magical9

we get monsoons here with high winds but with the location of the structure.. and its weight ..it hasnt been a problem. We've had 2 moderate storms come through this last few days (woot rainwater) and the way the wind usually comes in it basically never gets windy in the yard especially in that area. I stood out in a few really high wind storms last month to watch the wind reaction against my fences and house angles and while the side of the house is a slight wind tunnel.. it never really gets that windy compared to the open areas. I do plan on using rebar stakes to hold the thing down not that i think i need them. my local nursery owner friend has the same kind of pipe structure all over his half acre backyard but has the legs going into sleeves in the ground. The pipe is 2" though vs my 1" pipe. He was just telling me that last weeks storm caused one of his really tall neobuxbaumia to fall over and hit the shade structure. so that seemed to take down part of it but not the wind itself heh.

OHhhh ok ya i was doing it mostly for decor but it turned out to help alot when i water too as it holds down the soil instead of it all floating out. thanks for the advice spiny collector!

Not sure i understand what you mean by mulching my pots due to the heat. FYI my soil composition for alot of my stuff lately has been mostly cactus mix (kellog organic cactus soil) with native soil/dirt. I found that they love just straight cactus mix though. I have a few big plants in just cactus mix and i water them all the time and it drains fast. They are my nicest plants. They seem to handle as much water as im willing to give them. The local dirt mix i use holds water a little longer but seems to dry out within a few days. ive actually done a lot of up-potting, unpotting, and just general soil mixing as i switch pots or toss plants etc etc. So ive ended up with a really nice mix IMO of decomposed granite, sand, organic cactus soil mix, and native dirt. it seems to drain really well.

Updates. They are getting tall!

New shade structure and new pups on the "Wild Andes" Peruvianus. First 2 pics are of my bridgesii of some sort. Its rock solid and maintaining an almost 3" width. Grown almost a foot in 3 months after being cut. The pup on the "Wild Andes" has 9 ribs! so i was considering selling it on ebay for like 500$ or so once its like a few inches taller. im stoked.

So im trying to do my first graft to save this variegated peru i have that wont stop rotting before rooting. I was told i should try grafting it. I am trying to graft it to a well rooted myrtillocactus stump. everything looked great last night (see first 4 pics,nice and wet) but this morning the scion looks to be shriveling so much that i think its pulling away from the rootstock. It is wrenched down pretty well though so my question is... even if the edges of the scion dry and pull away... as long as the core's are overlapped correctly and dont dry out... should it be ok? Should i do something different to ensure things stay well connected while drying? Im desperate to save this cutting. Pics 1 - 4 ( Last night )

Are you implying that I harass other members for cactus cuttings then bash other members?

Ive never been on a forum where asking an inocent question results in the following: A) you are told you collected too many cactus too fast (who the hell are you?)(how many cactus should one collect and how fast as to be acceptable to the community?) B ) you are told you are impatient ( based on what? 6 months of trying to save a cutting? ) C) you are called a dick among other things by people who dont know fuck about you all while saying YOU are the arrogant jerk. mind blowing. All before any real advice is given. Then when you try to explain yourself or defend yourself then other members come on to confirm that you are indeed a piece of shit who bought too much too fast and are way too impatient. There are certain members here that clearly have ego issues as they feel the need to talk down to other members who are asking for help. Then they feel like they are owed something for this advice especially if you didnt take their advice or didnt perform it well enough. The responses i get sometimes make it seem as though no new members, or newbies are allowed to be here. As though its disrespectful to not know everything when posting here. I try to be cool with everyone i meet on here but there seems to be a steady supply of members who have come to some pig headed conclusions as to who they think I am and what I am doing and how i am doing it. You talk about arrogance while shitting it all over the people you are talking down to. When i ask for help on a subject I always make sure its in a tone that doesnt sound as though im some badass at cactus who just got stuck on something. No, i let my newbishness stand out and ask my question only to be talked down to by sad little men with big ego's. Allowing yourself to get all worked up and actually offended by MY frustration... thats sad and very selfish. "ya dude i agree magical9 is a dick < i really hope i look cool jumping on the band wagon > ya he's super impatient even though i dont know fuck about him or whats going on in his life <oh boy oh boy im gonna be accepted as long as act like a pius prick about my hobby in front of my peers >" And you see, this whole response will im sure be used to show how im just such a jerk. Such a dick for defending myself and clarifying my position against uncalled for derision.

