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The Corroboree

swim

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About swim

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    Australia

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  1. swim

    Germinating Newbie

    Hi Regenerat8ion, Sand and vermiculite does not sound like a dangerous combo to me but it is also not the best to keep the seeds hydrated too well. Seeds need to be sufficiently wet for germination to take place and water can easily settle to the bottom of the container if there is too much sand in the mixture. I read about purely vermiculite teks but this material sponges water well and the seeds touching vet vermiculite will be hydrated sufficiently. I use a 3-5mm layer of sand at the top, followed by 2.5-3 cm of finely sieved osmocote all purpose potting mix in the middle and I put a layer of 1.5-2 cm perlite at the bottom. The sand prevents algea and fungi from overrunning small seedlings, potting mix provides water and nutrients for roots and perlite at the bottom wicks excess water, in fact up to 10 times of its mass ! Perlite also helps you see if there is water sitting at the bottom when you are initially pouring some into the container so it makes it very easy not to add excess. In any case I bet your seeds will germinate. Make sure your heating and lighting is suitable and they will go !
  2. Thanks Halcyon, Growing tips is why I made an account in SAB forums in the first place. There are also some serious old timers helping around. I like going through my little trials while keeping logs instead of leaving things unfinished and this seemed like a good place to write things down. I also zipbag my seeds one after another like russian stacking dolls and put them all in a jar in the end. I would say in freezer proper packing helps prevent frost formation on seeds since each opening & closing cycle introduces humidity that can freeze on cold surfaces. In lab, cells of tissue sections that get exposed to creeping frost end up getting pierced by ice crystals forming within (freeze lysis). So the seeds need to be stored in a sufficiently dessicated container in my opinion. I suggest storing some seeds of various forms ( big, small, plump/inflated, caved in/deflated etc.) you can sacrifice for the sake of experimentation and then we can say for sure freezing is the way to go with trichs. I doubt my friends will be germinating the ones they froze any time soon since they slack off big time without me around pushing Will be posting another update when they do though. Hi Zelly, I knew about the seed banks at near arctic regions for storing orthodox seeds but could never verify without the shadow of doubt that trichocereus produce that kind. One wouldn't expect those seeds to face freezing temperatures in their habitats, at least according to my research, which gave me a bit of worries but all seems fine now. We need to get a dedicated trichocereus freak among those scientists to make sure pedros survive the doomsday
  3. swim

