Berengar

Hi EG, I would be very happy to grow those out, I'm a fan of anything huge and spiny! Thank you very much! Mutant, are your taquimbos on the roof exposed to rain and do they mind wet roots over the winter? Do you get any nights under 0 C? Btw, I'm also growing out the supposed 'T. escayachensis' from succseed, I guess that will also turn out very similar to taquimbalensis, but we'll see in a few months hopefully.

Do you have the seeds of the 'real' tacaquirensis (like the one in your picture)? Because what you call T. taquimballensis, most people today refer to as T. tacaquirensis. And seed sellers also sell seeds of plants that you call taquimballensis under the name T. tacaquirensis. Cacti guide is usually a good source for current names, again under the name T. tacaquirensis there are pictures of what you call taquimballensis. I'm just saying, today under common usage, those two names have become synonymous, and it's probably impossible to find 'real' tacaquirensis from that book under that name. I started two different T. tacaquirensis from succseed this year and plan to put them in the ground in a few years time, I believe they could survive my winters with some luck, this year I had several Pereskiopsis and Rhipsalis plants survive outside in the rain, and it has been a colder winter than usual.

Hahaha this is so weird! I spent the last 3 days looking at some pictures from a last year's gardening fair including the ones of this particular clone, thinking if I should buy some this year even tough they are quite expensive for an Opuntia (~3 pads for 10E) and not really cold hardy, when similar cold hardy ones grow semi-feral everywhere around here. (Sorry for the intrusion gr33ntea, hope you don't mind. )

I think I peed a little...

Panaeolus antillarum most likely.

It's the middle of a gloomy winter here and seeing this picture again made me really long for the summer...

I ment the Swedish SS. I also never tried SacredSucculents, mailing money over the ocean kinda complicates things, but I've heard they are great. WSS just buys bulk seeds and resells them at 10X the price, they are as good as their sources are. I've ordered from them a couple of times, got good germination rates, but a better way is to find out what their sources are and order directly from those people.

That has nothing to do with their nationality. I've done bussiness with some verry sloppy and lazy people from the US and the UK, and with some amazingly great ones from Sweden, Hungary, Italy, Poland... After all, German stereotype is 'efficiency'. Labeling a whole continent on the basis of a couple of seed sellers... Hm...

Nah, another one. They were not a bad seller, they have good prices and quality seeds, but I was still annoyed having to wait for the invoice, without knowing I had to wait for the invoice. And the kaktusy webshop is still difficult to navigate. Take Echinopsis for example. 58 pages, with 8 entries on the page, many of them just different seed quantities. 3-5 seconds loading time X 58... Well, don't know about you, but I loose patience after the 47th. Also TH, don't know if you saw, but SS got a couple new species on Jan 1st.

Yeah, they are 'legit', but as m.s said, they take very long to fill an order, and still use that ridiculous 'invoice' system. I never bought from them, but know of them, and they are not scammers or anything, just lazy. Also, their website is very badly made. Those two factors will always make me avoid them and go with the seller from Sweden, who has a wonderfull site, very easy to navigate and order, and instant checkout system. I once bought seeds from a German seller with the same 'invoice' system, the problem was that the waiting period was nowhere mentioned, and when I sent an email after patiently waiting for several weeks, the reply I got was quite rude. The seeds were slightly cheaper, but not worth it IMO. I hope you'll get your seeds soon! Good luck!

Has anyone tried crossing a columnar Trichocereus with Lobivia ferox? It has flowers of variable colour, and I think the plants themselves would be insanely beautiful.

I don't think I'd actually commit murder for it, but I would definitely give 5 Trichs for one of those babies.

Interbeing's pachanoi 'fields' X pasacana. Looks pretty much like a Trich for now, but with shinier, lighter green skin than most others. It has grown nicely over the winter, I can't wait for it to start showing more mature characteristics.

I hope the OP doesn't mind, I have a similar question and thought I'd add to this thread instead of opening a new one, since there is already lots of great info here. So I have a piece of land where I'd like to put some Agave, Aloe, Opuntia, Trichocereus etc. in the ground. I live in a 'humid subtropical climate', average witer temps are around 45F (min 35F), precipitation 5 - 7 inches (62 per year). The soil composition is mainly 'terra rossa'. So what do you guys think my best options would be? I've seen zelly advise against adding gravel or using top dressing, and those were my main option for making the soil more porous. I guess perlite would also be pretty much pointless. Does makeing the 'patch' slightly slanted make any sense? My thinking is that not all water would be absorbed into the soil, since a part would just flow downhill. Thanks!

Nope, really old Copelandia.

Two left pics are Panaeolus subbalteatus group, right one is Copelandia sp. (cyanescens aff.?).

Why not? I've used it a couple of times, it was OK, definitely better than Myrtillocactus. But I have never used pachanoi, so can't compare it with that.

You mean 7th, right? Astrophytum caput-medusae was discovered over a decade ago, and both the seeds and (grafted) plants still aren't cheap. I've read that first seedlings (~ 3cm tall) were sold for about 500 euro in 2005.

Gymnocalycium I think.

Amazing! You've done really great work with this species! Btw, I remember those BC finds, they were huge!

I think the last one is Thelocactus hexaedrophorus or something similar. Btw, funny coincidence, I was just yesterday looking through that seller's selection and thought about buying a pack of seedlings in the spring.

Pilosocereus azureus. Insane price for it IMO.

Looks nasty. 50 euro for such a diseased, ugly thing just because of it's 'rarity'...

Yup, a very dehydrated Pilosocereus azureus. It doesn't seem to be getting as much love as the scop next to it.

Cereus.