Jox

I have also collected Bunya cones/nuts for a few years now, my kids think there great. I usually boil them & sometimes fry them in butter. I find they germinate very easily & have never needed to put them in smoked water, that seems like extra work & does not need to be done. If I collect to many cones a lot of them germinate before I get a chance to eat them. If anyone wants some nuts I have plenty of fresh cones sitting here at the moment. Cheers Jox

That is S.hamatus. I have a lot of this growing & it sometimes throws out new growth that looks like your photos . You can tell its S.hamatus by the fleshy knobs/hooks. Cheers Jox

Cool mate, nothing beats hands on experience. I will keep posting update every few months of the Copiapoa / Eriosyce / Whoknows , until we work it out. The best thing about it is it came from a pack of seeds that I bought from an very large international seed shop which sells a lot of very hard to come by cactus, so it could be anything . Cheers Jox

You came here! I do understand you wanting to find what your looking for & have no problem with that but you should think about the way you go about these things. I was taught as a child to respect others. I think you need to look at the simple fact that your putting yourself first & not even giving a shit about the people you are asking for help , I think that is very selfish.

That seem odd Snowfella, Do you think it was a young pup that has flowered or could it be a fruit maturing? Cheers Jox

Have a great day EG, Happy Birthday mate. Cheers Jox

Rosie & Ralf

Hey prier, thanks for your reply mate . I am keen to know how confident you are with your answers? I would have to agree that the names you provided could very well fit these young cacti but you type them like your certain "T.horripilus , second is a Copiapoa". If you are certain can you please point out to me how you worked them out. I do agree that the little Turb falls in the Gymnocactus group but how to be sure if it is T.Knuthianus or T. horripilus or one of the others at this age has got me beat, I was thinking I would need a flower to be positive. The second could very likely be a Copiapoa possibly C. humilis or C.tenuissima or another but once again how to be sure it is a Copiapoa & not anything else has me beat. Please tell me your secrets mate, I am always keen to better my ID skills . Cheers Jox

Hey DB, it does go under that name as well but most places like Daves Garden, Wiki, Cactus Guide call it Selenicereus & say the name Cryptocereus is a synonym. To be honest I am not sure which name is most up to date but I have always known it as Selenicereus & the majority of sites I look at & the books I own call it Selenicereus. Anyways It is a cool looking plant to have in your collection & rewards you with awesome flowers. You have some nice plants & I am keen to see more photos from your garden . Cheers Jox

Welcome Doublebenno . @Ceres, that last photo is of a zigzag cactus of fish bone cactus, Selenicereus anthonanus. It gets very nice pink & white flowers. Cheers Jox

Depends on what kind of Loph. L.williamsii if self fertile so no need to collect its pollen. Cheers Jox

That photo was taken on private property & they were growing on a nectarine tree. I went there today, this time of year the tree is covered in leaves & no fungi but the owner tells me when the leaves drop the fungus starts to emerge. How do I go about collecting samples for propagation for members here? I am assuming you cant get spore prints like you do from shrooms. Cheers Jox

These photos were taken on 24/5/12 in s/e QLD, I have always just assumed it was turkey tail but never asked for an ID so I hope I have been right . I see a fair bit of it around here at certain times of the year. Cheers Jox

Hey mate, Looks like a very interesting plant, I might be able to get seeds or cuttings of a Nauclea spp (most likely N.orientalis) in the future for you. I have a mate who bought a property which has about 10 Nauclea trees growing on it. He asked me to work out what kind of trees they were & I had come to the conclusion they must be N.orientalis, do you know how to tell them apart? I have photos of the trees/bark/leaves but none of it in flower. If you like I can post some photos. Cheers Jox

Hi Senor J, welcome mate, you have some very nice loph grafts going on there, looks like you have mastered grafting . Those last photos of the one pupping from the base looks very cool, I love seeing my grafts doing this kind of thing, it always gets me a little excited even though it rarely turns out exciting . Cheers Jox

I picked up this cactus last year & have not put it up for ID before because it looks like it has had a very hard life & I doubt it looks anything like it should. I thought it would have died but it has got plump & green on top & is about to flower, I have know idea what this is & would be greatful for some help in working it out. Here are some photos, I will add one of the open flower in a few days. Thanks for looking, I look forward to working this one out. Cheers Jox