    Newb over winter question

    Hey man, My plants survived 3 winters under my care by now and I noticed after the temperatures begin to drop down to single digits and don't reach up to 20's more often than they do in a week my plants stop growing, or at least I can't notice any progress. I kept them outdoors under a cover to prevent them from receiving rainfall for 2 winters which worked perfectly and I got no etiolation even though the plants were under cover. I would say as long as that shed or the tool closet is sufficiently cold they will arrest growth. I noticed even if I leave the plants out in the open where they will be wet and well illuminated they cease growth during winter so I think you shouldn't be worried too much considering you are in Tassie. Be wary of spontaneous rots indoors though. I kept some of my cuttings potted up in a garage for a while during the summer. Even though the roofing was semi-transparent and there were a couple small windows to let some light and air in they etiolated like hell and some of the plants developed these black rotting tips. My guess is lack of air circulation and (maybe) lower defensive capabilities of the etiolated tissue gives rise to this. In your case this might be more relevant than etiolation since I assume your plants are full of water and sitting in wet soil by now, which make them more prone to rots. In any case you should deffo ask the US growers about that. I remember goldencocactus on instagram storing their dormant cacti indoors during the winter. Trichs are tough and I bet yours will pull through as if it was nothing
  4. **UPDATE** The seeds that were exposed to freezing temperatures seem to be germinating just fine. I even included a fresh batch of peruvianus of the same type, from the same vendor in the same takeaways I am germinating all in and I can't notice a difference between the fresh ones vs those that saw freezing temperatures. Mind you this was not at -20 as in the freezer itself but at a temperature in the fridge section which caused fruits and eggs to clearly freeze. If it adds to the viability of the seeds on the long run proper freezer storage may even be a superior method. My friends have actually mistakenly put a few hundred seeds into the -20 freezer straight up. It will be interesting to see how those will do and will probably remove any doubts around my question.
  5. Thanks man, appreciate the answer. I am surprised that no one popped in except you. I was so sure someone has made the same mistake (or more likely a sound decision) as I did. In the meantime I dug around in other forums and found that some people claim freezing is the best way to keep trichocereus seeds going for a good while. They were talking about years to be more precise. Some advice that the seeds must be acclimatized to the room temperature over a few days before planting though so I would say what you do is good practice.
  6. Hey guys, The temps in my fridge fell to subzero (furits, veggies and eggs froze) because of my flatmate messing with the settings. I had some hundreds of trichocereus pachanoi, bridgesii and peruvianus seeds in ziplocks in a big jar. I am really worried that the seeds might outright die. I had a few packs from SAB and Herbalistics and don't know how dessicated they were. Just put them straight into the fridge at the beginning of the summer when the temps were above zero. Do you have experience with freezing and germinating trichocereus seeds, and if you do does that impact seed viability. I checked the forums and also other websites but no one gives a straight answer. I saw in an earlier post that nitrogen might be freezing some of his crosses but I could not tell if that was pollen or seed. All the best
  7. * Tested out fluvalinate on a small bridgesii a week ago and to my observation it did not affect the plant. Today I sprayed a pup and a fresh tip growth on the same plant to see if newly growing tissue is sensitive. Pachanoi, bridgesii or peruvianus did not react to this pesticide pup or adult. I haven't tried it on a fresh cut section or very small seedlings, but it looks safe otherwise.
  8. Thanks EG, I am aware of the magnifying glass-effect of the sprayed pesticides/fungicides and avoid it alltogether. I sprayed a small trich to test the effects of tau-fluvalinate and will post again to share the results. As far as I understand certain chemicals (like pyrethrin) can trigger a reaction that results in breakdown of cactus tissue into brown or black mush. My plants spontaneously develop these patches of black blisters with exudates very similar to what people report after chemical applications. Makes me wonder if all cases of "rots" are really due to infections or cacti are just exposed to chemicals that disagree with their tissues.
  9. Hi all, I bought a dual-action insecticide/fungicide mixture containing myclobutanil as fungicide and tau-fluvalinate as the pesticide. I read about this tau-fluvalinate and it turns out that it is a pyrethroid insecticide, meaning it is a different molecule but structurally similar to pyrethrin. I read here that pyrethrin burns cacti but couldn't find info on tau-fluvalinate. Anyone had their cacti burn after using this chemical? Cheers *I went systemic to treat some nasty rot caused by mold possibly due to the long time a cutting spent in postage. I noticed the woody tissue in the vascular bundle was somewhat affected even though the rest of the section looked pretty healthy: This is the vascular bundle after my first cut (notice the darkened woody tissue) And this the vascular bundle after my second cut Do you think this is a legit cause of concern or should I just sulfur it and let it dry ? I heard the remaining fungus can move up through the woody tissue so I would like to make it 100% clean.
  10. Appreciate it man. You can always tell me if situation changes. I also know a guy who can move stuff around for very cheap for me so transportation would be fine. Ah, I suspected temperature to be the main issue as well. I know how much they like full sun and it is my preferred way to grow them. I was hoping a month would not cause excess etiolation because then I have to chop the tips which ruins a column for me. I need to leave for medical issues but once back I am to stay for a long while so no bouncing between garden and indoors.
  11. Hi everyone, I was wondering what can one do to slow growth of trichocereus pachanoi/brdigesii/peruvianus during summer so that the plants do not get drastically etiolated when placed in front of a wall-facing windowsill? I already plan to withdraw water until the pots are bone dry, but since the temperature is going to be high overall I am not sure if this would halt the growth completely. I am going to be leaving the Oz for a month and I cannot stand the thought of my plants being stolen, therefore I will lock them in my room in front of the windowsill. With all being said, I would also be more than happy to transport my plants if someone is willing to keep an eye on them in a surely safe place and would gladly give away a good number of cuttings in return
  12. Thanks CJ, As far as I remember he only mentioned seed pods with no seeds in it. It might hint of some self-infertile species. As far as I know williamsii fits that definition but have no idea about fricii and koehresii. The latter are very rare though aren't they? I would be surprised if they turned out to be those species. Also this link decribes a variation called "decipiens" and the plants fit the description quite well in my opinion. http://sacredcacti.com/blog/decipiens/
  13. Hello everyone, A friend of mine overseas sent me these pictures of degrafted and rooted lophophoras which he bought for an amazing price (around 25 bucks each?). I was rather suspicious since it sounds too good to be true so decided to ask if these are just some of the more common lookalikes out there. The three heads in the photo are approximately 6 cm each and the one with the roots is around 5 cm. The ribs are clearly defined but these do not look like any of the classic williamsii's I have seen on the web so far. Unfortunately I don't own any so I can't compare. Any of you guys know if this is a particular variation of williamsii or another species altogether? Thanks in advance!
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