What did you do to your cacti today?

[What did you do to your cacti today?]

Discovered my latest two alby grafts didnt make it
So I just sat next to them but I couldn't sit there very long...
I thought the butt end was gonna make it but it turned yellow and shriveled...
The other one looks like its hanging on by a thread but blah wishful thinking lol

So today Im thankful I got my first grafting fails behind me... at least confirmed fails
I dunno what I did wrong but maybe I waited too long or maybe the cool draft last night was too much for the 2

also one of the maybe albys I didn't graft went everclear on me eh

on the flip side, the others are looking great and half of the first 8 have pretty much taken off,
while some others have just bubbled up and put out some new aereoles... out of 19 grafts so far I don't think im doing all that bad
but time will tell my actual success rate...

I moved some of my early rounds of grafts under lights that are not quite as powerful next to my seedlings, but much closer to the light...
I watered them a bit too... so yeah, somewhat of a bummer but I have plenty more to be thankful for and proud about...
So I spent some time feeling the pain.. Theres one little skinny runt that its very light green and I just dunno
its even skinnier than the albino spach so Im maybe gonna have to meditate on that one before attempting a graft

Meanwhile... took some pics of my top 4 fastest growing seedlings so far...

These look like little green headed shrooms! :D

Validus X LJ Labeled Pach, Spiny!

Cherryiocarpus Rockwool is a viable method

only the little tips you can barely see not bad for year old seeds either
in this pic are dark green

[A chat with ms straightedge]

cool thread! I have to admit im that way on somedays.. in fact this is frankly my year to challenge ppl... I actually wrote that into my Mantra but i've been slacking on reading it every night so I better read it tonight...

People benefit the most from being challenged but one has to recognize when cognitive dissonance gets into play and this is very difficult over the internet when it comes to those who don't wear their feelings on their shoulders... but challenge is good period..

I Used to be so anti-abrahamic is was ridiculous... I pretty much fantasized daily that i might be granted the title of Anti Christ some day laff.. Im not quite the same way anymore, though I still have the same issues with fundamentalism, but I used to pride myself on shattering peoples paradigms... in my mind there could be nothing better for someone who's looking from inside a box... what could possibly be more liberating than to break your world down to shit and rebuild... but alot of ppl don't take it that way... but what I realized when it comes to religious views and their particular archetypes, is that they can be some of the most rageful types of cognitive dissonance.... like some ppl you challenge their spriituality and they can become an outright demon... I do believe in exercising my shadow but I don't typically engage in exercising anyone elses unless its for a real cause, or frankly if im in a pissy mood and someone pushes me too far haha... but I work on keeping my hot buttons to a minimum

I suppose its all relevant to how we look at pain and pleasure.... they're both insightful guides... alot of ppl associate pain with drugs, and many others associate drugs with pleasure... frankly I think when it comes to weed it can both, add to happiness , but it can also maximize the effects of depression, though not quite as bad as some harder stimulants... I never could figure out how ppl can get over the comedown from harder drugs... the pain from that just far outweighs the pleasure for me...

As for getting to know that girl... It doesn't seem like something that would happen.. someone who is "Straightedge" so to speak, isn't gonna be rreally open to that unless you already have a bit of knowledge about her beforehand and have something you can actually relate to her interests, which doesn't instigate tha dissonance... This is why I believe that actually getting out to know and understand other cultures, has the effect of changing our world views, vs just accepting that status quo media opinions on how far exactly, society is supposed to bend over...

[don't cha hate it when..]

... when feeding your plants, you look at one of your sansevierias in an ackward hard to reach spot, and discover that the outbreak of scale insect you just recently completed exterminating, have somehow managed to cover your rooting sansy's with brown mushy dots, and so you break your back bending over like a fool instead of doing it the easy way cause you don't wanna move a bunch shit outta the way... and when you get mostly done scraping them off, you notice a nice little pup has popped out of the soil and so you take an even closer look, only to discover that what you thought were scale were actually just dried beads of sea kelp that landed there when you were foliar feeding your other plants...

Well... I don't hate it but shit lol

don't you hate it when someone types a long ass run-on sentence only broken apart by a couple commas and few dots here and there...

