a few hits from a heavy duty charger that left me dazed and confused.)


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## Galapoheros

Haha, I've been nailed by electric fences too, not highly charged though, I have one I used to use packed away.  That's good info and will try to keep it in mind if I have a bigger operation when I move.  I don't need all that here though, it's a small area and they can't go underneath the fence, it's bedrock.  Also, I got lucky with the 4 trees I used to attach the fencing too, they all lean outward and I can put a few strands of wire at the top in a few minutes using a ladder if I find there is a problem.  I really doubt I will have a problem but will report back if they do get in there.  I did the fencing thing too when I was a teenager, I kind of liked it.  Nobody liked the post hole diggers but I did, that's some good exercise there!  $8 an hour in the late 70s, that was pretty good $ back then.  I knew the owners well though so, ...I don't think that pay was typical.


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## Driller64

Update on cacti!

I planted some of those L. Williamsii seeds I got a while ago. They haven't come up yet, but then again its only been 4 days so they may have come up by now. There have been grafting attempts on my Pereskiopsis, but none of them took yet due to an infection that manifests as a rust color that apparently just materializes into existence right on the graft union. But in my most recent attempt there was much less of the rust color than there usually is so I might just have a few more things to fix in my procedure before I finally get one to take. But until my next attempt I'm just laying low for now, propagating my Pereskiopsis and trying to regrow all the seedlings I killed due to trying to graft them lol. 

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch Q using Tapatalk 2


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## Medusa

Galapoheros said:


> Yeah those are cool, had to look them up.  I've got a Stapelia about to bloom, don't know what species it is but I'm guessing it's S. gigantea, it's going to be huge...


That's what it looks like...once it blooms you'll know.


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## Galapoheros

I have another that has bloomed countless times but I can't get seed pods from these things, is there any trick to it?  Pollenation doesn't seem to be the prob, flies all over the place on them.


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## Driller64

Here is my saguaro cactus for anyone who is interested:




I got it for $3 at a nursery, which is odd because a saguaro that size should apparently be 20 or so years old, which makes me suspect that it is not a real saguaro. But I do have another one I sprouted myself awhile ago. It's now entering its third year and it's among one of the the first cacti I ever grew from seed. Here it is: 




This photo is a little old though, so it could be a little different looking.


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## The Snark

That first one doesn't really look Saguaro. For that matter, neither does the second. Any idea how long it takes to develop the signature ridges running up their length?
Congrats on raising from seed.

---------- Post added 09-30-2014 at 01:25 PM ----------




Galapoheros said:


> I have another that has bloomed countless times but I can't get seed pods from these things, is there any trick to it?  Pollenation doesn't seem to be the prob, flies all over the place on them.


I'm assuming you have the right flies that pollinate at the right time of day or night during the right weather and the correct season and so on? My dad spent over 30 years failing to get successful pollination with one little brute.


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## Galapoheros

That's what I'm doing, 'assuming' that I have going on what you mentioned, ..and so on.  It blooms when it warm enough, Spring through Summer, hits the seasons within the seasons, flies, baby maggots crawling all over the reproductive parts saying, "well, where is it!" and I have never seen a pod even get started.  So I'm hoping somebody chimes in that has had the problem and figured it out.  I have a cactus in the back yard, will post a pic later, I don't know what it is.  I bought it years ago, it's pretty big, maybe 2ft high.


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## JohnDapiaoen

Some Jade I have in the balcony














And some odd succulent with a jade hitchhiker






-JohnD.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Galapoheros

Do you ever see that bloom?  The Stapelia did turn out to be gigantea, just couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from, thought it was the neighbor's cats at first.  Then I remembered that plant, sho nuff, it opened up, pretty strong.



Anybody care to take a shot at IDing this cactus.  It's in my back yard here in Texas, practically sure it's a US native.  I bought it prob about 7 years ago.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Driller64

And now the photo you guys have all been waiting for: Lophophora williamsii seedlings!


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## Galapoheros

coooool  I see 4-maybe 6, how many are there?  I just ordered some Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus var. elephantidens seeds.  Of course I had to look up the name, cut and paste that haha.  I ordered 10 seeds to increase the odds of ending up with a few.


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## Driller64

Galapoheros said:


> coooool  I see 4-maybe 6, how many are there?  I just ordered some Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus var. elephantidens seeds.  Of course I had to look up the name, cut and paste that haha.  I ordered 10 seeds to increase the odds of ending up with a few.


