katu

Is it safe to use providing one takes all the necessary precautions, no harsh sun for a day or two, blah, blah, etc, etc. Thanks

Hey P.H. with regards to "folding"a leaf cutting would it still be planted vertically? And mate I agree with u on seperation of the plantlets being the hard bit. I myself take the time, can't bring myself to just thin them out so to speak. That and hardening them up depending on your climate. I have found in the past that they won't get much bigger than they are now until they have been seperated, or they at least grow alot slower. Once seperated out they take off.

I used to do the same Sally with regards to the wet paper towel/glad bag thing. I agree they definitely root faster. My only problem with that technique is it's hard to remove the leaf from the towel without damaging the roots. More the point I think i'm getting a bit lazy nowadays

Time...what have I got in my pockets??

Like Sally said mate they love it hot and humid, they're a tropical understory plant so provided they're not getting blasted by full sun you should be right. I've never bothered with a heat mat myself but I live in the tropics, might be needed further south. Also like prioritise said every break in the stem will throw more clones. If your careful you can cut away the clones and replant the leaf, i'm still amazed how many plants you can tease out of half a leaf. The only thing you really need to get these things going is patience. The ones in the pic were planted about 4 months ago but I have a few others that were planted at the same time that are rooted but yet to throw plantlets. I find they tend to throw plants around the same time that I've given up on em

Wow, haven't seen the orangeish flower, do they occur in Aust? I think your right about it being the roaring meg...

All of these leaf cuttings were taken at the same time approx. 3-4 months ago. The first picture the leaf was cut in half off the mother plant, planted in soil and placed in a humidity tent which consisted of a glad bag and placed in a shady spot on my back deck. The second picture the leaf cutting was treated the same but the stem was carefully snapped in two to three places at the base. As you can see the yield is drastically increased by employing this method. Hope this helps anyone interested in propagating these lovely plants

Already traded that one for a loph

Gtarman, no offence taken mate, just havin a laugh. . There is an annual pig hunt up here(not that I would go!), but the flyers get posted around at shops that are willing to put them up. I shit you not, it reads something like an event for the whole family, bring the kids... Not that I have kids, but if I did I really can't envision myself loading em in the truck to take em on a mass pig hunt . Entheongaia on the other hand, now there's an event for the whole tribe!

Hey bullit bro, the thing that got me doubting its kava is the way the new shoots are all coming off that centre stem/trunk? Whereas the kava I've seen seems to predominantly shoot from the base, if that makes any sense?? But shit I'm not the one to ask.. I know there's quite a few variants out there. But yeah illustro i'm sure your right mate the sassafras smell and velvety leaves lead me to say ya right. But like you said mate, a nice plant regardless. I think the Piper genus are good lookin plants all round, picked up a little P.betel for $2 from the markets just the other week.

Michael, that technique works for me mate, I try and not fix whats broken . I also try and support where possible anyone producing any form of literature in this area, as far as I can see you guys are working for nothing or worse. Trout and the Shulgins come to mind. Finally i'm a bit old fashioned when it comes to paper vs PDF, give me a book any day!

Mate put me down for one seriously, trade, cash, my left testicle ....Seriously you don't wanna know how far i'd go to get my hands on one of those...

Thanks for that Bryce, another rabbit hole for me to follow . Hey Ethnoguy cheers mate. Regarding lime, I do add it to my Mexican miniatures but not my Trichocereus.sp , should I be? Regarding soil temps I used to employ the double pot method for my Trichs but have gotten a bit lazy nowadays . I've gotta mate that puts a row of pots full of gravel as the front row facing the sun and double pots all his Trichocereus.sp. But yeah, what can I say i'm a lazy man... Ideally I guess you want them in the ground but we don't all have that luxury, with the rain fall I get they'd rot just at the thought of it.

Where did you source ya plant mate? Do the leaves have a "velvety" feel, crush/taste a leaf, does it have a sassafras/anise kinda smell/taste? Could you take another pic of a leaf close up top and bottom. Growth habit doesn't look right to me. I think you're right about it not being P.methysticum but maybe a more experienced member could chime in. I struggle to ID plants unless I've grown/seen them in person.

Hey Boomshanker check out ozlithops.com for all your lithop needs . And no i'm in no way affiliated..

Mate I do see your point regarding pine bark... That's interesting regarding the hydrophobic qualities of peat found in commercial potting mixes. I wasn't aware of that. It tends to hold water when its wet too doesn't it? Not the best choice for cactus and certainly not the best choice ethically, carbon storing, non renewable, etc. I'm beginning to get the impression all commercial potting mixes are varying degrees of crap.. even the expensive ones. I once found glass in a searles premium potting mix bought from bunnings. Not impressed

True, long long time ago I was living in the U.K. You could buy lophies, ariocarpus, astros and the like for next to nothing. Even the freaks weren't bad.

Mate I think the biggest problem with organic fert, especially fish emulsion is the oil content, thus hydrophobia. Not sure I agree with you on not sifting potting mix either. The common censuses seems to be that the bark composts down which can cause problems with rot. This will over time cause your mix to become acidic which is not ideal. I've always been an organic gardener in the past, not havin a go at mate over synthetic fert merely a personal preference. It's not a problem with anything other than cacti for me personally, but then there's not many plants which like having their soil dried out between waterings. I'm starting to lean towards using synthetic fert for my cactus but would like to explore other options first, hence foliar feeding.

When top dress with fert do you mean a slow release pellet? If so can you recommend a good one for cactus? Have only used liquid organics in the past, seasol, fish emulsion and so on. I think that's whats causing the hydrophobia to be honest, probably the fish emulsion more than anything. As far as soil media goes for my water tolerant species, ie Trichocereus, Cereus and the like lets say even parts coarse sand, 5mm gravel, perlite, and a good quality potting mix sifted for bark. I should mention the minerals are washed and sifted for fine particles. As far as getting up at midnight i'm one of these strange human beings who apparently doesn't need sleep . Up till midnight then awake by 5:00am.

Planted a root bound Turnera.subulata in the ground. Planted a root bound Cereus.peruvianus in the ground. White oiled different Psychotria.sp, is it just me or is Nexus prone to scale of what . Got the last of my Psychotria leaf cuttings outta their humidity tent. Stared at my cactus patch for a while, stroking the new growth whilst humming a lullaby... Ok, i'm gonna stop before it gets weird. I should mention I did all of this whilst wearing no pants...no seriously.

Hey franky, like I said mate my main issue is climate. I mean most people can feed and water the crap out of their Trichocereus so to speak in the hotter months. Where as the hotter months or growing season where I live is the wet season, my plants are under cover obviously but due to humidity even with a very free draining mineral potting mix it can take my plants weeks to dry out therefore causing issues with rot. Also being heavy on the minerals rather than organics in regards to potting mix there's not much nutrient in the soil to begin with. Finally due to me using organic ferts and under watering I have to suffer issues with hydrophobia so even when I do feed them I'm not sure they're getting the most out of the fertilizer.

You could well be right Bryce, and I do see what you mean by it would be a hard "prove" so to speak, in the sense of the water running down the column onto the roots. When I water any columnar I can't help but feel part of their form in an evolutionary sense is to "funnel" water down the ribs straight onto their roots if that makes sense? Only a theory through observation. I would still be interested in taking two cuttings of the same clone next growing season out of interest, as stated in my earlier post. I would love to know a bit more regarding organic nutrients being locked up so to speak. Are we talking a bacterial symbiosis so to speak?

Thanks ethnoguy, was wondering where I had originally read that article. I do agree that rot could be a real issue. Reckon andyamine might be onto something regarding only on dehydrated plants

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