They seem to be growing nicely, I think finding the right mix for my plants is pretty important & I have personally seen the benefits with my plants (better growth rates, more pest resistant etc...). I had a couple of questions about your mix mate, like are the four things you listed all that is in your mix? If so do you remember ratios? Also how well does your mix drain & dry. I love reading about peoples experiments like this & look forward to hearing more about this topic. Nice work phytolator. Cheers Jox

It will make a BIG difference , Anyone new to grafting cacti should listen to my advice. If you want to have the best success rate possible with your grafts DO A BIT OF RESEARCH FIRST !! I am kind of surprised by how many people I see posting pictures of there first graft while at the same time asking if they have done it right, maybe I have some weird disorder but I have to read up on any new thing I attempt in life & I research many books/sites on the same topic to get the best overall idea. Mind you I am a big believer that lessons learned through making a mistake are valuable as you rarely forget them. Seriously though you should do a bit of research before attempting new grafts, you will find that how you graft & to way you treat your graft can change quite a bit from species to species for example, different sicons are sometimes better suited to certain stocks & you will get much better results, some grafts can be done & in the greenhouse after a week were others will need love & care for many months (Blossfeldia, Aztekium etc) I must admit I prefer my plants all natural but everyone that is keen on trying there hand at grafting I would say give it a go & good luck, it can be very rewarding when you get your style down. Cheers Jox

Hi Dreamwalker, here are some photos of my plants, not the best photos but give you an idea. I will take some better photos & start a post in the id thread. group photo This one I have only seen a few of , it is almost starting to form a creast This is a very different plant, very big & wide, with very long spines. I have never seen another like it. This is a little one you see around a bit. These last photos are of the most common monstrose Cereus you see around I have seen it called C.haildmannianus, there are two different plants here. Cactus #1 with flower buds & forming fruit A cool double flower (first time I've seen this) fruit Cactus #2 I have some seeds here from last year, I am happy to send you some. I started a post about them called "my first apple" have a look at that to see what the parents look like. If your interested let me know. Cheers Jox

Hey guys, I have been looking at this thinking how nice it is to see people talking about Cereus (even though it shits me to see people still calling them C.peruvianus ). I have a nice little collection of monstrose Cereus & one of them already has a couple of fruit forming & about 30 more flowers on the way, I will add some photos of them tonight. As far as collecting pollen goes, it needs to be free of moisture if you want to store it for a while. I find the best way to do this is to cut the stamen & put them in the corner of an airtight container I then put a lid from a jar with *damp aid* crystals in the other corner & put the lid on & leave it in a dark dry place for a couple of days, after it is dry I carefully remove the jar lid & collect the pollen putting it in a airtight container in the fridge. *damp aid works well but you can use kitty litter or even the little bags of silica gel you get in you medicine or burrito breads . @Dreamwalker, I have seen quit a few of your posts about Cereus & you seem to be right into them, if you can ID any of the photos I put up or recommended any good sites/books on how to work them out please let me know. @Cimi, I will have some monstrose pollen in a few weeks if that is not to late. Also your Cereus is a nocturnal flowerier so make sure you look once the sun has gone down. Cheers Jox

My misses & I have been talking about a fresh start with our two children 7 & 3, Papua New Guinea has been the hot topic & I would love to hear what you think? I would like to hear the opinion of any members that live or have lived there or travel there for work. The first thing you read, two young kids, PNG , I to see the "prime time news" & if the stories & if the are right then its probably a bad idea but I put little faith in the news & am sure it does not reflect the full story of whats happening in PNG. Anyway I would love the opportunity to raise my children in such a place & any feedback or ideas on finding out more information would be greatly appreciated Cheers jox

Had this for a while now but have never posted about it here, it is Euphorbia antiquorum f. spirals. Does anyone here have one? Cheers Jox

Seeds get through easier but if they get picked up by customs & are on a CITES list (which a lot are) they will be past on to the right authorities to be destroyed, you will receive a letter & your details will be put on a "look closer at his/her packages from now on". This has happened to me before & it took many months to get my seeds & this only happened after I provided them with paper work proving that they had been purchased from a CITES approved nursery. Cheers Jox

That TBMC is awesome hostilis . Those willies look a lot like my fricii's with all there bumps & lumps, thanks for the update. Cheers Jox

I can't give you a certain ID for your plant but just thought I would point out that the name Cereus peruvianus is an old name & is no longer used, any plant that was called C.peruvianus is been placed with other Cereus. Cheers Jox