2meke

dg420 - nice greenhouse. i'm assuming the string line on your first pic is to prevent your cacti from toppling over..? if so good idea dude. i've been loading my pots up with gravel to make them more sturdy but a string line is a much better idea.

gtarman - i spread out my excess coir and let it air dry before bagging it up. gets a bit rank if you leave it wet. preferably use old potting mix bags, or something similar thats perforated. stores well this way.

i've slowly been potting up my cacti over the last few weeks and just got down to the last few. one of them, a peruvinoid that i would've thought really needs potting up is aprox 1m tall and in a 30cm pot has a few flower buds emerging. my instincts tell me that if i pot it up now theres a good chance the flowers will abort.. the fact that its flowering also seems to say that its quite happy... what do y'all reckon just leave it in its pot and feed it heaps or pot it up?

very interesting, thanks nitrogen! in past years my mix has been too sandy and gets big dry pockets, thats why i've been doing heaps of re poing. do you think if i water in enough organic material it could correct the situation?

awesome work chick! very inspiring. you must be very gifted to pull off the twist. i brought one in a picture frame for my partner, i find myself gawking at it alot. it really calms me. the maori meanings for the twists: Single Twist A Maori twist symbolises the path of life. It is believed to have been based on Maori kete basket weaving. The path of life takes many twists and turns but carries on regardless. In the case of the Single Twist, the design simply means the path of life and can be called the Maori Eternity Symbol. Double or Triple Twist The Double and Triple Twist depict two new shoots growing together - it represents the joining of cultures, the bonding of friendship for life. The design shows the joining of two people in love or friendship for eternity, so makes a wonderful wedding or friendship gift. The Twist can also relate to the joining of two peoples or cultures. so it might make a great gift for a special someone. also theres a carver i buy hunks of nz jade from just because i love it, haven't tryed any carving yet. its cheap as if anyone wants some?

thanks for replies! i think i'll leave it and give it the seasol treatment. i've got a scop flowering too and think they'll make good parents. CBL you'll know the one, its CC's fat ass "cuzco". you got any buds coming through dude?

i was hoping for the same thing. a nice long shaft with no pubes. the sections i grafted were in the stage where they've grown all their areoles/pubes and spineless section was forming/extending. no growth was noticed over 2 seasons so i removed them and used the stock for other purposes. good luck and good thinking putting the grafting off. anything and everything can go wrong when grafting pissed. i've lost some valuable scions under the influence.

from my experience. i've grafted afew tbm bell ends - with no areoles and none grew at all. didn't die but wouldn't grow. they wont produce new areoles if they have none. try afew areole grafts to peres if you want. the pups can be quite large. unrooted stocks will work but scion growth will be slow to begin with. i like unrooted stock for loph grafts as they dont pup as much but for tbm, pupping wouldnt be a bad thing.

i'm 24. i've enjoyed making things with wood since i was a kid but only just begun to really appreciate timber. my dad made a coffee table recently out of recycled rimu, old bed heads and drawers that had about 5mm of paint on them. when he finished it he sanded the top back and realised he'd put a length of kauri down one side. he thinks its a piece of shit but i think its awesome. heres another of my favoutites rewarewa the grains different depending on how its cut.

this is my new favourite timber that i've been playing with for a bit. yes thats the grain. not many people know about it. i asked one of my mates that knows a wee bit about plants if he could tell me what it's from and he thought mushroom. lol its not mushroom. i'm expecting a kiwi to get it. some seeds will go to whoever guesses it.

yip its mamaku - black ponga. its surprisingly hard once dry.

you're thinking of a phoenix graft moses. i'm doing a bunch this year. its a very useful technique for turning scrawny seedlings into something impressive in a short time. just go for a walk on the beach to find some good material or even just carve a chunk of wood to suit. i'm trying to carve a hunk of wood to get the buttressed roots look. thats probably one of the hardest features to develop on bonsai. if you use driftwood you have to soak in fresh water for afew months to get the salt out or just leave out for the weather to do over winter. otherwise just train the tree up around the driftwood and hold off doing the graft for afew months. carve out any soft wood and use a wood hardener too. lime sulphur is preferred. i've seen some old phoenix grafts where the cambium and bark had spread onto the driftwood quite a bit. given enough time it would cover the whole thing. a cheap source of wire is your local scrap metal buyer. electrical wire comes in many sizes suitable for bonsai. you only have to pay scrap price. the copper can be a bit rigid for some people, just light a fire and chuck it in, that will normally aneal (soften) it. but with all metals they work harden so the more you bend it the stiffer it gets. i prefer stiff wire cos you can use a skinnier size.

I can collect seed from our manuka that are covered in flowers/seed and send it out if anyone wants. Seeds are tiny and heaps in the pods so you'll get a decent amount. Very hardy once established. Don't want anything for them, just think it'd be cool to spread it round.

I've been told to go for the kawakawa leaves with the most holes as apparently the bugs go for the best leaves. I think it'd be more likely to have something to do with the plant possibly increasing alkaloids in reaction to being attacked by bugs...? You hardly ever see more than afew holes in afew of the leaves. I've only once seen one that's been stripped of foliage and that could've been from possums or humans. Yeah pukatea is a farkin slow grower and mature trees are very few and far between. I'd be sceptical of people harvesting pukatea for commercial purposes being from private land like they say.

Yeah zero has some amazing bonsai. Hopefully he got some photos of his apple last season, little ping pong size red apples. So cool! His pines are top notch. Way too much work for me the pines. Thanks myco, I love the cascades. I just need to fork out for some more wire so I can finish the main branch on it, then wait for it to beef up a bit in proportion to the top and I'll be happy with it. Still don't know if I'll keep it this size or let that main branch keep growing.. Whoa dude thats a pretty comprehensive tool kit! That should just about cover it. My tool kit consists of some scissors, pliers and a bent kitchen fork for a root rake. lol

Pretty common but I still like it. Juniper procumbens. I've used a crap load of wire on this one and it still needs heaps more. Cryptomeria after a hair cut. Coprosma. Croposma.

I used yates copper oxychloride on some loph and trich seedlings afew days ago. No negative effects noticed yet. Fingers crossed

scored this weird little sucka from the supermarket. haven't seen anything like it before.

Sweet thanks guys! I'll keep both in mind.

nice find dude! hey blunt the weraroa is definitely in auckland bro. come out my way for a hunt some time. duno about the islands tho. worth a look see! the sub sectoids are freaks. will have some spores for trade shortly.

i've done plenty of searching but cant positively id these 2. was thinking longifolia for number 1. number 1 number 2

good on ya bro! I was seriously thinking of buying one of those $100 cuttings on trademe before I got some. I can spare a few cuttings too now. this shit grows crazy fast

saw this the other day. its a piss take on mcgyver but quite original and hilarious. cant remember the last time a movie made me laugh so hard. i've watched so many shite movies lately. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqySbDqTGGc

I read in one of the pdf's on zellys post that magnetised water breaks them down. http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=29994

would prefer cutting or established plant but seed would be fine.