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The Corroboree

juzzoa

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    30
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About juzzoa

  • Rank
    Psychonaut
  • Birthday 01/01/1984

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Country
    Australia
  • Interests
    Native Plants, Cacti, Herbs, Orchids, Phytochemistry

Previous Fields

  • Climate or location
    Southern VIC
  1. juzzoa

    Acacia nilotica seed

    Acacia nilotica is listed as a “P2 declared plant” in WA. This makes Acacia nilotica seeds a “prohibited material” under several pieces of state legislation to bring into, or transport within WA. I am aware that there are entheogenic plants (such as lophophora) that have been unfairly classed as a weed by some bureaucratic douche. In the case of Acacia nilotica, not letting it spread would be wise as the plant has been shown to cause biodiversity loss in Australia. I disagree that the plant is "naturalised" in most states. The term is arbitrarily thrown around. Trying to perform a scientific study to accurately measure the 'level of naturalisation' of an invasive species for a whole state or territory on a shoestring budget is absurd. Government officials who are responsible for biosecurity and the environment often use terms like “non eradicable” and “naturalised” so they can justify not having to contribute much needed funds for biological control programs.
  2. juzzoa

    Orchid growers

    I managed to grow a cracking pot of corybas hispidus in moss that I thought I'ld show off. This is the pot with the dome on top. Lack of airflow is what makes them flower. This is the orchids in full flower growing in bush moss.
  3. Thanks for reminding me simhanada I'll be there at about 1PM and bring some plants along for you...
  4. Maiden's Wattle (Acacia maidenii) trees For Sale. Pickup only from Geelong, Victoria. Propagated from seed around a year and a half ago from a fellow Corroboree member. Prices Listed in Photo: I also have a few other things that may be of interest. Trichocereus Peruvianus var. Icaro Seedlings Seed sourced from Herbilistics. $4.0 each Random Stuff: chamaecereus silvestrii - $2 ea Pertostylis curta (Native terrestrial orchid) Tubestock - $3 ea Trichocereus spachianus - $4 ea Dragin Fruit - $6 ea Trading welcomed. Please send me a PM to make an order, and arrange pickup details...
  5. These little cacti have been a real challenge. Initially I was treating them like the other 'hard to grow' species such as Ariocarpus and struggled getting any to maturity (I have got three mature plants from around $50 of seed). One of the survivors... About three years old... Hardening off seems to be the killer for these cacti. Keeping it as gradual as possible is the key to success. In my experience They seem to germinate well in a variety of different mixes but harden off better with a sandy mix. Once they have been kept under lights for a while and need to be moved into the greenhouse, I move them to the area where I keep epiphyte orchids, not the cacti There they get misted once every day or two during warmer months, kept dry during winter, have it quite humid, and get a decent amount of light. Here is some seeds that were planted in May on 2013, and still very small I tried a recent experiment sowing some seeds in sterile media. The media was standard orchid agar with coconut water. Seeds were sterilised in 10% (w/v) Hydrogen Peroxide for 5 minutes, washed with distilled water over filter paper and then spread over the media. The Plants are bigger than the ones above and are only 4 months old!!! It will be interesting to see how they handle being taken out of the sterile world they have become accustomed to...
  6. juzzoa

    Trich 'superpedro' seed packs

    I knew a hillbilly named Stokes Who ate nothing but pumpkins and goats His guts were a maze of a sulphury haze This was how Incognito was made I’m so sorry incognito, I seriously couldn’t think of any other way to rhyme these words…
  7. Rebutia 'Sunrise' (heliosa x albiflora) 16 Years ago I purchased this tiny cactus as a present for my parents. It sat on the windowsill for 6 years before dying from neglect. Luckily I was able to pluck a small head just before this happened. It has been growing happily ever since, and has been divided many times. It produces some brilliant flower blooms every year.
  8. juzzoa