[Monstrosus Peruvianus x SS02 (for Strangebrew) and a random Tricho]

did your TPQC ever go back to cristate???

[ebay madness]

The only problem with high prices on ebay, is when one marks a price up so high that no one is interested... just because everyone in the forums with a trading relationship isn't interested doesn't mean that absolutely no one is interested.... I found most of my plants on ebay and Im very thankful for ebay, cause not only is it difficult for me to establish any kinda trade relationship with anyone, but also I find things on ebay I haven't found in the forums.. and I happen to appreciate uniqueness... though there are a helluva lot of pc pach's out there... PC Pach, the most successful of all the trichos in its ability to spread its genes far and wide... lol I actually cancelled my paypal account in protest a few years back over something unrelated.... after a few months, I was so limited on choices that I had to renew it just to get some better prices on seeds... and I was after alot of seeds as I was on a mission to grow a 1/3 acre of healthy foods and herbs... now I realize how much work that really is! its not ez at first!

Plants don't give a crap if you use money or not, they just want to grow ;) and they want to grow all over the place, if they didn't they wouldnt' make so many seeds...

if someone sells a pc pach for 100 bux, more power to them! Chances are that pc pach will be cared for alot better than what most ppl put into caring for their PC Pach... whats the dealio lolio

what I have noticed is that most ppl who have a hardline anti stance about trading plants for money, also have a favorite vendor, and therefore I think its just ego playing into the equation... not that its bad, I have high respect for those who respect and appreciate the plants, but if you really were aligned with the best interest of most plants, then you would likely be spreading them around... Supplies are not cheap, soil, nutes, time, efforts, losses, disease and pest control, overwintering etc... these are all services that require a cost.. unless one is growing in large bulk then whats the problem with getting a little return for all the other services?? but yeah, some are overpriced... big deal... great opportunity for you to list one at what you believe is fair price... also, there are some clones I would have no chance at as a newbie, if someone wasn't nice enough to list them on ebay, and give me another option for expanding my collection... I have to decide if I would like the plant so much as to pay the price the ppl are asking... if 2 ppl list the same clone, well then I have more choices... Theres alot more options in Aussie.. I envy your entheo sites cause I barely have any choices here in usa, in regards to trichos.. you'd think it would be the other way around but I think we are quite limited partly due to our legal environment here or at least I guess as much...

The only one that gets me is when someone lists an obviously mislabeled plant and puts a ridiculous price on it... like 20 bux for a myrtillocactus labeled as a Peruvianus... but I seek first to understand, and so I email that ebayer and if they realize the problem and change it cool! if they don't, then they are naughty...

[What did you do to your cacti today?]

did more grafts today!

split an alby in half and did 2 grafts, 2 Peruvianuses too, and stuck the ass end of one on a pach

I am not addicted, no I am not

[Any Perth Users Who Successfully Graft Cacti?]

no lie I had to get stoned to get over my nervousness on my first day of seedling grafts... and I was doing so well too hadn't smoked anything in weeks and then bam... I made a goal I couldn't complete without raiding the rest of the cannabutter...though I may have purged a negative entity in the process

but since then, I have done all the rest of my grafts completly sober, I think anyhow..

You should look over all the good resources you've already looked at, browse them again for reminders... follow all steps and give it a go... don't skip anything for convenience, get new razors and sterilize one, clean your work area, have all the supplies around required for the method you are using... and well, Just Do it!

Its alot easier once you've got some experience behind you, which is precisely what was mentioned at first in Teo's Grafting book... theres no such thing as success without the risk of screwing up... and in the process of screwing up you can only improve.... I don't know how many seedlings you have but I imagine you have a few volunteers which can make for your first experience with grafting... I too was afraid I would become a graftophile, but now I am aware... I am source... I am the union beteen the scion and the stock...

join us!

[Does Hatred Trump Love? Duality.]

words are essentially paint.

indeed feeling will take you places, but eventually to transmutation, cause and effect

from source to product...