There are actually five, and that's how many seeds I put in there so 100% germ. rate. Good luck with the Ariocarpus seeds, they are quite easy to raise from seeds as long as you follow the proper technique.


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## Galapoheros

My problem hasn't been germination of Ariocarpus seeds, that's been pretty easy, it's that there is something I'm doing, or not doing that causes them to kick the bucket soon after they germinate.  I can't tell if it's too much water or not enough.


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## Driller64

Galapoheros said:


> My problem hasn't been germination of Ariocarpus seeds, that's been pretty easy, it's that there is something I'm doing, or not doing that causes them to kick the bucket soon after they germinate.  I can't tell if it's too much water or not enough.


Well you may be using incorrect soil. Ariocarpus soil should be a mostly mineral mixture, with little to no organic matter. Buy some oil absorbent from Pep Boys, it's cheap, and mix it 50/50 with storebought cactus mix. That's what I use. Also I would recommend buying some fungicide.


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## Galapoheros

I read about that too, or mineralized cat litter.  I've been using stuff straight from the desert but my hunch is that it's a little too clay-like for keeping seedlings alive very well, the survival rate is low in this stuff, which is probably normal in nature though.  Yeah I think I'll try that but I'm going to try the absorbent like you said instead of the cat litter, never know what's added to the cat litter, perfumes and maybe other junk.  I do finally have a fissuratus that might make it, pic later.


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## Driller64

Galapoheros said:


> I read about that too, or mineralized cat litter.  I've been using stuff straight from the desert but my hunch is that it's a little too clay-like for keeping seedlings alive very well, the survival rate is low in this stuff, which is probably normal in nature though.  Yeah I think I'll try that but I'm going to try the absorbent like you said instead of the cat litter, never know what's added to the cat litter, perfumes and maybe other junk.  I do finally have a fissuratus that might make it, pic later.


Yeeaaah there are also many diseases and parasites in outside soil that could be bad news for your seedlings. Hope you get one to grow


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## Galapoheros

Here's a fissuratus seedling, it's at this size they have often died.  Other mature stuff I have does great outside.  It's getting them past that fragile point that can be a little hard for me.  And I planted ginger from the grocery in a pot and noticed it's about to bloom.


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## just1moreT

I quit the cat litter went with pumice, granit chippings ,limestone chipping/chat .perlite works floats and grows algae  . Dallas bonsai has a lot potting mediums. cat litter breaks down and is nasty stuff when gets dry ,granite is nice stuff can get it in feed stores aka chicken grit I also have a Ariocarpus fissuratus v. hintonii seedling I see if I can get a pic tomorrow it's around 10 days


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## Galapoheros

Alright, I have "decomposed" granite but I think I should add something to it keep it from sticking like cement when it dries.  I bought A. agavoides Saturday, it has a seed pod on so I'm going to try and get those going too.  Also bought this Astrophytum.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Driller64

Galapoheros said:


> Alright, I have "decomposed" granite but I think I should add something to it keep it from sticking like cement when it dries.  I bought A. agavoides Saturday, it has a seed pod on so I'm going to try and get those going too.  Also bought this Astrophytum.
> 
> View attachment 130657
> View attachment 130658


WHERE!?

Also watch out with the Astrophytum. They are known to die suddenly with seemingly no cause.


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## just1moreT

*cacti*

Here is my  ariocarpus seedling 14 days out of seed the other seedling to left is a astrophytum been having pretty good luck on those have around 80 seedlings of hybrids and mixes from couple months to couple weeks old .other pic is succulents various stuff, lithops ,,,, and some caudex plants like that odd stuff lol some growing from seeds some bought .

Reactions: Like 1


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## Galapoheros

I left the screen off the seedling and a bird destroyed it, chased it off and then saw the damage.  Another reason to put them in a safe place inside for a while at least.  I still have a lot of seeds.  I have a bunch of stuff in the fridge.  I bought the plants at a succulent show.  That's some nice stuff you have going there.  I've liked the caudex stuff for a while but more recently got more fired up about it.  Just this Spring I found the local Ibervillea lindheimeri and collected a lot of seeds, those are real easy.  But I'm having a hard time finding I. sonorae seeds, anybody know where I can get some of those?  Really though, I need a greenhouse before I get anymore stuff going.  I have some rare cycads I grew from seeds also.  Yeah a plant has to be kind of weird in some kind of way or I'm usually just not interested.  Something I normally wouldn't be interested in that is native around here is a native flowering plant called Silphium albiflorum.  It's something like a desert daisy that produces an odd, nice smelling sap.  I read it's not a good "potted plant" because of the long tap root but that might only be speculation, there isn't much info about it since it's not a common plant, it's only native to the Texas hill country.  I have a lot of seeds I collected.  I read they usually don't germinate but I think I figured out the problem there.


