IndianDreaming

If there's a couple left I'd love some. What variety of pitcher plant is it?

Some gums/resins/saps have been used for glue...

Everyone knows we were sneezed into existence by the Great Green Arkleseizure - Beware the coming of the handkerchief! I've come to believe that time is the finiky quantity causing all the troubles. If you pop into a different time frame you're looking at a whole new world, There's probably some relationship with good ol' Planck in there to stop the rather embarrassing collision that might occur if 2 different time frames tried to overlap. And a 'big bang' so to speak could easily be interpreted as such if you were watching all the time that's passed as a compressed stream that looks really fast from your point of view. Either that or it's not the time that's compressed, its the fact that you're elongated due to your extreme velocity though space compared to the bit you're trying to look at... It's a winky wonky universe, and sometimes I think if you knew how it worked, it would lose it's charm.

I have had an experience that changed the way I thought of plants and how they could 'communicate'. I was wandering alone at night away from a bush doof in a really good mood. I'd been talking to someone earlier about chatting with plants and my opinion at the time was that it was mostly hippy waffle, but in my mind, there isn't much that is impossible, so without further ado, I locked it in my mind to try chatting with a plant - even though they have no mouth. As I wandered, hours later, when I had completely forgotten about my intent to communicate with a plant, I was poked in the leg by a stick. The stick was attached to a plant, and I lazily fondled the stick and ran my fingers along it's length feeling it and touching it. I moved up the stem and got to the leaves and a feeling came over me like I was playing with a puppy, I grinned and tickled the plant in a cheeky fashion and nuzzled my head into it's leaves like a puppy would and rubbed my face all over it giggling and really getting into it. As I did this, my mind wandered and was filled with injuries I'd sustained as a kid, a sprained ankle, a broken shoulder, and more, they just popped into my head like random thoughts one after another in succession, and I hadn't thought those thoughts for donkeys years... It instantly occurred to me that these mental images I was having had somehow been inspired by this plant, and that this plant was 'telling' me - 'Hey! I'm really good for anti inflammatory effects! Come see me next time you bang yourself about you dill, I can see you've done it heaps of times before, look at the images in your head!' - I nearly fell over with delight. I took a few samples, ran back to tell everyone who thought I had gone stark raving mad, took the plat to a knowledgeable fellow and asked about it (without letting him know what I'd experienced so his answer couldn't be biased) and he said "I can't remember the name of it, but if you smash up the leaves and bung it on a bruise or sore it'll decrease the swelling" Some people have said to me 'oh it was just the smell that triggered the memories, and so on and so on' But personally, for me it's not conclusive proof a plant can speak, but I don't need conclusive proof, I learned how to be more in tune with nature that day - The fact that it was a plant having a chat with me, or my own mind being very clever and reminding me things I'd forgotten, isn't important, the knowledge that I can do those things is, and I'm more open to experiences like that since then and now I've had many - many many and they're awesome.

Since it's already being neatly collected in a tampon, couldn't you just pop a bowl beside the loo and say "The dunny is being blocked by your sanitary items, pop em in here and I'll deal with them later, it's easier than unblocking the loo" - Then in the dead of night, whist the hormonal one is sleeping, you could soak them in water to extract your ferts. Rather than be caught in the shed, around a soaking bowl of tampons with a crazy eyed experimentalists glare in your eyes, you could just poke a deep hole in the ground next to your plant and insert the tampon. They're biodegradable and might even add some worm food later on down the track. Edit: Mooncup - goggle it www.mooncup.co.uk even has a usage video if that's your thing ...

Thanks all - The wood is no longer available. Free seeds packs to those that offered though! Thanks so much! PM me Foo and X and I'll bung together a seed pack for you.

Howdy WA folk! Does anyone live in or near Glen Forrest? There's a lovely piece of Jarrah Burl for sale and the lady won't let me send a courier to pick it up! If someone is interested, I'd fling you some cactus, seeds, money or all of the above to buy it and either post it or let me send a courier to grab it. It's a long shot - but let me know, I have a bucket of interesting seeds you can rummage though if you're interested!

