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i've been using the following groups of Trichocereus BRI CUZ MAC PAC SCO VAL TER Those familiar with the epithets will have no problem figuring out the groups it is my hypothesis that the original ancestors of the groups are those hailing from the region of Bolivia and Argentina and that over time the forms we know came to be realized and grown I believe that the VAL and TER groups are the older groups and that the San Pedro complex arose from the introduction of alleles into VAL and TER populations via hybridization with echinopsis like forms and subsequent selection over time I believe that the alleles for short spines were introduced into the groups this way, as were other alleles including those for the prostrate growth of the MAC group. I also believe that this is the origin of the alleles in the CUZ group In terms of age I believe the TER and VAL group to be the oldest, with the SCO and BRI groups being next and with the MAC, CUZ and PAC groups arising over time I believe that the initial spread of the groups was facilitated by the transportation and propagation of seeds and that selection and asexual propagation occurred after-wards, I also believe that this occurred over the course of more than 10,000 years and that sub-populations have been inbreeding and stabilizing over this time to create a reticulated phylogeny. In terms of the 7 major sub-groups I believe there to be several intermediate populations, particularly for the MAC,PAC and CUZ groups I believe the MAC and PAC groups to originate as cultigens, the CUZ to represent a stable feral group descending from a cultigen, a cultigen which still has extant examples in some regions I believe that the allele diversity found in these groups was primarily the result of human selection and emphasis upon seed grown plants that were the result of random crosses and that the flow of alleles was not linear in any geographic sense due to the extreme periods of time and human migrations involved in the area. I also believe that the cosmology and mythology of the precolumbian peoples holds major clues relative to the flow of people from the Tiwanako area to northern coastal Peru over 10,000 years ago. The story of Manco Cápac and his emergence at Isla Del Sol relates to this. i also believe that in horticulture we have many forms with a unique combination of alleles which are not found in the andean region, that there at present exists more diversity in the group as cultivated in modern times than there did in over 10,000 years of cultivation and use by the andean peoples. It is my belief that this, in concert with the reticulated phylogeny, obfuscates the direction of flow in terms of the origin of the cultigens in modern use, but that the groups of VAL and TER will be demonstrated to be ancestral to the MAC, PAC, BRI and CUZ group. I would like to see detailed sampling of extant populations in terms of alleles and diversity, and mitochondrial studies of the major groups and their sub-populations. this is my theory at present and it is relative and subject to change

After recently reading kada's thread on grafting crested cacti, I came up with the idea of longitudinal grafting, i.e. cutting a section of cactus lengthwise and grafting that to a stock. I'm not sure if this is a known technique already or not, but couldn't find anything on it. The idea is that instead of cutting laterally, as would normally be done, and thus ending up with the vascular tissue as a ring, cutting longitudinally will result in the vascular tissue being arranged in a parallel line. This then makes lining up the vascular tissue of the stock and scion much easier. A picture borrowed from kada to show you what I mean about the vascular tissue being arranged in a parallel line (in this case on a crested cactus): Another picture borrowed from kada, this time showing how to align the vascular tissues: So three weeks ago I decided to give this idea a go, with a TBM pup. This is what the scions looked like after being grafted and allowing to bond for a few days: And so as to not waste any part of the pup, I laterally grafted the base too: Now three weeks later, the laterally grafted base is doing well and one of the longitudinally grafted sides is beginning to pup. The other side I am doubtful will pup, as the bond between the scion and stock has slowly pulled apart, leaving a cavity almost all the way through the centre, so I'm no longer sure if there are any vascular tissues touching. The scion is still turgid, but TBMs are pretty thick skinned. Anyway, I would call that a success and will definitely be doing some more grafts like this in the future. I would be interested to try this with seedlings too.

Thought this article was interesting ... apologies if it's already been discussed - couldn't find anything about astroturfing on the web/forums 'astroturfing' blog post @ Guardian Anyone have any experience of this or how real/prominent it is? Wikipedia Astroturfing entry oh...and I hope this doesn't cause any major flare-ups in those prone to paranoia or conspiratorialism (is that a word?)

word to that mesc' Instead of doing the dance under the wattle tree out front here I might just hop in the car and go to some local bora rings and learn and sing some wattle songs into the land completely surrounded by them for a 300km radius? once upon a time someone told me a story: There was a gathering of people by a river, having a fire and eating some great lunch they had caught. To the horror of the group a small child floated past, gasped for air and slowly slipped into the tea coloured water. A member of the group dived in to save the child which she did. To the increasing panic of the group two more children, both unable to swim floated past sinking beneath the surface of the river and were both retrieved and revived by the group. By now, with three children needing such close attention to save them from dying there was only 4 more adults left in the group watching as 4 more children, all unable to swim, passed by. Three of the adults jumped in to save the kids. The remaining adult exclaimed, 'fuck this! Where the hell are they all falling in, I'm going up stream, we are never going to be able to save them all otherwise!'. Do we fight the spot fires or do we look upstream? One time it seemed like half of Australia turned out to say no to sending troops to Afghanistan... I'm pretty sure we were all there... and in the end, they did it anyway. Face offs don't work. Been there done that.

there are no good or bad things.. only things. and these things are governed by fundamental physical laws. human behaviour is no exeption to these basic physical laws.

I believe everthing is balanced out between good and bad. Without one there is no other. Bad shit happens to good people, and good shit happens to bad people. Yin/Yang. Interesting reference to Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came. I loved the series of books Stephen King wrote based on that poem.