hookahhead

Every person is unique, and therefore every garden is unique. As we spend time tending to them we learn what works best for each of us. So far this is working out nicely for my needs. It's compact, low maintenance, and I'm seeing some nice growth. Here's the one I set up in the OP This one has been going for a couple months now. The larger trichos were variously aged grafts that I transplanted from clay pots. 1-9-14 Today! After all, necessity is the mother of all invention. 10-12-13 3-31-14

Here's some of my propagation efforts. These are all either pups or pups of pups. I didn't grab pictures of the mothers tonight, but post #375 of this thread is the most recent update of them. TPQC x TPM "L1" (The original seedling is the smallest one in my previous post) Pup#1 Pup #2 Pup #3 TPM x N1 var. "WTF" - I forgot to take pics of the 3 pups taken from the mother, they are in post #375 as well. Pup #1 (from pup#2) Pup #1 (from pup#3) Unknown Cross "L2" (the original seedling is the crest in my previous post) Pup #1 Of course any good story needs a dramatic and unexpected plot twist at the end. So here is mine... my second favorite plants out of my entire nitrogen collection ironically isn't a mutant . It was the very first seed I grafted, and certainly looked weird as hell in the beginning. However once it straightened itself out, it turned into a beautiful dark green machine. This is by far the fastest growing cactus in my entire collection. I have grafted several pups from it now, and the fast growth is quite noticeable in all of them. Psycho0 x TPM (1-24-13 to 5-10-13) Apparently I had lost a bit of interest in this guy when he started growing normal because there are no updates for almost 3 months, then... (8-3-13 to 10-17-13) Today! As it grew the perskiopsis started to bend. The graft put out some roots, and is now a graft + it's own roots. (10-21-13 - today) Sometime over the summer I grafted one of the pups. However, in only a couple of months it had grown to tall for my cabinet and had to be chopped. It's now rooted in its own pot and anxiously waiting to get some sun. (pup #1) (10-15-13 to 1-4-14) Today! Since grafting to the loph to it, the stock has pushed out 4 pups. Of course I don't mind at all, I just chop em off and graft them too! Pup#1 (from pup#1) Pup#2 (from pup#1) Pup#3 (from pup#1) THANK YOU NITROGEN FOR ALL OF THESE GIFTS Edit: By the way I apologize for taking up 1/2 a page between these two posts. Does anyone know if it's possible to get the pictures to line up beside each other when you use "my media" to include them in the post? I prefer it that way, but it's a pain in the ass to find the url for each pic and then use the "insert image", plus it doesn't thumbnail them either

Time traveling cacti from the future, I dig it

You're not being serious are you? I saw several other pictures from various sources... I doubt ALL of them are fakes ;)

I stumbled across some pictures of a Parodia haselbergii (Scarlet Ball Cactus) flowering today, which I now think is what the plant I posted is. Google images show a likely match and upon further investigation I found this... Then I ended up seeing this, which has emerald green flowers . Of course I ABSOLUTELY NEED this plant now too... Cactus addiction is a vicious cycle

Hostilis, you may want to consider picking up a box of this...

I noticed that its been almost a month since I measured these guys and figured it was best to get out of the way before the flowers come again. Man I starting to worry, I thought I had done something to upset her. Of course every time I would ask her "Baby whats the matter?", she'd give me typical female response, "I'm fine!" She hasn't put out in over a week...but I think she's going to give it to me some again real soon Since this plant hasn't flowered yet, I tend not to take many pictures of it. However, I realize it's not fair to show favoritism towards the other two, when this plant is just as beautiful. Besides I'm pretty sure the only reason it hasn't quite made it there yet is because it's never had any pups removed, where as the other two have. Plus I don't think its going to take much longer to see a few buds. It's ok if you show up to the party a little late, just as long as you show up ready to party!

Check it out this plant is flowering again, and has a another on the way. I like how this plant looks right now because it shows the various stages of a flowers life... new bud, open flower, and closed flower

here's a couple on their own roots. The smallest one is actually my TPQC x TPM "L1". When I cut it for grafting, I didn't remove it from the pot and I made sure to leave a few areoles. So what your seeing is the pup that grew back I can remove this guy and let him grow its own now right? I think it will grow incredibly fast, considering the root is almost as big as the pup.

I received some seeds that were labeled "mixed cacti", but I have no information other than that. I grafted this one after I noticed a few appeared to have pink stripes. I really like the color, any idea what it is?

aquarium gravel

So far these plants are doing great. Notice the nodes are tight and the leaves are are huge, thick, dark green and healthy looking. They look much better than most of mine that are in normal pots. I have been keeping things fairly wet. I typically add enough water to where I can actually seethe water level rising from the bottom of the container. Lately I have been watering every 2-3 days, as the soil has already dried a bit by then. Plants are cool. They absorb some lightwaves, suck up a bit of water, and presto-changeo a carbon dioxide molecule becomes a sugar. The sugar is rapidly converted to starch and stored as fuel for later. Of course it's a tad more complex for cacti.

