Jox

Me 3!

$1

That is an awesome give away, I would love a few Melo disciformis if there are any left. Thanks mate. Cheers Jox

Thanks CC, I have seen that & read a bit of stuff about tricking flowers to self pollinate, this is more to see what hybrids are possible. Cheers Jox

There has been a lot of replies which is awesome, I hope members keep adding there successes & failures with cross pollination. I thought it would be a very long shot but as they were both flowering at the same time I thought it can't hurt to try. They have both set a lot of flowers in the past & never produced seed so I am certain they are not self-fertile. GOOD NEWS THE TURB HAS SET SEED , I am not sure if this is hybrid seed or if the Copiapoa pollen has enabled the turb to self pollinate, I can't wait to grow these seeds out to find out. Here are some photos of the Turb's seed, it did come from the flower I crossed. I will keep updating you with the results. Cheers Jox

^^LOL, that is funny, your girlfriend says I'm great in bed too . Another funny lie I saw recently, "I'm a compulsive liar but I plan on changing so you can trust me" haha. Nice give away mate. Cheers Jox

Hey mate, I would be keen to give these a crack as well . I send ya a PM after I've feed the kids. Cheers Jox

Just an update on my A.asterias x Super Kabuto, they have been growing very well. These ones are my favorites. Photo with a 5cent piece to show there size My A.myriostigma's & A.cm's are also going well & I will update with photos in the next few days. Cheers Jox

Here are a couple of zelly's crosses, these were sown on the 3/11/12. Validus x Bridgesii Lumberjack x Juuls Cheers Jox

I have never use heat pads but everyone will have different conditions. I grow seedlings under a MH light through winter so the light provides enough heat, in summer I don't need extra heat were I live. I normally shade my seedling under 50% shade clothe for the first month. Cheers Jox PS; I am referring to growing cacti seeds in my posts.

Glad to hear you got some work gtarman . @incog, Mt tambourine in awesome, I have spent many years exploring the mountain & working up there. If you ever needed somewhere to role out a bed for a few weeks while looking for work I may be able to help . Cheers Jox

Hey Nailthesnail, I find these propagators work very well & have used them for a long time now. I personally use containers inside the box as I have had a few dramas doing mass plantings straight into the green part, for example some seedlings grow quicker than others and don't need to be in the chamber as long as others. Here are some photos of seeds I planted three days ago. If you are planning on sowing a variety of cacti seed my advise would be to use containers and try to put similar cacti into the same containers. for example Lophs, Strombos, Turbs can all go into one container & have a similar growth rate so they all need potting up at the same time, if you plant Lophs and Trichos in the same container you will find your Trichos might need potting up before the Lophs. Thinking and planning like this can make a huge difference to the growth rate of your seedlings because if you disturb seedlings before they get established they can slow right down. Good luck with your seeds mate. Cheers Jox

Hi everyone, I need to make some more space for new seedlings and am keen to trade my excess seedlings.The seedlings are in 63mm pots and have spent summer out in my greenhouse, they are very healthy. I would like to trade them with members with similar seedlings of similar size. If no one is keen to trade then I will be looking to sell these cactus. I have a few extra so if you are new to collecting cacti and have nothing to trade PM me to work out prices. A group shot to give you an idea of there size, the back 6 in the right hand corner are the T.loph's These are the A. asterias X Super Kabuto 20+ Astrophytum myriostigma sown 7/1/13, 5+ Astrophytum asterias x Super Kabuto sown 7/1/13, 5+ Setiechinopsis mirabilis sown 3/11/12 6+ Turbinicarpus lophophoroides sown 7/1/13 Cheers Jox

Could this be a new record? I have been very busy with work of late & haven't had any time to look at my plants or participate on this wonderful forum but this arvo I noticed a little T. lophophoroides that I sowed as a seed on the 7/1/13 is starting to form a flower . This has taking me by surprise as I was thinking I would be waiting for many years to see a flower. Here are a few of pics. I will take some better photos over the weekend. Cheers Jox

By the way I don't think Xanthoalba is super cool but when I type in b ) it comes up as the smiley face with the sunnies .

