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grantoss

Behold the Mother Lophs!!!

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My beautiful (just over 50 year old) Loph

and the Caespitosa would be over 30 years old.

Just wanted to share with others that admire such Beauty.

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Huge plants! That first one is beautiful. The second one doesn't seem too healthy. Are all those little heads rotting? How much did they set you back?

Edited by tripsis

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Gorgeous! Have you been with these plants long?

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Did you get these recently?

I would plant them in smaller pots.... that large volume of soil will stay damp for a long time...plus they'll look better.

Then again if you've grown that beauty from seed then I'll STFU as obviously you know what you're doing :)

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It doesn't happen to be the loph that was up on eBay afew months ago for big $$ ?

looks super similar.

I think there is a post in this section about it somewhere?

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yar... it looks like you've lost a few hundred small heads to rot on the caespitose.

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Id check em for spider mite also, my caespitosas are very prone to them little buggers attacking them and you usually dont notice the little buggers till the damage is done, id be drying that root system also,dig him up and let roots dry, just incase there is a rotting root that can devastate a loph.....thats a nice specimen BTW.....

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I have only had these for a month and a half now, the did set me back a bit but i believe it was def fair. My Girl did not want me spending paycheck so I sold a motorbike i was not using much after falling in love with them. I was told that they love the big pots and they seem to be very happy in them!! I have seen slight shriveling from the sun but it is always gone by the morning. I guess the sun was not as intense as it is here (hence the slight pinking) cos the Fella I got them from lived further down south but they have always been in full sun. With the Caespitosa she was Scalped not long before I bought her so that is why it looks like small heads are dead, upon closer inspection you can see that there are new heads popping up from under the brown parts as the guy really new what he was doing. Mites are not a problem when they get to this age apparently, well so i have been told and that it is the young ones that need the protection from mites. Besides, they have been fruiting so much that the ants have made themselves a nice home in and under them whilst constantly eating the fruits and I think they are enough to deter mites, the rain then comes and washes the seeds into the soil where i have counted 5 new seedlings coming up :lol: I have had no probs with drainage either as I used a mixture of 50/50 coarse river sand/ garden soil mixture with the other 50% Cacti mix a dab of dolomite and a fair bit of gypsum.

Thanks for all the advice and comments though everyone, I will def keep you all updated on there status.

Peace.

Edited by grantoss

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It doesn't happen to be the loph that was up on eBay afew months ago for big $$ ?

looks super similar.

I think there is a post in this section about it somewhere?

 

Nah its not that huge one that was going on ebay for 3k, that one had much bigger heads.

To the OP, nice specimens you have there, especially the first one.. looks very nice I bet you get heaps of seed from it.

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It is that huge one from ebay!!!

Started at $3,299. 1 week later or so mid $2,000's and then down to late $1,000's....

Damn I wish I was not being stingey. I offered him $1,300 and it seemed like a possibility and than no contact....

You must be VERY, VERY Happy with that one!

In-joy

ps If you ever get back into motorbikes and need money to buy a new one you know what to d :) o ....

Edited by jjsanaam

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OK so I have been monitoring the Caespitosa closely since posting the photos and thought i might ask for some opinions on something.

I have noticed a bit of discoloration and it appears to me to be kinda yellowy/pinky but i would say more goldy/yellowy... (sorry for the crappy description but that is all I can come up with) in a few of the heads.

I know the Guy I bought them from had them in full sun and he said depending on the sun (and I am in a very sunny spot) they change color to a pink all the time and back to green depending on exposure.

Anyway what are the first signs of root rot? I know the brown parts are fine as he took cuttings in November last year and there are lil heads poppin up from under this area. The only thing I am concerned about is the Yellowing or discoloration as it is not happening to the 50 year old beside it. They are both in the same potting mix that I mentioned above in a previous post and they both have seedlings germinating and both have been flowering heaps. I'm not sure if a Buried a little too much of the area that was previously exposed and that is causing rot or what but any help is appreciated.

Cheers.

