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zed240

The most boring giveaway on SAB

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This must be the most boring giveaway we've seen on SAB lately.

So to make it more slightly less boring you have to post an interesting fact about cactus, (exceptionally interesting facts about other plants may be accepted at my discretion :shroomer:), to be elegible to get some seeds.

Links to read about more cool stuff and awesome pics will be appreciated as extras to your fact.

5 envelopes packed and ready to go.

Each one contains a pack of each of my hybrid trich seeds from last summer as listed below

Yowie X Bird's Bondi Scop
PC pachanoi X Bird's Bondi Scop
PC pachanoi X Peruvianus (pic below)

Two random packs have extra seeds in them.

1 has Psycho0 X Yowie

1 has Bridgesii OP (incog's fuckup)

First 5 facts of interest posted below will be accepted.

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Edited by zed240
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Hey Zed, little known facts cactus edition. Meet a cactus that´s bribing a bat to help it have sex! :)

http://throb.gizmodo.com/here-is-a-cactus-bribing-a-bat-to-help-it-have-sex-1722577110

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And an interesting article about the cost of cactus removal in South Africa.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201507301006.html

Edited by Evil Genius
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Hi, don't know if its interesting enough but the largest species of cacti can reach a height of 20+ mtrs and weigh up to 4800 pounds

Just something I read

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Grafting/Degrafting

I just found out that it is impossible to degraft a Saguaro, it cannot strike roots from a cutting, hence why they are not commonly grafted. Other slow growing cacti that are difficult to degraft such as Ariocarpus Fissuratus and Aztekium can actually be degrafted by using a Japanese technique known as "Zuioroshi" which means degrafting with the vascular bundles of the stock still attached. Roots will initially form from the stock which then eventually dies, and during this time the scion will begin to shoot out its own roots, gradually weening itself from the stock. Since there is no soft tissue with this technique, you can bury the vascular bundle into potting mix.

Im not speaking from experience, I have just been reading up on grafting and i found this fascinating. Sorry if its common knowledge.

Edited by Conv3rgence
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i recently found out that you shouldn't really bury your cactus seeds but rather place them on top on the soil. :bong:

I've no links or pictures to add, i can edit in the pics of last seasons germination attempts for lols.

Edited by olive
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Hey Zed, the origins of slang always interested me, so I looked this up a while back.

Cactus, used in Aussie slang for something dead, beaten, broken, etc, is apparently old RAAF slang from the 40s.

The story goes that in the 1700s our Opuntian friend the Prickly Pear was introduced and became a pest quick smart. So in the 1920s (took a while) the South American Cactus Moth, or Cactoblastis Cactorum - great name - was introduced, had great success, and brought the invasive population under control in a few years. And it came to be that anything thats time was up, was cactus.

Pretty obscure, but I found it interesting.

Also, I think South Africans use 'Kak' for something shit, not sure if its related.

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Prickly Pear was introduced into Australia in the 19th Century (from South America) for use as agricultural fencing. Prickly Pear turned out to be an invasive species consuming 40,000 square kilometers of land in Queensland. In 1925 the cactus moth (from South America) was introduced and successfully wiped out most of the prickly pear.

Later, in 1935 after observing the success of the cactus moth with the Prickly Pear, the Cain toad (once again from South America) was introduced to Queensland to control the Cain beatle. This didn't work at all and created a new problem.

Trichocereus are illegal in Queensland and come from South America (this fact is less irrelevant than you might think).

Here's my 'interesting' conspiracy theory based on these facts. Prickly Pear is responsible for caintoads in Queensland. Because both cacti and caintoads come from South America, Queensland began to associate these things with pests. Trichocerus are cactus and from South America, therefore, it was inevitable they would become banned in Queensland.

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Haha, thanks BA, was waaay off with my dates, I like the conspiracy theory. Blame it on the pear.

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Maybe of interest, the nopal cactus from the Opuntia genus is being used to produce electricity :)

"Basically, the leaves of nopal are shredded and placed in a biodigester where they start decomposing and generating biogas which contains 65% methane. This, in turn, feeds an internal combustion engine generator which produces electric energy."

http://www.mexiconewsnetwork.com/adventure/nopal-energy/

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the opuntia was the only real one that did well in my attempt.

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There is a memorial to cactoblatis in Dalby QLD

The inscription reads

In 1925, Prickly Pear, the greatest example known to man of any noxious plant invasion, infested fifty million acres of land in Queensland, of which thirty million represented a complete coverage. The Dalby District was then heavily infested. The biological control investigation was undertaken by the Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board, the joint project of the Commonwealth, Queensland and New South Wales Governments.

Early in 1925, a small number of Cactoblastis Cactorum insects was introduced from the Argentine by Alan Parkhurst Dodd, O.B.E., who was officer-in-charge of the scientific undertaking. They were bred in very large numbers and liberated throughout the prickly pear territory. Within ten years, the insects had destroyed all the dense masses of prickly pear.

