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The Corroboree

Glass Roots

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Posts posted by Glass Roots


  1. The UVb radiation that's been hitting places like AUS harder because of the ozone hole does indeed effect plants, but you're going to see more of things like DNA damage in plants. There are several studies that touch on this such as:

    http://m.pnas.org/content/96/26/15310.short

    DNA damage leads to different issues, but one of particular interest to us cacti growers is retardation of growth. If the issue of UVb gets worse down under, you very well may start noticing the effects on your little ones.

    I'm not aware of UVb causing any sort of mutation, but I think I've seen something about UVa being able to cause abnormalities in different plants. Although for UVa to make it's way to the your plants there would have to be absolutely no ozone left above you. If that happens you got some more serious issues to worry about than crests ^^

    • Like 1

  2. Never had any cacti poke me. I don't know if it's out of love or my carefulness ^^. When I carry cuts I usually do so open palms. My sharpest is Serra Blue and I still carry her this way. The more spikes I can fit on my hand the better. More spikes = more surface area for the cut to put their weight on. My cuts with longer spines like Lumberjack I grab between the spines since it's harder to get enough spines on my hands to handle the weight.

    I've never really had problems with peres either, and I grab them rather carelessly.

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  3. I got 12 different kinds of trich hybrid seed I'm trying to germinate in a muffin style pan. Planted them about 1 1/2 weeks ago. They're getting misted to keep moist, have seran/cling wrap to hold in the moisture, get plenty of light, and get about 27C during the day dropping to 23C at night.

    I've planted seeds from a few different sources before and I always had at least some germinating by now. One thing though, is I've been away from home so my girlfriend has been trying to germinate them for me. I tried to show her how the best I could, but I'm not sure if she's overwatering or not.

    The seeds have what looks like the inner part of the seed coming out of them, what does that mean? I'll post a pic when my Kindle stops giving me problems.

    Some of these are pretty old, but some are mutant seed I picked up from SS a couple of weeks ago. I've never had issues with getting there seeds to sprout before so I'm not sure what's going on. Any tips or hints as to what I should do would be much appreciated.


  4. A person can do whatever they want with their seeds, it's their choice.

    A few things that come to mind with me just waking up, could be it's ability to seed (often, with high success), even everything you mentioned, but after it's matured like I stated before, hell even the vascular ring if that's your thing.

    I'm not sure if there is, but I don't know of any evidence that suggests that any of the statistics of a seedling correlates with the same variables when it's matured.


  5. My message got cut off half way.

    Essentially what I was saying is I'd like to see some mass propagating of favored hybrids done in controlled settings, by people who have the room to grow out 1000's of cacti.

    Although you might be able to weed out seedlings early on with certain variables, I would want to wait until I could cut off at least 5cm at no detriment to the cactus. If you waited until then, you simply couldn't weed out seedlings. Sure girth, height, and vigor are commendable traits to look for, but they're not the only ones.

    If a few out of a 1000 were found to be the most desirable, it would be nice to have a name for these specific cacti to separate them from the generic seed floating around of the same cross. Same process as other plants just a little more complicated with cacti because of the time factor.

    Keeping logs of all the different inputs/variables with growing like this would give growing trich a little bit more structure. It would cut out the guess work on traits, lineage, and make it easier to decide which crosses/clones are even worth meddling with.


  6. Giving/trading them away is an awesome way to let them be put to good use, but then you'll never know which were the better cacti. Even if you were able to keep track of them all the growing conditions and inputs would change. The only way to truly know would be grow them out in the same location, same ferts, soil mix, etc.

    There's not really a solution for most people. If your limited by space or ability then all you could do would be to keep what you can.

    I do think that at least a few people should sow seeds of the (hopefully) most promising hybrids extensively. Maybe a couple hundred of each cross. If they have the room, they could let them get 4-5 years old no problem before they chose the best. Keeping track of all the importr


  7. There have been some very interesting crosses of the best clones out there. But it seems like most of everyone ends up weeding out most of their seedlings for a select few early on.

    Everyone has got their reasons, be it límited space, time, etc... But to get the best of the best out of these batches (whatever best means to you), these little beauties need to be grown out.

    People could be getting bottom of the barrel seeds and have no idea. If you're going off initial traits like vigor or size, those could both change once they start maturing. There's too many variables to be able to discern what a seedling will be like 5 years down the road.

    It just feels like a disservice is being done to these cacti. :/

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  8. My work keeps me from home for a month or 2 at a time. I've had several cuttings in my closet for a few months and now finally just got time to plant the cuttings. When I grabbed them I noticed some unusual growth and scarring. Since there was some etiolation on the first cutting I cut off the top. The growth is not only on the surface of the cuttings, it's also growing through the entire column. It looks as if whatever it is, is eating it's way threw my little guys. :(

    As I said they've been in the closet, so they've been in the dark constantly. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

    Do any of you know what I'm dealing with? Is it treatable? I paid a hefty amount and waited quite a bit to get these clones over here to the US from AUS, it'd be a real shame to lose them....

    post-13404-0-61164200-1400462684_thumb.j

    post-13404-0-38798000-1400462696_thumb.j

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    post-13404-0-61164200-1400462684_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-38798000-1400462696_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-24463400-1400462709_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-74469000-1400462720_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-13155800-1400462824_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-14734000-1400462833_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-61164200-1400462684_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-38798000-1400462696_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-24463400-1400462709_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-74469000-1400462720_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-13155800-1400462824_thumb.jpg

    post-13404-0-14734000-1400462833_thumb.jpg


  9. If they're used to growing in sun they will need bright lights to keep growing at the same thickness. Your best option may be to make them go dormant. That's what I do with all my big plants and I stick to seeds and grafting in the winter.

    How do I start their dormancy without having a cool place to keep them?

    put em outside in a home brew cold frame with a good heat sink

    you'd be amazed what your plants can acclimate to given a fair chance

    I like this idea, but at the moment I don't have the option to run electricity outside. I'll definitely keep it in mind for the future though.


  10. maybe all this could just go away if we followed America like we usually do and take a look at regulating natural substances instead of banning everything that can make you have a really nice day"

    Not sure if you're referring to the the recent statement by our federal government stating that they would defer marijuana law/regulation to the states (therefore allowing it to be legal if a state chooses to, which 2 have so far). Besides this, our government hasn't really allowed regulation of other natural substances. The only two reasons I can think of that certain plants aren't completely banned is probably because there is so few people using them/aware of them and because it would be extremely difficult to eradicate certain active plants.

    For instance mimosa's, acacia's, phalaris, etc.

    I do agree though, that the recent memo by the Department of Justice is a VERY big step into a positive direction for regulation (this will also be a good example to use for future decriminalization of other plants/substances when it comes to taxes and such).

    Link to memo: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/August/13-opa-974.html


  11. You guys have my love from the US. I hope this community still holds together. I've been fortunate enough to acquire/been shipped many lovely specimens from AUS. Apparently it was a smart move to seek out the beautiful Aussie clones/hybrids when I did. :unsure:

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