lol dude what are you talking about. you come in here talking all Pius as though you know what I did with what advice like you know me. Some of us have jobs and lots of things going on and do not have all the time in the world to try every single persons advice. I screwed up on a cutting i own so what? So i should be derided like a dimwit newbie by your grace because you feel i didnt follow enough peoples advice the right way? get a grip on reality. Also speaking of reality... what is this about smoking weed? If youre going to show me how much better you think you are.. at least try to make some sense instead of using this school yard drivel. lol Impatience (6 months of working with the cutting), arrogance... such arrogance i have for not taking everyones advice before using my own judgement on my own cutting based on my schedule. Clearly you havent paid much attention to this thread as i have thanked everyone for their kind advice many times. Guess how much advice YOUR GRACE gave until now? NONE

man im so inferior. im sorry for my errors!

i was hoping zelly would offer me a consolation variegated penis ..

well i have a few other cuttings from this plant but they just arent yellow at all. those have rooted so at least i have those. i really wanted to see the yellow piece grow is all. oh well. also i already tossed it all out. heh

WELL its dead. came in to check on it and it had fallen off the stock. whatever. so i went to chop the rotted out bottom and just try rooting the 3" of remaining "healthy" tip and grabbed an apparently dull knife........................... dumbass. managed to smash the thing nice and thoroughly as i attempted to cut it in half with one quick chop. WHATEVER. trashed.

ugh ... now i get it. how long should it take to really dry and settle? how long until you know it took the graft?

zelly that really helped me understand a few new things. thanks!

At this point im done being stressed about losing the cutting. This is purely for learning at this point now. If it works and lives then im meant to have it. I know some of you are screaming "callous it and let it root out!" but ive tried ! lol

Hope everyone got that i was joking! So i regrafted it last night and here are the pics this morn. seems better than last time. its on their pretty snug with top down pressure. pics kinda suck. anyway ill just leave it be for now and see what happens.

I appreciate everyones input. I regrafted the cutting. looks way better than last night i think. we'll see how it looks in the mornin

why does everyone think that they know me enough to conclude that i rushed into collecting cactus? Because im asking questions that pertain to my many cactus? Is there a certain collection rate one should adhere to lol? Maybe a certain ratio of forum posts:cactus that one owns? People learn differently than others, especially me. I learn by diving deep into new passions and I usually end up the rain man in the subject over time. no one has rushed into anything, as rushing into something implies that i didnt think ahead or calculate what i was doing. anyways. spine collector i appreciate the useful feedback. I guess i just assumed shade outdoors would be fine like all my other cuttings that im rooting/drying. Ill try bringing it indoors to dry after cutting off the rot assuming i dont continue learning to graft it. hopefully thats not all too hasty! /S

..... this has zero to do with my patience level. So little info yet so many conclusions... If i didnt know what i was doing.. i wouldnt have shit tons of rooted cactus in my yard. Having a single hard to root piece give me problems over a 6 month period and only just now am i posting for some assistance.. is hardly impatience. Ive got plenty of experience growing other types of plants over the years. Cactus isnt difficult in the slightest bit.. its just something new im learning. Therefore i too will run into some pitfalls. Some before the average beginner and some after. :drinks a beer, proceeds to talk out ass: oh wait...thats not me! a scrooge... only when drunks talk out their ass to me? perhaps.

i wasnt clear. 2 weeks infront of a fan sped up the drying. it then dried further just outside in the heat for over a month, then another month in dirt before it rotted again.

the first few times i just let it sit out and dry/callous then put it in soil where it promptly turned to rot. then i calloused it and tried putting it in 100% perlite where it promptly turned to rot. then i set it in front of a fan in the garage for 2 weeks. this dried it up the best. i placed it in an empty pot just to keep it upright for a month or so... nothing happening... so i planted it in dry soil. after about a month i used a spray bottle to spritz the top of the soil ever so lightly. I figured since it was super calloused that it would help encourage roots and be fine... it then rotted on the sides that were under the soil. but did not rot out the bottom portion... so it makes me think even if it had roots.. it still would have rotted out the side anyway. im going to try regrafting tonight. trim the edges of the stock. and do some sort of lego like connection between rootstock/scion. if this doesnt appear to take.. then ill just try drying it in front of a fan again and hope that it grows roots in a few years before it shrivels completely into a pile of dust. also ill add that i have a few other peices from this plant that kept rotting as well but i did manage to get a few rooted. also also the temps and humidity levels have been 100-120F and 30% rH with the occasional monsoon storm for a few days.

ive dried/calloused the end 5 times now since FEB. Sat it in 100% perlite at one point and it still rotted. it finally stayed dried/calloused and not rotted for a month in dirt finally.. then bam rotted again. so id love to root it out normally and pot it up.. but it keeps rotting.

Ok so im gonna try to recut tonight. i was thinking i would try some sort of socket / joint method of combining them. Like cut the stock in teh shape of a blunt point, and the scion as an inverted cone? so it just sits like a lego piece together. everyone keeps telling me to cut that scion in half and try two grafts but im just so worried ill lose them by increasing the chance of infection. or should i really cut it in half ?