JustAskSally

I know this thread has strayed a little from the original topic but i was wondering if anyone out there has imported live plants into aus or tried to?? I have inported heaps of different seed the latest being brug, but have brought in heaps including Loph, trich, turbinicarpus, mamarilia, Echinocactus, Nicotonia T & R, datura M, HBWR and even a few P.C prints, and the only thing i have ever had a drama with was some funky kind of restricted salvia Xtract which was picked up by customs and subsiquently destroyed by fire (which is what i was planning anyways) and i read somewhere in this thread about having a 2%chance to make it here.. Well i strongly disagree because i have never had 1 hastle bringing in seed and now i am fairly keen to try and import a A.fissuratus plant 3" here from the states.. I read somewhere that it is the sellers or exporters responsibility to ensure that they are sending this type of thing to a country and I as an australian citizen cannot be blamed if they dont follow the right channels when exporting to a country that prohibits the importation of live material.. i.e. australian law cannot prosicute me if it is picked up before it gets to me, and it is the exporters/senders fault so they are to blame and can be prosicuted by australian law but because they live in america under american law they ultimately cannot be prosicuted... Hope this makes sense and someone can clarify Peace

I know this is probably not very exciting for many of you out there, especially those that have grown cacti for many years, but this is the first cacti to flower in my garden this year (appart from my grafted lophs) and it is the first time it has ever flowered for me at all!!.. I feel so privelaged And it just looked too beautiful so i wanted to put it on here for all to see.

Happily!! Ill have to wait a little while dude because that particular flower is no more All my cacti have been brought inside to escape all the rain we have been having here in the basin, and that flower coped it fairly badly because i was stuck at a friends and although they were under a sheet of Perspex they still somehow got drenched in that really heavy rain on Sat night.. There is another flower coming up and i think ill grab a timer tomorrow and put them under my lights and as soon as that one opens ill collect some pollen for you and happily send that off to you if you still want/need it.. Just shoot me a PM with your add and ill get that out as soon as the flower opens although it is pretty small at the moment and may be a few weeks.. No worries with the seed dude, if it goes well for you im sure the wheel will come around eventually. Peace

Thanks for all the help apoth and kaktus.. This is something i have been thinking about doing for a little while as i always have a few left over leaves that i generally removed when taking a stem cut, and up to now didn't know what to do with them so they have just been stored away... Now i can experiment a little and broaden my horizons, and thanks to the great info i know ill be doing these things right to a T..!! Gracie

Hello all.. Can anyone give me advice as to taking leaf cuttings of this plant? I have been growing my Psychotria for about a year now and it is getting quite big.. A friend of mine told me a little while ago that i can take leaf cuttings of it and would love to experiment a little(as well learn a new technique), and although i have successfully taken quite a few stem cuts i really dont know how to go about taking a leaf cut of it.. My friend told me to simply break the petiole and then put rooting hormone on the spots i had broken, then just place it on top of some soil which should be kept moist, and i did this to no avail. I dont know how reliable his instructions were however, because he is a bit of a disappointment of a horticulturalist and i have given him about 15 salvia cuts (some of which were very bloody nice) which he has, without fail, managed to kill every freakin one due to either his lazy stoned nature or just simple neglect, and i now refuse to give him any of my plants because i much prefer to keep them alive... Anyways i thought if theres anyone that could help me out with some pointers here would be a great place to ask and for any help i would be very grateful. Thanks once again to all the great, knowledgeable ppl that are part of this community. Peace

This may help http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...?showtopic=9627 But it still looks pretty tricky to tell them apart..