^ Good points, especially the 'heavily inebriated' - I'd probably add 'heavily addicted' to that too, I doubt you could say the user is 100% in the right state of mind to choose for themselves when they're driven by an addiction.

Hopefully the day they make drug dealers responsible for their actions will be the day you see the cig company directors lined up against the wall, and the liquor licensing committee etc... lol - haha 'as if' right? It's fine for the big boys to commit murder via the products they sell...

Plant 4 looks delicious PM'd

Awesome - Love puff balls...

I've just finished reading "Shamans, Healers and Medicine men" by Holger Kalweit - The author describes shamans and shamanic practices from all over the world - It's a heavy read with dates, places, times, rituals and lots of detail. The author stresses that the description of shamans by western minds is extremely limited and materialistic, often presuming the shaman to be 'primitive' - Whereas this is not so, because the shaman has mastered multiple states of consciousness and can traverse these states and retrieve valuable information - that the western mind is oblivious to, or simply calls them hallucinations. I wouldn't be able to summarise what a shaman is in a single post - but there's a few good books out there that come close, for a tainted western mind to understand anyway

Get a push bike for transport, and possibly a clapped out old van with no rego and live in that, I've seen a few people live in vans and they can be quite comfy - push bike is a handy means of transport...

Why not pop your favourite recipe here? It's very hard to search the forum and find "The Best Cactus Mix" - it seems to be as varied as peoples underwear. Probably because of the location you're in as much as anything. If I use a well draining mix down here, it dries out within 1/4 of a day and I have to water 3 times a day to keep my cacti alive. I use heaps of organic mix in mine with coco coir to hold the water in, some slow release ferts, I've never had a problem with rot. 1 x part mushroom compost 1 x part potting mix 1 x part coco coir 1 x part perlite 1 x part 2-3mm sand Tiny amount of dolomitic lime Tiny amount of slow release fertiliser Seems to work a treat for me - but if you're up past the temperate line in sub-tropical or tropical, your roots would rot within 2 weeks in that mix

It's gonna be in the low 40's here tomorrow - the sunflowers seems to absolutely love it so I've soaked them thoroughly and given them a fert ready for 3-4 days of blazing heat... I'll take pics tomorrow and get a measuring tape - one has headed completely, and the others are just about to open. I think they're at the 3'ish metre point now but haven't measured... They're all single headed and the head of the first one is the size of a dinner plate. (must remember pics!)

I've been using scoria as mulch for a few reasons. - It allows you to blast the pot with the hose without disrupting the soil - It appears to hold in a bit of moisture but not too much. - It's a nice dark earthy reddish colour when wet and lighter when dry, so you can tell if the plants need water - It looks good in both black plastic pots (which is what I'm using) and terracotta. - It holds the cactus up nicely without crowding it or allowing moisture to stay on the cactus - You can get it in different sizes - I currently use roughly 10mm chunks for any cactus over 5cm It's annoying if you spill any on say concrete or hard ground and forget to clean it up, you really know it when you've stepped on a piece in bare feet! I used to under water and under fertilise my cactus for the first year or two of growing. Now I pretty much fill the pot with water till its running out the bottom every day, and have even fertilised with Powerfeed full strength daily during the growing season and in hot weather and the cactus absolutely love it. I've only had rot on un-rooted cuttings from overwatering as you mentioned above. It is pretty dry down here though... As for terracotta - I only have a couple in terracotta and it doesn't seem to make much difference (apart from looks - they look fantastic). I'd need a few more and some of my bigger plants in them to really tell I guess.

Yeasts are complex enough to be able to produce the things you're asking about. It was a long time ago, but I read an article about the possibility of using other fast growing plants, animals, bacteria etc. to produce various useful chemicals. They use E. coli for lots of bacterial gene experiments, but apparently yeast was the top candidate for the experiments you've mentioned.

