Cacti Collecting!

[Driller64]

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

 

[Driller64]

Some non cactus plants I just brought in for the winter

Banana

Grafted dwarf orange tree

Ginger

 

[The Snark]

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

 

[Driller64]

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.

 

[The Snark]

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

 

[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.

 

[ratluvr76]

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

 

[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.

 

[ratluvr76]

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[The Snark]

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.

 

[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."

 

[ratluvr76]

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

 

[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.

 

[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."

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.

 

[ratluvr76]

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

 

[The Snark]

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.

 

[ratluvr76]

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

 

[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.