P.S. here is a pic showing the coloring I was talking about but it is hard to capture on camera.

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Looks like sun burn.

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Looks like sun burn.

 

If that is all then I am happy with that!!!

It has been going through that all its 30 years... I know ants can be a sign of Mealybug on the roots... other than that are they a problem at all?

They love to be all over and all in between the heads on this Loph.

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I've seen ants devastate a mature Loph graft. Ate away most of the stock for some reason and might have made their way into the scion as well. If you have mealy bug, get rid of them! They can cause massive rot which will destroy your plant if you don't catch it in time.

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Spider mites can still attack an older specimen also(although this may be an indoor thing!). I got a caespitosa that has a fair age to it,and i grow it under lights now, and it occasionally when humidity levels drop etc, has undergone infestations of these little buggers in a nite or so,they spread very quickly, when dealing with mature specimens like this it pays to always be on guard, as like others have suggested mealy bug etc can reek havoc in minimal time and destroy them.I find caespitosa is a more vulnerible variety to sunburn also, I got a la pal,hui,montec etc that can have full sun all day they love it,provide it doesnt get to extreme, where the caesp i have only likes minimal amounts and seems to go a little soft from sun, hence why i took it indoors under artificial light. I alternate between a nice blue 14000K 250W CFL fluoro and 250W HPS a cple weeks @ atime, and they seem happier under them, then outside with the unpredicable victorian four seasons in one day scenario head stress of a weather.But like all indoor cultivation, pests will creep in uninvitated and rapidly attack, I have become very diligent in bug and pest prevention on all my plants ,and being in victoria the longer a loph goes without water the better(ive found they can go weeks without water in my climate even when its hot),as im quite unlucky i will have a few super hot days in summer & all my cacti are dry so i water them and then it rains for like 3 weeks straight, and during this time while there roots are wet, i think endlessly about them contracting and falling victim to rot or fungal attack..

Also from my experiance with root rot it will rot the plant from the inside out,although ive never let a loph rot from the roots, so i cant diagnose how that will work, i had some mammillarias i neglected and they looked like they were growing fine untill i poked em and they punctured and were rotting from the inside out and i assume this came from the roots as they were rotting away with some kinda fungal necrotism of the root system of some kind that i assume was from being overwatered,much like bud rot that attacks other forms of plant life that a mexican neighbour once dreamed about growing when he was was living in a humid jamaicaiin bob marley dream!

Edited by applesnail

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that 50 y.o. loph is beeautiful,

am i to understand you paid multi thousands of dollars for this?

not having a go at you at all but if true,

shit dude,,

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They did cost a bit... I thought that if I got hardened old sun lovin Lophs of such age that they would have to be very hardy and not fussy at all. I can get all the cuttings I'll ever need off of them and all would be good, I think I can rectify the problem anyway with help from Torsten and other great people here. I like to keep my greed and material wants to a minimum these days so a bike for living plants is OK for me. I would just be devastated if anything happened to them. One day when I really need money there is always the temptation to look back and say DamnBANGHEAD2.gif I shouldn't have bought those plants or shouldn't have bought this or that... but as anyone who can self assess knows that answers to the present are rarely found in your past decisions.

Peace.

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I would just be devastated if anything happened to them.

That would be my problem with having plants like that. They are just too much responsibility. If you have the time and dedication to look after them constantly, then it's not such a problem, but I like to travel and travel and expensive, delicate and highly precious plants don't mix well together. I had the opportunity to buy a huge old Loph last year for $750, but couldn't bring myself to do it in the end. The guy who was selling it kept his plants in immaculate condition, even down to dusting them with a paintbrush, so transferring to my care where I would be away for extended periods of time would just not have cut it. I also don't like the fact how susceptible they are to pests when outside of their natural environment and how treating those pests comes with use of heavy and dangerous chemicals. But to each their own...

but as anyone who can self assess knows that answers to the present are rarely found in your past decisions.

Nicely said. :) But past decisions can hold answers for future questions.

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