As long as it's not Australia day weekend I'm keen - I've been a bit slack of late, would be great to meet up soon.

I can see it now: "Latest news flash" A 16 year old boy and three of his conspirators have been jailed today after officers 1234567, 3345678 and 443234 broke up the gang 'we're so cool' Apparently eye witnesses say the 16 year old received a motorbike for his birthday, and was seen in a group of 4 yelling the name of their demonic association that opposes the government 'We're so cool!' Tazers were used to subdue the evil gang and they have been imprisoned without parole for 20 years. Officers 1234567, 3345678 and 443234 gave no comment as due to the new laws there is no record of the incident ever occurring. The parents of the boy attempted to dispute the incident but no civil action is allowed against any police orificer...

^ Free Of Charge I've used the vest idea, works a treat - and in one dumpster I even found a hardhat! It's red - and I've used that and a glow vest in one dumpster at a worksite. The dude in charge said 'glad you've got ur gear on, you can dive all you like mate as long as you keep the f'ing OHS c*** happy and off our f'ing site you're laughin' Love it.

From what you're saying, it sounds like you need plants - lots of them! They're non-judgemental, they can handle verbal abuse without holding a grudge, they flourish when you tend them, they live on when you ignore them, they provide you with bountiful food and after a little worm action they eat their own waste and convert it it back in to more lovely delicious fresh food. All in the comfort of your own yard...

If you've got a nice smile, a pleasant approach and good story, you could get the food before it reaches the dumpster. Pop into the bakery and ask them if you can have their leftover bread, I'm sure they'd prefer it to be used than go in the bin - offer them $2 per shopping bag full. It's amazing what you can get if you ask. I think most people assume 'nah they wouldn't go for that' but a quick 'hey, do you reckon I could pop in at the end of the week and pickup your leftovers?' will either get you a 'no' or more food than you can poke a stick at. It's break even or win - gamblers paradise. All the food Not going to ... waste Yay.

I dumpster dive for anything and everything - I can't say I've found a lot of food though - mostly discarded building materials, electrical goods, shop fittings etc... I usually ask the office or house near the bin If I can rummage - they're more than happy for you to take it 99% of the time. Saves them money on having to get the bin emptied - big boy bins, big blue bins, you name it - I dive in it. I've been doing it for years - and I've been told off 'once' - by a middle aged lady that had no rights over the bin herself and just wanted to be bossy and ruin everyone's day. You do get a lot of looks though! Feet dangling in the air as you're upside down trying to free the bolt on that last industrial castor wheel with a makeshift spanner - you get so engrossed in what you're doing, by the time you pop your head up there's a few people milling around whispering and shaking their heads - "silly people", I think to myself, "There's gold in here and you're so prudish you can't see it" - haha, and I keep digging! Get into It mate - it'll help with your anxiety - And when you get that 'Oh how disgusting' look from some passer by - just smile and grin at them and completely ignore their anxiety projected onto you about what you're doing. Its not your anxiety... it's theirs

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My Aya plant is not looking well... Its gradually been getting worse and I'm really unsure what it to do about it. I would be rather upset to lose her so any advice you may have would be more than welcome! Leaves are yellowing, veins remaining green, ends turning brown/necrotic - The plant itself is rather long and spindly... I checked out this helpful guide: https://www.icmag.com/modules/Tutorials/PlantTrouble/Merged.htm EDIT: I only just noticed this is a weed growing site... But I'm still not sure and I'm reluctant to try anything without advice because I have a tendency to over pamper my plants and kill them. I'm thinking maybe #4 or #6? I've only ever fed this plant Seasol and Charlie carp as fertiliser, occasionally I've used a tiny bit of Magnesium Sulphate in the water because I have some other plants that like that so I'm leaning against magnesium deficiency. Could it be Potassium(K) deficiency combined with too much Nitrogen(N) and too small a pot?