You do it anyways, but the trick is to do so without attachment in order to truly be fulfilled

which is more of a "not needing" feeling rather than an accomplishment...

just like finding your passion is less about trying to want something that might lead to

nice impulses, but rather a process of discovery....

hate has its place though it resides in the realm of "extremes"... but its far worse for someone to hold in their hate

than to transmute it productively... art might be a start, music maybe or even martial arts if ur runnin that much juice lol

just hating in order to cope, however can be an expression of ones deficiencies.... and like anything extreme produces a rush

of hormones which can create an addiction which is similar to the latest memes and obsessions with fear porn on youtube and such

hate can usually be diffused by evaluating the core root of the emotion rather than it's reflection... the images and thoughts that pass through the

brain when one experiences hate...the "noise" factor of the mind... though in the contrast of this emotion, one is ever so close to recognizing pureness... the part of us that withstands all of the extremes in life... and is always available inspite of the cycles... the part that does alot more feeling than describing... its the side that lives in the now, which has already dealt with the past and quite content with the future

"The future is not what it used to be"

[Does Hatred Trump Love? Duality.]

Love is not the answer...

Love simply is....

Just as there is no such thing as cold, only heat and absence of heat,

as there is no such thing as darkness, only light and absence of light,

the same with love... there is only whats pure and the absence thereof...

Can you become the divine with hatred alone, um no, but you will not get to this point without hatred...

which is just another manifestation of source...

Wisdom = infinite, Knowledge = finite

beginning, end, repeats all over again....

the ultimate duality..

I think people who evade pain are avoiding that which wishes to set them free...

best advice I ever got was "Feel the Pain, and use it"...

The line in the middle of the yin/yang is not squiggly for no reason

being honest with onself means admitting the real root of pain as rooted in our desires

and transmuting that manifestation of source into the material experience.

[What did you do to your cacti today?]

nah, well I did on the albino one and another that I dropped and decided to recut in the first batch... but honestly I think that takes too much time and my best guess as to whats working is speed, cutting motion and mental preparation lol

i did that method with the little thin razor snapped in half, then cut peres a hair over the right height and then cut the scion in nice swift slicing swoosh to where the scion stays on the razor... if a little piece of the bottom gets hung push it off with my finger and then with the same razor the scion is waiting on, slice a thin sliver off the peres to where I can put it on there fast and careful... i'll admit I had to recut a couple of peres more than once just to get a nice straight cut... and the fresh cut has enough goo, even when i had to cut down 3 inches or more so they'd fit in the dome lol the goo definitely helps but for my hands there couldn't be a better method to get the scion on there as fast...

Meanwhile, Al B. is lookin strange...

hang in there Al. B!

[What did you do to your cacti today?]

fuquen around on super bowl sun day

they got some good h20 today too

[recycling potting mix]

I use ascophyllum nodosum which is the most common type and its said to have a complete profile of pretty much all of the trace minerals a plant could need.. there maybe other things comparable but not much... it is not however, the greatest source for NPK and I think its higher in the P just based on what i've seen the containers labeled as... what it would do basically is give the plant all the "extras" as well as keep the soil alive and active, which is most important for developing a good root system but also making the plant more tolerant of extremes and resistant to diseases... it is even recommended to spray fruits down with it a few days before harvest to improve their shelf life

This type is a freshwater type that is best preserved in cold waters... I have been using a dry type which is fully water soluble and i got it from a website called kelp4less which has alot of other stuffs too... Not sure if they ship international but its a good reference site anyway for other stuff... another thing about kelp is that it floats around the waters looking for a place to rest and "root" so to speak.. so its rich with root activators... I just tested this recently on some fresh cuttings and they are growing alot of airborn roots! Its a plant that does this anyway but it definitely responded to the kelp..

