Flip

re: rooting. here's the basics. all "roots" are connected to the plants vascular system Having mutated a cell (via rooting hormone) is not going to do any good if it's not connected to this system. most plants do not have such a large amount of tissue in between the outer layers and the plants main transport system as the succulents. so the directions for a woody herb stem are not intended for a cacti. There was a thread debating the actual mechanism for what fosters rooting and how I say it's based upon hormones that are somewhat affected by gravity that cause cell morphing into root cells from the inner core of the plant that move outwards. They do not need to emerge from any point on the skin. I believe that there is a direct relationship between new growth and the encouragement of rooting. Ambient water does not play a major (if any real) factor in this. simply. place your cacti upright and roots will appear at the lowest gravitational pooling point on the plant (bottom) in time. They'll start from the vascular core and work their way outwards generally I dry root the plants before I place them into soil. don't wait too long or you'll get thin plant growth from the tip. my experience is about a month or so from the root starting to form till I see some new tip growth. the more tip growth the more rooting after the first stage have stalled.

Ok let me review this you live in a humid / wet environment made the cutting and placed it near a heat source you seen some healing and a retreating of live tissue from some of the edges. the dead areas are still soft/ "leathery" and discolored Alright, I would not call these leathery areas bruised at all they're dead tissue that was quickly abandoned by the plant (it's building a wall further in) the discolor may be the decomposition of pigment or infection nothing to worry about... just remove it with a pair of clippers being careful not to cut into the living flesh. If my plants develop this I can usually let it all dry out and snap it off with my fingers just as long as you don't leave it on when it's put into the ground. it'll only serve as a host for infectious agents. I think you've got a good base going here I would take a towel (paper or cloth) folding it up to make a pad of sorts and prop up the cacti on that so that's upright against a wall and let it get some light. it'll take some time for the cutting to build up the resources and get itself rooting no need to plant. Just let it be for a few months. benign neglect works wonders I usually set mine after they've shown some signs of starting to root and I never pull them out of the pot to "check" and look if they're doing alright. you should be able to tell from the tone of what's above ground to get a idea of what's going on below. use a low nitrogen soil mix and lighten it up with perlite and sharp cut sand. you should do well.

well it looks a bit too yellow for my tastes but it seems to be able to flower so it's not in too bad of shape. Hummm I wonder how it would react to a good feeding or is this just due to the higher UV light at that elevation?

yeah that's what I would call scaring that followed a really bad sunburn. I've had the discoloration and it take a few weeks for that to clear up

I think it's like corking of the wood... I could be wrong because all the choices are so much alike. I also think that the roots get this way too. but they're hard to see because of all the dirt and stuff colors it all .. like brown n stuff.

Thanks for the images As I said on another forum, I have never seen this before on any of my plants as mature as these. I have had a few newly germinated seedlings "burn" like this where their entire bodies turned the same purple hue. Those were the result of my premature exposure to strong sunlight. [ 13. September 2005, 22:43: Message edited by: Flip ]

The chlorophyll is a response to light. Why invest in chlorophyll or attempt to harvest light if there's none to be found. for all the new growth knows it could be buried underground still. It's investing it's energy in growing upward to where the light is.

OK I'll take a shot at this First of all pesticides don't have anything to do with direct contaminations... only their possible carriers - and all of those a healthy plant can usually defend against anyway. imo, you should never need any poisons of any sort for a cacti.... (except) the only thing I've really ever used is snail bait. First picture: Er, what's the problem? you have some skin imperfections and what looks like hard water deposits. it looks a little bit yellow you may want to feed it a little better Second Picture: green mold cause too much humidity. Try spraying with some rubbing alcohol then let dry. also you'll want to carefully break off the dried curled brown areas. and let it be exposed ot dry air. Third and Fourth pictures: (links!) Wow, they look baked. where were they kept? on the dashboard of the car in the middle of summer? OR did someone follow some very lame advise and put the cuttings in a closet for a few months with no light? Fifth Picture: Cause: Bacterial Rot. infection from open wound before healing. Solution. surgery... use a clean knife and cut well up and away from the rot into the healthy tissue. Expose to dry air and allow for it to heal. Sixth Picture: small bacteria or fungal infection on a fresh cutting. leave it alone and let the plant heal up lay it on it's side. expose to dry moving air. if it gets worse... surgery.

we're talking about that right now in this thread. http://www.shaman-australis.com.au/ubb/ult...ic;f=6;t=000926 I've had great success with the lunch box method. seems to me, that the rockwool is a bit too wet to be good for the seedlings as they mature. but it'll be good to find test this. [ 11. September 2005, 01:18: Message edited by: Flip ]

Thanks for the nod Archaea You're certainly no slouch either! and I certainly don't wish to come off as a know it all. I'm going to check out all my plants tomorrow morning to see if there's any coloration. I don't expect to find any as my plants are now only getting mostly early morning and late in the day light everything else is indirect/shaded light. If your theory is correct re: UV light exposure that would be interesting.... heck any "discoloration" will be worth noting.

