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Mighty fine lookin cacti Congrats!

Seems I've become the local cacti rescue person... you know how it is.. someone discovers you like cacti and suddenly they're like - oh I've got this old prickly thing I don't like.. do you want it... and you can't say no... So without further ado, here are my latest additions: 1) I haven't had a chance to repot these yet - 2 succulents, or succulent + cacti? Names? 2) Yes I know there's a scop there, I'm interested in knowing if anyone has an ID for the opuntia. I think I've seen it referred to as Christmas tree cactus. Came to me in a real bad state with hardly any greenery, just grey/brown stalks about 5 weeks ago. See what a little care can do? 3) Ok this wasn't a rescue - but what is it - cactus / succulent? Seems to produce blunt spines seasonally? :S It's about 20cm tall. 4) One rescue (the hairy beast), and one came in the pot with my big scop. IDs? 5) Couple more rescues - left one is testament to caci hardiness, looked completely dead when I got it, the main trunk has a hole right through it looks like it's been eaten. Right one is in good health. IDs? (front is offshoots from #4) Cheers!!!

Thanks tonic Pretty sure the cristate one is a cactus - I've seen pleny of no christate with the same colouration. Thought perhaps it's closer to a stenocereus than opuntia.

Ok, as promised a couple of better pics, and a couple more! This is (5c) (5a) - You can see the damage the poor thing's been through.. Unknown euphorbia (apart from only one spine, what's the diff between this and a cactus?) Christate cactus (go mitre 10!!) .. couldn't believe it when I found this guy... $10.. he's about 15cm tall!

Peru / scop hybrid?

Holy cow, thanks for the encouragement guys Before the end of summer I'll put all my cacti together for a photo - this is only about 2/3 of them Thanks man, I'd be tempted if the logistics of cacti swapping between sydney and auckland were simpler? I don't have any loph at all!

Here's a pic of mature specimens, as requested:

Awesome, thanks dqd! I will post a better pic of #5 soon. It was just about to start raining so was in a real hurry

Thanks Can't claim anything about them, as I grew them with my pocket, so to speak. They're just regular 'Golden Barrel' Echinocactus grusonii as far as I know. One is the slightly rarer white spined variety.

Crikey! That's nearly as old as me! Added a new closeup pic That makes me feel a bit better at the price I paid..

That's the only pic I have unfortunately - the branch in the pic is for sale.. might have to snap it up after reading what you guys have said

The columnar one

That's one MASSIVE cpm!! I don't think I've ever seen one that big! Also, go back and get better pics of this one (and any others with similar fat ribs). Could be scop, could be pachanoi. http://a388.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/image...15a83f47cd3.jpg

These are my seedlings just before christmas - had just transplanted into this container: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v441/evo...IMG_9407_lo.jpg Stayed that size for about a month until I started bottom watering. I remove the trays and put around half an inch of water in before replacing trays. Probably do this 2 times a week at the moment (summer). The wet/dry cycle seems very important to these guys growth.

Nice work apothecary, they're lookin good! My 6 month old bridge seedlings were in a state of suspension until I started bottom watering them (I was only misting them daily). Now they've taken off again and more than doubled in size in the last few weeks!

So I was havin a yarn to some car audio guys, and the subject of a cactus car came up... (as it always does) Amid discussions if spines would meet frontal impact requirements, and a little googling later... we dug up this gem! http://www.australienbilder.de/serien/bilder/southa20.jpg

Interested to hear views on this guy - does peruvian torch really exist as a separate sub sp?

Yes they do recieve sunlight all year round My guess is that this plant could be a couple of years from flowering at least though, it was only rooted last autum, and you can see the new growth Next time I'm a bit bored I may do some more photography on the differences between my trichs.

Thanks Michael and others. Your input is interesting and thought provoking as always. The next couple of years I guess will tell me more about my plant as it matures. I note that it's certainly different to the 'sstp' closeups posted, as it has 5 spines which start of yellow brown and turn white, whereas the 3-spined ones seem to stay brown/black.

This is (was) mine Pretty solid :D

No. 2 - My ferocactus has a lot redder/pinker spines, but it could just be growing conditions.

Too fat to be a scop? no such thing as too fat for a scop! Definitely scop in my books.

Thanks a lot ace What can I say.. I'm addicted to these things ... they truly seem to have a presence that I don't feel with any other plants! I tend to agree that from the pics it does look like T.pach, but when seen in person (so to speak) it's very different - the colour is a darker green, and the spine are significantly longer... I hope with the title MS Smith will poke his nose in here

Hey apothecary, what do you ID the third guy back on the right as? Looks like my 'short spined peruvianus', but of late it seems that's a term MS Smith coined - so what is it really? Do you have a better pic?

Hi guys I've just taken to my big scop with a pruning saw, and now have a lot of pieces to propogate! I put the rooted section into the ground in my garden. I'm now concerned about the spread of the scale to other plants in the garden. Is this likely? On closer inspection of the damage, I can see what appears to be raised blisters with a thick black sap oozing out. The blisters are not yellow/brown yet, but appear to be the beginnings of these markings. Curious, I cut one open with a blade - the blister is not filled with the black substance, but has a wiggly black line running the length of the blister. This would appear consistant with the descriptions I've read on hard scales. There's not much info I could So, how do I treat/limit the spread of this nasty? I'm temted to carefully cut as much as I can off the plant, but it's so widespread on one side that it will take quite a bit of surgery! Should I do it and just sprinkle sulphur on the wounds? Not especially keen on insecticide as nearby plants are considered consumable. Thanks for any help!