We are the ghosts of flowers past. As you can see I accidentally knocked two one of the shriveled buds off a while ago. It's still nearly impossible to tell, but I think I can see bud #12 under all the hair.

Tic Tac Toe, 3 in a row! #11 opened tonight, however I honestly don't think there is any room left for new flowers. The cacti gods sure did bless me with this plant. It has been spectacular to watch over the past couple of weeks. I hope you all have enjoyed it as well. These plants are truly magnificent creatures, and I'm just lucky to be along for the ride.

Double digits, #10 .

Yeah I have been playing in them with a paint brush, but I am not sure if they are self fertile or not. Fortunately they are two different seedlings. The split one finally opened two days ago, so I was able to mix the two.

9, 9 Flowers! Ah Ah Ah! Plus two more buds of course.

Finally! Well fellas, this evening I treated this special lady to a fancy restaurant and a romantic movie. Then we returned to my place to enjoy some fine wine. After a couple of glasses, she opened right up! I also confirmed there are at least 2 new buds on this thing. Though it's probably just a coincidence that gametes will meet under a full moon, right?

Well were up to 8 flowers now! It appears that it has no intention of stopping. I am almost certain I can see it pushing out another bud or two, but it is really hard to tell with all of the hair... As you can see, the cute girl next door is still playing hard to get. Such a tease, but I think she's finally getting close to giving me what I want. I also switched out the piece of plastic I was using with a piece of foam. I know it detracts from the pictures a bit, but that crazy mutant tricho was being pretty rough on its spineless neighbor.

7 Flowers in a single month! The 8th bud is already visible/developing. For anyone who is curious, these plants have not been treated with any kind of hormone or similar chemical. Just a large healthy grafting stock, worm tea, and a little bit of affection . Anyone know when I should start considering contacting Guinness about this? Also, it appears the disfigured neighbor might finally loose it's virginity. It has been a long month of foreplay, patiently waiting for the climax and the loads of precious pollen that come with it. As always, thanks for looking!

It looks like Flowers 5 and 6 decided to show up to the party together. I believe there is still at least one more bud coming. This thing is going to run out of areoles soon

In the mood for some cactus porn?

Waited patiently for spring to arrive...

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/nanotechnology-can-turn-plants-bionic-environmental-sensors.html While we may be years away from seeing a real-life bionic man, research into the use of nanotechnology in living plants could yield bionic plants with enhanced energy production and the ability to detect pollutants and other environmental toxins. We rely on living plants for food, for oxygen production, and for fuel, but they could soon also be used as real-time environmental monitors, thanks to the work of a team of researchers at MIT. By embedding carbon nanotubes in the chloroplast of living plants (the part of the plant responsible for photosynthesis, among other functions), researchers have been able to boost energy production in plants by 30%, or turn them into living environmental sensors capable of detecting pollutants and toxins. These bionic plants are said to hold a lot of promise for creating self-powered detectors for hazards such as chemical weapons or explosives, and may eventually incorporate electronic devices that could increase the functions of the plants for other applications. "Plants are very attractive as a technology platform. They repair themselves, they’re environmentally stable outside, they survive in harsh environments, and they provide their own power source and water distribution." - Michael Strano, Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering and research team leader at MIT The research grew out of a project at the lab to build self-repairing solar cells, which were modeled after the living cells of plants, in an attempt to enhance the photosynthetic potential of plant chloroplasts for possible inclusion into solar cell technology. According to MIT, plants normally only use about 10% of the available sunlight, but when carbon nanotubes were embedded in the chloroplasts, they were found to act as "artificial antennae", and let the chloroplasts harvest wavelengths of sunlight which are not normally captured, including ultraviolet and near-infrared light. The team applied a solution of nanoparticles to the underside of the leaves of a plant called Arabidopsis thaliana, where the material penetrated the stomata of the leaves and delivered nanotubes into the chloroplast, resulting in a boost of photosynthetic electron flow by 30%. By using carbon nanotubes that could detect nitric oxide (a byproduct of combustion, and considered an environmental pollutant), the researchers turned the plant into a living chemical sensor, which could eventually lead to the creation of real-time monitors capable of detecting specific molecules at a very low concentration (in quantities as small as a single particle). While the research has yielded some promising results, there are still plenty of questions about the effects of embedding nanotechnology in plants, including how the increased electron flow from photosynthesis may affect the sugar production in the plants. The team's research was published in the Nature Materials journal: Plant nanobionics approach to augment photosynthesis and biochemical sensing

I took some updated pictures because I would like to trade a couple of them when I repot. Bridgesii x Validius (left), Juuls x Peru (right), T. Spach x Juuls (bottom) Validius x LJ (left), Bridgesii x Validius (center) Juuls x (SS02 x SS01) (left), Validius x LJ (right) Top Row: Bridgesii x Validius (center), Validius x LJ (right) Bottom: T. Spach x Juuls (left), Juuls x Peru (center), Juuls x (SS02 x SS01) (right)