That's gold man.. I love how things have a way of finding themselves too you... A little while ago I found an old couple with the biggest pach i had ever seen out the front of their property, asked them whats the deal and they said they hate it and i could take it if i wanted, been growing since they had the place and its a menace apparently!!.. Was about 14 foot with 4-5 main arms!! Took some cuts but left the mother in peace.. Makes the day that extra bit sweeter when things tent to happen just right.... I still like your story more tho, seems like it wanted to go with you and knew where its home was! Peace

Thats crazy dude.. Has anyone ever read PREY by any chance? Great fictional book on nano tech. Peace

I just checked out the grafting book and it is absolute bloody gold.. THANK YOU TEO!!!! I one day too hope to have a garden as beautiful as your one seems to be!! Peace

This isnt really an organic option but when i was doing regeneration work, we always used the bradley method and removed by hand, trying to pull up all the roots along with the wandering stems.. Shading out is a good method dude, where you place a tarp or something similar over to block out all light, and thus kill it due to lack of light, you can use a rake to roll all the vegitation into balls, but then youll also have to dig up all the ground so it wont start growing again because the roots are alive.. Dont know if this will help you, but if you want the easiest, and most effective way just shade it out, and this wont effect your mandarin tree, but may kill any grass you have left growing.. I dont think many ppl would plant it ey.. Many normal ppl anyways, Wandering Jew is a big problem in alot of places, and im fairly sure it is listed as a noxious weed. Hope this may help. Peace

HAHAHAHA.. but seriously jono is probably right, airflow would certainly be beneficial for these plants, and those lights your using shuld provide a full spectrum, sorry for the critisism i just presumed you were using the ultimate christmas getto setup by the bulb in that pic.... Looks like more light wouldnt hurt tho.. Hope all your problems may desolve, and your garden flourish.. Peace

nooooooo .. definately not normal grey.. Thanks for the great comp, really had to rack my brain 4 this1 and looks like i missed out.

middle arm at the back i guess. 54.7cm Thanks for the comp

1.White faced grey? 2.Pearl? 3.Cinnamon? 4.normal grey? thats the closest i can possibly do.. man good work on the comp, maybe a bird enthusiast can set me straight.. Peace.. also good excuse to get my pm count up as well!!hahaha

Man this is a really hard comp 1.White faced silver? 2.normal-grey 3.Cinnamon 4.Pied ?????????

Fuck it makes me sad to see things like this, not surprised in any way, but very sad to know that im part of these issues, like really how many of us avoid 'packaging' when we can? I know i have grown more conscious of these things, like packaging from lollies, foods, plastic bags ect in the last year or so but certainly haven't completely stopped wasting things like this *like WTF am i supposed to do with spare mars barz rappers?? why should these things be a 'norm' in everyday life?? And the things i do throw out may not end up in the pacific ocean but they are always gonna end up somewhere.. I used to work at WSN at Eastern Creek, for those of you that dont know thats WesternSydneyWasteManagement.. Pretty much the tip and it was crazy to see that out of the things that people do recycle about 80-85% of it ends up in landfill.. Makes me thing whats the freakin point!! Also we now have the facilities to burn all(or most) the methane gasses produced by landfil to create electricity to go back into the grid, but even though they have a fully functioning turbine there, it is not used WTF!!! Environmentalists who have asked me what i think needs to happen to turn the world around, and to fix these issues think im weird and a crazy extremist when i tell them that i believe the only real (and effective) way to deal with these problems is to get to the root of them and although it is absolutely unfeasible and unimaginable, i think the only way we will fully fix the world we live in is to undergo full global scale culling of the people responsible (me and you) and i know i really dont wanna die yet but when it comes to the crunch, how many out do? how many ppl out there drive a car, and those that dont how many use public transport? How many can say that each week that their garbage bin is completely empty because they havent wasted a thing, and how many people are using a computer running on electricity, made from plastic derived from hydro-carbons and metal mined from the earth in huge quantities leaving gaping holes or unstable voids?? We are the problem and it makes me really sad to know that it is me and my kin.. All i can say is we are but a speck in time and this planet will live on, with or without us, and by the path we are creating it looks like it will do a hell of a lot better without us.. Peace By the way don't get the wrong impression, I don't mean for you to run out and kill your neighbour because he is watering his lawn maybe just try to tell him that his lawn is crap anyways, and to use the water more consciously, as well as any and all the resources we use and that have been provided..

But jono to me it looks like that that is happening, alot of the new growth is paler that that below, im curious how long these plants have been there for and if they were brought from someone that grew them outdoors, because by the looks all the new growth is struggling, is paler that the original growth and stretched..