just a thought, aside from hybred genetics... I would also try to take into account the fact that not all photo's are alike. certainly there's going to be a huge difference in the quality and accuracy with different cameras, photographers, film and light options. if you're thinking about a subtile color difference it may be due in part to the above factors. I myself can't see many differences in the flowers for the kk242 and these Juuls Giants

imo, The seedlings are reacting to too bright of light I've had this happen with my tricho seedlings when I've exposed them to direct light early on in their lives. resulting in their halting of growth for a few weeks.... growth returning with green coloration. Call it sunburn if you will... These plant are not "difficult to grow" in fact they're easy if you just let them be "benign neglect" usually works best. In the wild the landscape is not a flat open field of tilled earth. Rather it's a bushy, rocky mountain slope that the plants are shown in pictures growing in. It's not that difficult to imagine that a small seed get "pecked out" of a fallen fruit by a bird or is passed via the GI track far away from the mother plant. where it settles in between the gravel and may perhaps be also shaded by some plants (as with peyote). There it can have both protection from the harsher elements as well as a means of protection from rapid evaporation with seasonal rains. It'll slowly develop there away from direct light until it's much older. They're not perennial herbs that grow fast and die young

Thanks KT I waited quite a long time for this to flower indeed. The seed was sourced from OTJ waaaay back when... it's nice to have the opinion of it being a T. Peru and not a T. Cuzo I'll PM you about the flower usage.... Yes, lets keep moving things forward.

Take a hose and wash them off. Whatever they are they're on your plants for th eir own selfish reason. Most likely they're leapers of some sort and are sucking juices The only insects I allow on my cacti are praying mantis's and ladybugs.

my KK242 flower as mentioned above I've got some close up shots of the same plant HERE here's the pups from it's cut base (yes it's a shame) Brothers and sisters from the same batch of seed Nightshot I hope that this helps out.

The real danger with bacterial or fungal rot is that these plants are mostly water attempting to dry them out really do not work once the infection is past the skin. all you're doing is weakening the plant. brown discoloration is not a good sign. once the infection makes it to the core of the plant it can travel easily the length of the plant. I hope I'm wrong... but it doesn't look good for that graft.

Yes, it was cool standing up on a chair with bee's buzzing all around trying to get the very same pollen you're trying to also collect. I've got picts of 3-4 bees at the same flower with my hand holding a q-tip. hehehe It was really cool as I noticed that they started waiting their turn with me hovering at my wrist waiting for me to finish. and yes I would LOVE to have the crossings.... I've got 5 more buds developing on the juuls and a UV reptile light I'll try to access the reaction and take a pict or two. Thanks for the feedback! Glad you liked them! [ 02. September 2005, 04:20: Message edited by: Flip ]

Well after a decade of TLC I've got flowers on my Juuls Giants. I've got to thank some of the members here for the pollen I'm trying what I can and keeping the fingers crossed. :D These were taken with a so-so digital camera I'm going to try some better film exposures later as well as pollen collections from slight above the 8 foot tall plants /6.5+' above soil line and they smell great too! Now the neighbors don't think I'm quite as weird.... just very patient. :D [ 31. August 2005, 00:17: Message edited by: Flip ]

amputate cut nice and clean asap. cut and graph to a new plant root stock. take the base and set in a light soil heavy on sharp cut sand, some peat or cior. and cross your fingers. and try water from the bottom up from now on.... I'm willing to bet you're using far too rich a soil. [ 02. September 2005, 03:37: Message edited by: Flip ]

I've had them for a decade from roughly a 6" (150 cm ) cuttings Sourced from Jane @ OTJ (now allies...) Not difficult to care for, but certainly very thick and different than The T. Pan or my other Trich's. -I like them. As you can see by comparing the two flower buds The T. Pan. are "wooly" and the Juul's are relatively naked. there are other morph differences between the two as well but thats better detailed elsewhere.... Here's a large pict of the two species (?) taken earlier in the flower development. I think it's easy to see the difference I don't know IF they deserve their own species name proper as I'm unaware of any closely alike cacti stands in any geographical area. Currently this appears to be a single clone but I would like to see different individuals -if they existed What I've noticed is that the ribs where budding /flowering is heaviest aren't growing at the top normally and the plant growth is not lopsided a bit. you can see this in the second higher angle shot. I hope that it corrects itself later I rather not see a large "dent" in these. EG, I don't know about difficultly (yet) the first flowering didn't take from the old pollen used I'm trying fresher pollen with these and I hope that it'll improve the chances of seed. There's a bit of crosses around and I already have some clones that look rather nice indeed. I'll keep people updated if they set fruit. This morning I'm collecting TJG pollen for trades and T. Pan crossing. The sent is stronger and it's attracted some real stiff competition from the professionals... looks like she really cleaned up too... :cool: [ 29. August 2005, 19:13: Message edited by: Flip ]

Why hasn't anyone told her that is the wrong way to try and pick up a cacti? Hey, is that a cuff about her ankle? torture picts are not my thing... poor cacti who knows what mites and scale may be in there? seriously, what species is that? [ 17. August 2005, 01:07: Message edited by: Flip ]

Just read the canisters that fungicides come in ( depending on national safety laws) They may show just how dangerous they are! I remember one time that I was ... well.... "extra sensitive" that sunday morning I was fungus dusting some of the flowering plants with a respirator, gloves and a lab coat. Thus explaining my neighbors later behavior towards me for the next few years. :D

I would not worry about the seed being old. Not every year has enough rain for seeds to germinate cacti have a long evolution behind them and will have adapted for such conditions -some will have survived. But this really depends on other outside factors regarding how they we're stored and such. laying around on the sunny dashboard of a car is not one of them.

I've played with the image and tried to match RJacksons description along with my seedlings color.

"Possession is Nine tenth's of the Law". And I agree, it doesn't really matter where your cacti live as long as, you can provide the proper environment Thats the real trick, after all But it sure it one hell of a lot easier if you live somewhere friendlier. Like in the happy sunshine state, " the land of fruits and nuts" [ 13. July 2005, 07:34: Message edited by: Flip ]