This plaque, affixed by the Queensland Women`s Historical Association on Thursday, 27th. May, 1965, records the indebtedness of the people of Queensland, and Dalby in particular, to the Cactoblastis Cactorum, and their gratitude for deliverance from that scourge.

---------

Opuntias can be still be found in the district (I have some from there growing in my back yard). The Cactoblastis moth was very successful in arid areas but in humid coastal regions it was and still is much less effective.

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There is a memorial to cactoblatis in Dalby QLD

The inscription reads

In 1925, Prickly Pear, the greatest example known to man of any noxious plant invasion, infested fifty million acres of land in Queensland, of which thirty million represented a complete coverage. The Dalby District was then heavily infested. The biological control investigation was undertaken by the Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board, the joint project of the Commonwealth, Queensland and New South Wales Governments.

Early in 1925, a small number of Cactoblastis Cactorum insects was introduced from the Argentine by Alan Parkhurst Dodd, O.B.E., who was officer-in-charge of the scientific undertaking. They were bred in very large numbers and liberated throughout the prickly pear territory. Within ten years, the insects had destroyed all the dense masses of prickly pear.

This plaque, affixed by the Queensland Women`s Historical Association on Thursday, 27th. May, 1965, records the indebtedness of the people of Queensland, and Dalby in particular, to the Cactoblastis Cactorum, and their gratitude for deliverance from that scourge.

---------

Opuntias can be still be found in the district (I have some from there growing in my back yard). The Cactoblastis moth was very successful in arid areas but in humid coastal regions it was and still is much less effective.

still heaps of them around Roma area, I hear they are good around they crops as they keep pests away, roos don't go much on them.

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While we're on Prickly Pear, it was brought to Australia to be used for the production of Cochineal, but it quickly spread. The Britsh brought it with them to use the dye for their "Red Coats".

"Opuntia species, known commonly as prickly pears, were first brought to Australia in an attempt to start a cochineal dye industry in 1788. Captain Arthur Phillip collected a number of cochineal-infested plants from Brazil on his way to establish the first European settlement at Botany Bay, part of which is now Sydney, New South Wales. At that time, Spain and Portugal had a worldwide cochineal dye monopoly via their New World colonial sources, and the British desired a source under their own control, as the dye was important to their clothing and garment industries; it was used to colour the British soldiers' red coats, for example.[21] The attempt was a failure in two ways: the Brazilian cochineal insects soon died off, but the cactus thrived, eventually overrunning about 100,000 sq mi (259,000 km2) of eastern Australia.[22] The cacti were eventually brought under control in the 1920s by the deliberate introduction of a South American moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, the larvae of which feed on the cactus.[22]"

 

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hey

I also found this quite interesting regarding Mamillaria Hernadezi, they seem to "care" for there "children", as it's frased. Though idk if that's quite right haha.

"The special characteristic about M. hernandezii is that it is serotinous, which means that it will keep a portion of the seeds that it produces inside the stem, and release the rest. Being serotinous has many advantages. It can help in protecting the offspring from seed hunters, such as ants. It can also allow the delayed release of seeds when conditions in the environment are best for germination"

But more interestiing is the observed differences the "inner" seeds have.

"and found that older seeds, kept inside the parental plant, germinate and survive more than young seeds, which are released immediately after their production."

"found that older seeds possessed special proteins, which indicated that these seeds had experienced the rain pulses and the periods of drought. This adaptation to its natural environment wasnt present in young seeds that hadnt had the time to experience these environmental changes.

"found that young seeds that are released in the soil were more likely to be eaten by predators or rotted by micro-organisms compared to older seeds that had been protected inside the parental plant."

Quite interesting in my opinion.

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http://theconversation.com/plants-can-actually-take-care-of-their-offspring-heres-how-33048

The studdie

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23345416

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Haha, thanks BA, was waaay off with my dates, I like the conspiracy theory. Blame it on the pear.

I used Wikipedia for the date so I'm not so sure how accurate mine are.

I'm on mobile and it took ages to post that while flicking between webpages. If I'd noticed your post I probably would have just referenced that to save time!

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Yeah I know what you mean about being on a mobile, its a pain in the hole.

Just read Maxofoz's post above about Capt. Arthur Phillip bringing some in around the time of the first fleet for cochineal dye production. Does this take the conspiracy theory further? Can we now blame the British for Qld's tricho ban?

You've gotta give to the prickly pear, it's even managed to invade this thread, where's cactoblastis now?

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Cheers for all the facts guys! You've all helped make this thread much more intersting that it was when I started it. :)

EG

Bardo

convergence

Olive

Terrapin

You guys got in first with facts so you're the seed winners!

There were definitely some pretty damn interesting things amongst them and the links to read, even if we did get a bit heavy on the prickly pear facts! haha! :wink:

So if the winners PM me your addy's the seeds can go out to you as soon as I get them. You could be sowing them before next week is up just in time for spring! Woot!

If anyone feels like adding more facts and info to this thread just for shits and giggles they will also be appreciated. :innocent_n:

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Have sent some out this morning, should get them in a couple of days. :)

Still need a couple of peeps addresses to send the rest though!

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