I think your right kadakuda.. I have only seen discolouration in a cacti like that when they were left indoors without adequate light for extensive periods of time.. In the first pic you posted with the salvia cuttings looks to me that the cactus on the left and far right have stretched heaps due to the fact that you are growing these plants (and it is my guess this is why all tips have been removed) using (judging by the next photo) a blue (and probibly red) incandescent bulb Dude those plants are screaming light!! Man if you are going to leave your plants there and want them to live a happy life you should buy, like kadakuda said, a HID lamp which couldn't possibly set you back more than 200$.. I feel that bad for your plants i even found you 1 on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com.au/600W-Grow-light-kit...1QQcmdZViewItem that you can buy which would probably put out enough light for all those plants to be happy with.. Dude a fluro would provide a better spectrum of light than an incandescent christmas light coloured blue and red!!! Correct me if im wrong but in that pic under the 1 wit the sally cuts that looks like exactly what you are using, the one above shows me that your cacti are stretching because on insufficient light and that's why the tips have been removed, and man ive heard of ghetto setups before but i think Santa would laugh if he heard your trying to grow plant's with Christmas lights!! I know i did, and even if they aren't Christmas lights, they obviously aren't designed to grow plants in such a large space as that! Peace

Pm'd

Why not just 'google for pictures or you could visit this online book? http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online...ooms_aunz.shtml

I know this is off topic but wanted to add this Im not saying that goldfish have more than a 2 second memory, but who decided that they do.?? Like a plant, a goldfish may(and im definately not saying they do) surpass the spiritual connections we have with nature as humans, they (and remember im not saying this is true) but they may not experience life one way or the other and live an absolutely perfect and in tune lifestyle where they dont dwell on things of unimportance like who am i and why am i here and only know bliss..?? We as humans believe that we are superior to all other animals(most of us anyways), but when it comes to the crunch, we are only animals and no different to the next!!, If placed in the right conditioned environment we will become just as the goldfish, remembering that which is important and not worying (or remembering) about anything else.. Like i dont know of any goldfish that when feeding wont come to the top of the tank (even before you put their food in) awaiting for the food to hit the surface of the water.. Is this a natural reflex? Or can they remember that for every night of their life they have been fed this way and thus can remember what is importand.. Goldfish in the wild and bottom feeders (just like carp) so it would be fair to assume that their natural reflexes would tell them to find their food at the bottom of the tank, and yet they still come to the top for their food. Now i can hardly believe that goldfish have as much capacity for retaining information than a human, i mean they live for 1/10 in most cases of that of a human and naturally wouldnt need the capacity, but do you really believes that a goldfish forgets everything every 2 seconds? Like one of my friends had about 7 goldfish in a tank and put in a juvenile bass that he caught in the hawkesbury river.. It only took a few minutes for the bass to figure out that the goldfish could be food, and the goldfish learnt quickly to stay well away from him or they would be food.. Since that day i have never seen the bass and goldfish on the same side of the tank and this made me believe that although some or most thoughts would only last 2 seconds the important ones remain because the fish needs them to live.. Maybe you are god(at least in this world) to the goldfish Anyway's im rambling but am interested to hear others opinions.. Peace

Dunno if anyone has already said this And im, if anything, a noob to this site but judging by the large spine size with new spike growth with the orange tinge looks like a Opuntia engelmannii (prob var?) to me? And also looks bloody tasty!!

Hello all.. Hopefully someone might be able to help in choosing a Australian Native species to attract native birds to my ol ladys garden.. My mum is wanting to plant heaps of natives to attract birds and provide a screen with the neighbours.. She is terribly allergic to something in the robyn gordon grevillea's (dunno what) and she only wants to have a 1-3m shrub with nice flowers to attract the birds... I dont know much about bird attracting natives and though someone on here might.. Also she lives in the sydney basin area and local plants would definately be a good option.. I told her to plant sticky hop bush but dunno what this would be like attracting the birds.. HELP PLEASE!!!! Wade

When i logged in just now i noticed that my inbox said it was full (link in top right) I went to my inbox and deleted 15 of the 20 messages in there and kept the last 5 just so to be able to get add's n shit like that if i need to.... IT STILL SAID IT WAS FULL!!! and down the bottom i read "You have 5 messages out of 1 maximum storable messages" WTF!!!?????????????

Cheers Apoth..