Its also a helluva a foliar feeding agent and is actually more efficient for most plants through foliar feeding, at the right times of day of course... its one of the ingredients in the popular formulation called "Garrett Juice" I just tried foliar feeding this past year and I got results better than I would have imagined so I've begun foliar feeding all my green leafys

I haven't reused any cactus soil except that which is barely used.. but one exception is for pereskiopsis which will grow in almost anything...

here is a good writeup about it:
http://www.simplyhydro.com/benefits_of_kelp.htm

[recycling potting mix]

I think alot has to do with what you grow in the soil... like for example if you grow tomatoes its best not to grow tomatoes in there until the soil is restructured by say legumes or something different for a couple seasons... maybe leaving it out all season long is enough to take care of any issues or whatever.. I know here it woudl get baked and then a few chill months

but really I pretty much reuse all my soils since I use so much kelp .. never seems to be a problem and make a good filler for really huge pots/containers... I don't go by any strict method I just mix it into compost or whatever... I'll occasionally stick a plant in a fresher mix just to see the difference but I never write it down and forget which pot and its like oh well laff

[Where to Buy Chestnut Compound]

yeah im growing about 15 containers of seeds atm and one I tried in rockwool... they are doing okay but its obvious that the ones in soil, even a 50% sand / 50% peat based seed and cutting mix, are doing much better..I think the peat helps a little with fungus at first.... theres one tiny green spot on the rockwood but i've always had trouble with rockwool , I think the ph is ideal for growths but its also not so bad for cacti, however the lack of nutes in the rockwool seems like it would be an issue in the long run so I think im gonna graft them and leave just one in each just to see how they might do over a while...

I think the best thats helped so far was airing them out once or twice daily since the beginning, on alot of triches and ariocarpus... out of 15 containers only one has any fungus and its proving harmless but I have tried to kill it by airing out.. it just stopped growing ... im also really fricken ocd about it and I sterilize my hands each time I mess with them @ hand soap and sanitizer lol ....

maybe air out more if you aren't doing that daily... I know with ariocarpus which are from the same region as lophs, don't care for humidity as much... but their age might determine how much drying they can take .. if its getting close to time to acclimate them then maybe that would help anyhow... a sprayer with a fine mist and clean filtered water has proven helpful to spray carefully between the seedlings as to not waterlog them

it should be easy to dry out sand and rehydrate but just make sure to watch them and don't let them get too dry for too long if they haven't begun to acclimate...

I am maybe gonna sprinkle some cinnamon on that spot... or maybe sulfur like CBL mentioned... I never would have thought of that for seedlings but sounds like it could be helpful when used carefully

[Burger King admits to using horsemeat in burgers]

I don't see how horses are more special than cows...

perhaps the good many should consult the old wise toad

what about the cows man, moo

what this grills down to is burger king admits to having made a bad deal with a third supplier who not only sold them horse meat but some of it was contaminated.. . they're admitting to a small percentage of equine dna...but they are admitting to .1% and im trying to figure on how this happens??? Do they sprinkle a little unicorn dust on every patty or something? smh

I would be willing to bet that no one who ate bk the day before actually barfed up their burger after reading this today
Do these mindless drones think not to ask how much high fructose corn syrup is in their buns???

Ya Basta!

[Post a random picture thread]

[Hybrids]

Im hoping to cross some ariocarpus fissuratus with ariocarpus confusus by the end of the year... if they'll flower as fast... just got my hands on the confusus seeds.. also got some lophophoroides but im not sure if Turbinicarpus will cross with ariocarpus... the turbinicarpus seeds are certainly tinier...

if they do they'll be my first cactus flowers

My first go with astrophytum yielded no seedlings but I sat on the seeds an entire year so probably my screwup

[OutOfYourLoop]

h00t! Nice Work! you are incredibly talented! I cannot exxagerate this.. must have tons of practice ;)

I really enjoyed you sharing this thanks you The dream maker

[Best crops for survival gardening]

The one I've got is Cacanapa cv Ellisiana... or Tigertongue... I never even thought of trying seeds but it will be some time anyhow before I get to that point.. I started with 3 pads and they've each put out 1 or 2 new pads and going in the ground as soon as our last possible freeze date... I bought another one labeled "Spineless" but had glochids so huge they may as well have been called spines...

I will be on the lookout for another spineless variety so I can try and crossbreed them someday... that would be neat to come up with a whole new variety that is spineless, especially one that may be best suited for a good grafting stock... certainly they are much easier to eat but the blue ones aren't favored for flavor and I wouldn't know the difference... if there was a way to get a pad over there I'd try to send one maybe later on but from what Im hearing it sounds like it may pose a challenge..