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## just1moreT

Aw that sucks on the seedling Im  keeping everything inside under a 8 bulb t5ho grow light seems to be working I'm adding on to my shop a green house in a way going have bunch Windows anyhow,, but most the weird stuff likes to grow on a window seal lol I will put stuff out once it gets bigger in years lol slow growing stuff is always the good stuff. Caudex plants  are worth getting fired upped about there like P metallicas of the plant world  Out of Africa plants. Web site has good buys on young stuff older stuff can get expensive


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## The Snark

A couple of little tidbits for you plant and especially cacti fanatics: http://www.huntington.org/WebAssets/Templates/content.aspx?id=494
http://www.rsabg.org/


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## Galapoheros

Yeah it's a pretty popular hobby, a lot of good info out there.  Not a cactus but something many cactus/succulent collects would prob think is interesting.  These are Cycas Petrea plants I grew from seed, prob pretty expensive now.  Yesterday I noticed one is forming two stems.  I almost let these die in the winter, just too much going on and tired of bringing all this stuff inside ..outside, inside, outside.  It's a pain.  What I like about this cycad, compared to something like the Sago Palm(not even related to palms other than being a plant) is that this one has a smooth trunk, the leaves easily fall off.


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## just1moreT

Nice looking plants there looks like a island paradise I bet they are worth a good chunk be hard to let them go raised from a seed lol. My mother has a ponytail palm she got it when I was 4 it's 40 plus year old plant and has lived a hard life ,I'm going to keep it now ,I guess she is tried of moving it around I take some pics here one day when get it home has several branches but yeah caudex plants cool as a cati and some prob live as long to


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## Galapoheros

No plans on selling these!  I don't care much for that kind of thing, I'd rather have the "thing" than the paper money.  I want to move and put these in the ground.  It will prob freeze now and then where I move to so I'd like to plant them in the ground in a greenhouse.  Ideally, I'd like to have a greenhouse where things are planted in the ground, as well as potted stuff.  Have some simulated rock outcrops, waterfalls, a miniature volcano(shield type) and can't forget the unicorn.  My main interest is getting seeds from rare plants, I don't like the idea of dead-ends.  I would really like to see these produce seeds, there are male and female plants with cycas though, with these.

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## The Snark

We've got 3 nurseries around here offering Cycas Petrea. 2 seem to be talking out their arses but one actually has them. The BS nurseries raise various cycads and will call them anything in order to market them, mostly to rich Bangkok socialites that wouldn't know a cycad from a Euc. But the one nursery that has them is a huge affair covering maybe 20 acres and is propagating them which is a relief as the quick buck a-holes have been depredating them and bribing forestry officials if they get caught.
Good luck raising them up. I haven't the patience. I really like them as  they are so unusual. Almost having 'normal' leaves and the closest to being an epiphyte of the cycad world.


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## Galapoheros

I forgot how much I paid for the seeds but it seems like it was around $6 each(years ago obviously), about the size of a golf ball.  I also used to email the guy that collected the seeds, he was claiming he found a new species but I think it ended up being C. petrea, just a variety with leaves that looked a little different, something like that.

I may get more seeds from this that I thought;



...might be kind of cool


Just something I grew from a seed here, from a kiwi I bought at store, growing slow.


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## Driller64

Well here it is, the first graft I got to take  : 




While it was alive anyway  . It got so severely infected with rust that I tried to regraft on a Pereskiopsis but I left too little on the seedling. It was an A. trigonus seedling grafted onto a Mammilaria vetula offset. After grafting I wrapped the graft with plastic wrap and put it in an area out of direct sunlight for five days. I probably should have left it for the full 7 days for it to form a better union. Well, better luck next time!

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## Galapoheros

I've never tried that before, well I did once without reading up on it, was real sloppy about it so it didn't work.  But I've never been fired up about doing that, I may give it another try though.


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## Driller64

Did some grafts today on Mammillaria and Opuntia. I almost got a successful graft on Pereskiopsis but I took it out of humidity too early and it died within about four hours. So I'm just gonna give the Pereskiopsis a break and have some other cacti be my Guinea Pigs. Now all we have to do is find a way to graft tarantulas to get them to grow faster XD.