Thanks for the complements everyone. Hey S Khat, as hostilis has said variegated can be a range of colours, plants that don't produce pigments on part of there leaves or stems are known as forma variegata. I have done a bit of research about what makes an albino or variegated plant. Here is a quick run down I what I have found. Plant pigments Plants have different things in there cells that enable them to absorb light, the most common ones are Chlorophyll A and Chlorophyll B. Chlorophyll There are actually more than one kind of Chlorophyll, but not all are present in all plants, in most plants they have a least Chlorophyll A and B. Chlorophyll A and B are green. Accessory pigments Accessory pigments are other pigments that are able to absorb light. Chlorophyll A and B are able to best absorb light in the violet-blue and red area of the light spectrum. That leaves the green, yellow and orange parts of the spectrum unusable. This is why plants have extra pigments (colours), in order to take light from different wavelengths that Chlorophyll is not good at absorbing. Carotene is a orange pigment capable of photosynthesis. This pigment transmits light energy to chlorophyll. As well as photosynthesis, these pigments also help protect against too much light, photo-inhibition. Phaeophytin a are grey-brown in colour. Phaeophytin b are yellow-brown Xanthophyll are yellow pigments in the carotenoid group. These pigments are involved with photosynthesis with chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is often much more abundant than xanthophylls and this is why the leaves are still a green colour. The pigment Xanthophyll is most obvious in Autumn in trees like the maple when the chlorophyll "dies back" and the leaves turn yellow. Anthocyanin pigments are often red, purple or blue but this pigment is not found in cacti, cacti have the pigment Betalain instead. Betalain are often a red-yellow-purple colour that is often found in the flower colour, it is also found in theleaves, stems, fruits and roots of theses plants as well. -Betacyanins are reddish to violet Betalain pigments -Betaxanthins are yellow to orange Betalain pigments As you can see if a plant is lacking a certain pigment, chlorophyll (green) for example it can show up as the colour which is the more dominate pigment, yellow, red ,orange etc. The classification of content and proportion of chlorophyll, according to Gustafsoon 1940 is as follows; 1 Albina - no chlorophyll or carotenoids are formed. 2 Xantha - carotenoids prevail over chlorophyll or chlorophyll is not even produced. 3 Alboviridis - different colour at the base and the tip of the leaf, a) Alboxantha - base yellow, tip white Xanthoalba - base white or faintly coloured, tip yellowish c) Viridoalbina - base white, tip more or less greenish or yellowish-green d) Alboviridis - base green, tip white 4 Viridis - uniform yellowish-green or light green occurring at seedling stage. 5 Tigrina - transverse destruction of pigment, the transverse strips are usually brown or yellow, narrow and pinched. 6 Striata - longitudinal stripes of yellow or white 7 Maculata - chlorophyll and/or carotin destruction in the form of dots. These names are known in the cacti family; Aurea - pure yellow plant. Rubra - red plant Alba - white plant I hope that this information helps people understand a bit better, have a good weekend everyone. Cheers Jox

Thanks for the replies everyone, sorry I have taken so long to get back here. @myco, as far as I know T.lophophoroides are not self fertile and this seems to be the case with mine, it has produce about six flowers since I started this thread and has not produced any fruits. The good new is I have a few more the same age which look like they will flower in the next few weeks so I should be able to cross pollinate them . Here are a couple of photos of it in flower. Cheers Jox

I think it is time for some updates !! I have seen quite a few new posts about members trying to graft young variegated/albino seedlings & am hoping they show us photos of there success (I love looking at photos ). I would love to see some updates of your special plants Stillman please . My albino is still going strong although the growth rate has slowed, I had to pull apart my grow room so it has be growing in my house near a window. I have never let it get full sunlight, just dappled light. Here are some photos taken today. I would be interested to know what people would be willing to pay for a plant like this? It is not for sale as my daughter loves it, but if you want to trade it for a nice landcruiser I might consider LOL. Cheers Jox

Yeah, that is why I am so stocked with these seeds . I decided I would not graft any of these seedlings as I am positive that peres will make a difference to how these seedlings turn out. I love the look of some of the grafts and think they would of turned out weird with out grafting but I am very keen to see how they go on there own roots. Cheers Jox

I have found this has not been the case with my seeds, some of them still look normal and might end up turning monstrose/cresty (I hope ) but a lot of them started out weird right from germination and are only getting weirder. I started my seed off quite late compared to others. I have taken a few photos of one of the strains this morning to show there weirdness. These are TPC x Juuls / SS02 / SS02 x Pach and were sown on 2/9/13. Group shot This is one that still looks pretty normal Here are five out of that lot that are showing some very nice weirdness All of the different crosses I received are showing this kind of growth in a percentage of the seedlings, I could not be happier with these results and can't thank nitrogen for giving us the opportunity to watch these little beasts grow !! Cheers Jox

^^LOL, that sums up sulphur crested cockatoo's perfectly! My mums started to feed them seed in her yard a few years ago, after a few weeks there were 60+ birds turning up, on the third week of visiting they decided to eat here out door furniture !! They also pillage my bosses pecan & citrus trees, shit maybe your my boss paradox!!LOL. Cheers Jox

There f#*king crazy characters! I love em.

I read that they only produce bumper crops every three years & from watching the trees around my place for many years now this seems to be the case. They produce cones every year but seem to have only a few cones & they don't seem to develop as well. This year I also notice cockatoos chewing off the hole cones & letting them fall to the ground, this could be a reason people find fallen half ripened cones. Cheers Jox

Hey hostilis, I posted about an albino trich seedling I grafted in "TEK COMP" post #28. I don't know how to link it sorry but have a look it might help. My albino is still going well. I would love to see some photos. Cheers Jox

That is good to know they freeze well Anodyne, I will have to try it. There is a lot of big trees were I live, the council has put up signs in the parks were the trees for years now but this year they have gone as far as to put signs out the front of peoples house who have bunya pines in there yards.