[The end of the world]

I'm so confused but I can live with that for a while

[The end of the world]

I have many attitudes which fall under the umbrella of "kidding"...

one of my favorite tudes

but with that said let me put my comment into context... I was aiming for a "Matrix" theme...

but Im just realizing that in the movie, Morpheus said the year is 2199...
So I'm totally off by nearly a couple hundred years....
shyte so that makes this even more ridiculous..

Hell it could call end tomorrow
I had better live for today

 

[The end of the world]

There appears to be a miscalculation.. apparently something got lost when king gregory redid the calendar.. and in correlation with our moden sun calendar, we are well past the end of the world... haven't ya heard? it's 2026... someone actually broke the code back in 2012 and thus the 80s... and everything since then just spawned from the 80s... so the scenario is even worse... we're stuck in this bitch... we're fk'n doomed to insanity so grab a cake and kiss ur honey

In regards to the religious scenario,

Tat Tvam Asi

[Best crops for survival gardening]

I didn't realize prickly's had gained such a bad reputation... I mean I had heard they are invasive in some places... My dad used to tell me he would mow them and they'd just grow 1,000 clones... many types are native here and never been much of a real problem ... I never saw a field full of them, just large clumps here and there... but then again I haven't been through all the desert areas... Maybe if they are that invasive then it should be considered to introduce Tortoises to the environment??

There are some not as invasive as others for sure... I can't stand the glochids either, but shit... if you run out of food @ this thread being a survival food thread, then shit, go out and find you some of them invasive food supplies! .. Burn the glochids off first tho lol... Since there are so many widespread there it seems it wouldn't be so wise to keep them in the garden ... I got a Spineless, virtually glochid free type last year... Several ppl sell the same type, but each of them responded to me and told me its just spineless, but still has glochids.. Well I found one which doesn't seem to have glochids either! at least not yet anyhow...

Most of them are fairly nutritious...

as for Blackberries... I've seen them get out of hand... I have a thornless variety that doesnt' send up quite as many runners and I would like it to produce more but its only been a couple years and was transplanted once, but was a clone from a mother plant which didn't do so well in a shady location, whereas a thorned variety, even nearby in the same shade, grows runners all over the damn place.... Rasperries are pretty nutritous I hear... Its pretty much the colorful plants that have alot of the nutritiuos goodies... antioxidants and such...

Im doing alot of focusing on berries myself, and Im gonna learn this year how to make preserves like my Granny used to make...

[My newest addition]

I really need to figure a way to wash it but each time I try there is so much dust that it just clumps altogether but it maybe container issue or something... When I get into mine theres so much dust, just getting a scoop, that I have to take the entire bag outside to work with it.. and frankly im at the end of my stick... Its my 2nd large bag and my last period. I get most everything through amazon and ebay cause there is nothing commercially that is superior to what I can mix together with some fresh earth plus amazon and ebay... however I do have a huge pile of compost to work with every year... I was nervous to use it with cacti but I don't think I would be as nervous without the problems a I've been having... again, I have found better bags of perlite but only the smaller much more expensive ones and if I was going that route in price then I may as well go with zeolite or even some mineral rock that breaks down slowly and feeds.... I would have topped my pots with pebbles at first if I had thought of it, but by the time I saw it mentioned to someone else, I was already sick of the perlite lol

If I were to get all my supplies from around here, all my plants would be in little pots lol

Anyway, my plant says "Trivial" lol... use what makes your heart sing, but by all means, DO NOT BREATHE THE DUST

[My newest addition]

@ GOT, I get big ass bags of perlite like 4 cubic feet, approx 113 litres.. its way cheaper but unfortunately it comes with that dangerous fine powder which is no good.. IME its alot more like Diatomaceus earth when its in fine poweder form... and plus it has a big ass warning that says "don't breathe or it can fuck you up for life" lol

Most of the commercial brands in smaller bags are washed real good but I don't know how they wash it I can't get that to work right.. but im seriously done with perlite after this round... just using it for stuff im eventually gonna repot...

Me neither CBL!