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## Driller64

Driller64 said:


> Did some grafts today on Mammillaria and Opuntia. I almost got a successful graft on Pereskiopsis but I took it out of humidity too early and it died within about four hours. So I'm just gonna give the Pereskiopsis a break and have some other cacti be my Guinea Pigs. Now all we have to do is find a way to graft tarantulas to get them to grow faster XD.


The Opuntia graft that this post refers to worked! And is still alive and has put out quite a bit of growth. The scion is an L. williamsii seedling. I'll get a picture of it here as soon as I can.


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## dirtmonkey

*Cool to see all the plant people*

Nice to see more people into plants.  I came here to see if anyone was using local plants for their vivariums and saw this. 

I collect some cacti & succulents too.  Probably 60-70 species and a few hybrids.  All in small pots though, not much space where I'm at now.

When I had a greenhouse I had a good sized collection of epiphytic cacti.  Just a few now though.  Here's a fun miniature one, Hatiora epiphylloides ssp. Bradei:







Not much to show in the main part of my little cactus & succulent collection, though.  It's all shrivelled up, messy, and dormant for the winter.







I've done grafting and a tiny bit of hybridizing, but nothing interesting very right now.

Edit: I've also grown tons of Sinningia, but not so much now.  I do have  tray of mixed seedlings I'm going to have to figure out what to do with soon though.
Vincent

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## Medusa

> Here's a fun miniature one, Hatiora epiphylloides ssp. Bradei:


Oo, I love this! Never seen it. 

I have quite a few cacti and more succulents, mostly caudex plants.


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## Driller64

Got this in the mail a few days ago:


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## dirtmonkey

Driller64 said:


> Got this in the mail a few days ago:
> 
> View attachment 133284
> 
> 
> View attachment 133285


A. asterias 'Super Kabuto' on Myrtillocactus?


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## Driller64

dirtmonkey said:


> A. asterias 'Super Kabuto' on Myrtillocactus?


Yep  I'm hoping to hybridize it with another Astrophytum, which will either obtained by purchasing one or grafting a seedling.


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## dirtmonkey

Cool, good luck - there are some crazy looking ones out there now.


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## Driller64

I received seeds of this Astrophytum myriostigma cultivar: http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/AS...tum/Astrophytum_myriostigma_multicostatum.htm

I'm going to graft a seedling or two of it onto Pereskiopsis or Selenicereus cause I recently received a S. grandiflorus plant in the mail. And then I'm going to hybridize it with the A. asterias and and no doubt create some sort of horrific genetic mess in the process  

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch Q using Tapatalk 2


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## Driller64

I'm gonna try to get seeds or a seedling of this species: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_longaeva for Bonsai purposes. The reason for it is if you read about this species, it will be alive long after I'm gone


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## Medusa

Long overdue...a pic of one side of our greenhouse.


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## Driller64

Medusa said:


> Long overdue...a pic of one side of our greenhouse.
> 
> View attachment 133530


I can identify a few things in there, M. geometrizans, some sort of Dioscorea, maybe some Selenicereus, and a A. subulata. But very impressive collection! Where do you get them?


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## just1moreT

Here is pic of my plant room a lot of young stuff most of it grown from seed since September last year.some of the bigger caudex plants I bought small


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## Chainsaw Reptiles

My Side Hobbys That Isnt T's Is Reptiles And Horse Riding Competeing (Etc) And Cacti! Hehe Where Cacti Are Okay With T's I Wanna Setup A Desert Theme For A Desert Scorpion or Something

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## Medusa

Driller64 said:


> I can identify a few things in there, M. geometrizans, some sort of Dioscorea, maybe some Selenicereus, and a A. subulata. But very impressive collection! Where do you get them?


Various places: some nurseries out here in WA and OR, and one back in MI. Others online from places in Cali mostly. (Some of those are on eBay.)

I also have a greenhouse window in my office, a plant rack under lights in an unheated bedroom, and my hubby is putting together another 4-shelf propagating rack with lights as we speak. [emoji6] (He's the vegetable guy.)

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## Driller64

Decided to resuscitate this thread because reasons. Over 15,000 thread views, wow!

I've been getting into conifers recently and I just received a pretty cool fir cultivar in the mail today. I also have a few spruce cultivars in my yard I have planted. I may post pictures of those soon.


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## Pipa

nice pictures


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## The Snark

A friend from childhood was a succulent and cacti fanatic. He finally got a job here:
http://www.huntington.org/WebAssets/Templates/content.aspx?id=494


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