    Wollemi pine growing

    I seriously have to get one... Let me know if you still have any seed pods available. I just finished the book 'The Wollemi Pine' by James Woodford. It was a fascinating read... It is an adventure story of how it was discovered along with some amazing biological insights. What blows my mind about this plant is that of the 250 plants in the wild, sexual reproduction thrives and yet genetic diversity is non-existent. In other words, when two genetically identical parents (as is the case with all woolemi pines) sexually reproduce, the offspring will be genetically identical to the parents. This is almost unheard of. In almost all cases, sexual reproduction between a pair of clones or identical twins will produce offspring that will be genetically different from the identical parents. This book made me rethink the idea that survival is based on genetic diversity which is the driving force behind natural selection. This is a quote from the book: "Maybe we need to think about evolutionary potential in different ways', he said in his office, again having a good tug on his beard. He told me about some preliminary data he had obtained showing that other members of the family Araucariaceae had unusually low variability - through all exept Woolemia had some. The monkey puzzle trees appear to be the shipwrecked sailors of the plant kingdom, finding themselves in circumstances of extreme hardship but miraculously immune to the genetic demands placed on the rest of life. Norfolk Island pines have lived for millions of years on a shard of Gondwana in the Pacific Ocean and have proven to be one of the toughest coastal conifers on earth. Other Araucariacea, like those on Fraser Island off the coast of Queensland, have also survived biological isolation that would have destroyed many species. 'Maybe what is happening here', Peakall reflected, 'is that over a long evolutionary history and despite low genetic diversity these plants have developed an all-purpose genotype'. Perhaps, he speculated, relics like this are proof that there are other ways of surviving than by gambling on genetic diversity to ensure that certain individuals within a species do not succumb to an unexpected force that cripples other members. 'Woolemia is likely an exception that disproves a rule', Peakall said. 'The assumption has always been that genetic diversity is good because it is the basis of natural selection. The Woolemi pine mite actually prove that in some systems it is possible to have exceptionally low variability and stay reasonably happy'. Perhaps genetic variability is an asset to some, in particular to life's newcomers and those expanding to new ecological niches. The variability is like a high-risk investment portfolio - it increases the chance of mutations producing an ecological windfall. The downside to that is it also increases the chance of freak wipeout. Perhaps the old-timers - ancient relic tree families, which have experienced just about everything a planet could encounter - are able to take a different approach. To put all their assets into one account but make sure it is a safe investment. This may be why Woolemi pines are thriving and healthy but a mere two score in number. Whatever crash-tackled the tree - one of the most conservative organisms that life has ever thrown up - must have been bordering on apocalyptic. 'So serious', Pekell told me, 'the best genetic constitution hasn't been able to get out of its canyon. But the flipside is, once it settled down there, its all-purpose genome has allowed it to do as well as it can. I think there's a lot of luck in this story. Good luck in that Woolemi pines have had the constitution to hang in there in that canyon and bad luck in that whatever catastrophe drove them down there has left them stuck'. For 100,000 millennia the atom-sizes particles in Woolemi pine's DNA have been slowly learning a little more about surviving. Every particle in that little white glob in the bottom of Peakall's test tubes is like a reference library containing all the knowledge and wisdom the tree has drawn on to survive.
  9. juzzoa

    Ground Orchids

    That corybas barbarae is awesome... Its a shame we don't get that species down here in the southern states. Seeking out orchids is a great way to hone into the microcosms that surround you in a forest. Its really good to have people here that have an appreciation for these plants. Many species are having a hard time in Australia coping with significant environmental changes such as land clearing, grazing, soil disturbances, weed invasions, etc. etc. These plants are an indicator species, usually if you find terrestrial orchids, you know you are in a healthy environment. For a terrestrial orchid to survive, it needs the presence of a symbiotic fungi. These plants exchange photosynthetic plant-derived carbon in return for soil nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, vitamins and amino-acids . Some terrestrial orchids are not very selective in which species of leaf-mold fungus they pair up with, while others are highly selective. There is a species of spider orchid in WA that relies on a fungus that can only survive on the roots of a particular fern species (If theres no fern, theres no fungus, and thus no orchid). Probably the most amazing thing about these little guys is the relationship they have with pollinators. This facinated Charles Darwin so much so that he spent two months in Torquay (South of Geelong on the Great ocean road,VIC) studying the relationships between orchids and their pollinators. For most of the year, the orchid is dormant, and nothing but a small potato like tuber is found underground. The only real interaction they have with the outside world is a flower that they send up once a year if conditions are suitable. Although some terrestrial orchids are mostly anemophilous (pollinated by wind) or have general pollinators such as native bees, the majority have a very specific pollinator. To attract the pollinator, they produce complex sex pheromones that mimic the scent of a female ready to mate. The pheromones as well as the orchids appearance tricks males into mating with the flower. It is a sophisticated form of trickery. This is a form commensalism whereby the orchid species benefits and the insect is unaffected. Its amazing to think of the evolutionary adaptations that have taken place. Only the best smelling and nicest looking flowers have been favoured by pollinators thorough the evolutionary history of the species, resulting in the highly unique form and function we see today. I know there is some people on this site who are actively into mycology and native plant propagation, which is great, because these people will have the skills and equipment necessary to propagate native terrestrial orchids from seed. There are still many orchids that are threatened with extinction that nobody knows how to successfully cultivate. Many species are relatively easy to propagate, as they can be grown asymbioticly (without the presence of the symbiotic fungi). Whats needed is a culture medium (I recommend the W3 medium from Western Orchid Laboratory). Make the medium by simply mixing with water, pouring into jars and sterilising the jars. Mix the seeds with household bleach for 8 minutes, pour the seeds/bleach onto filter paper, wash off bleach with distilled water, scrape off the seeds with a bent piece of wire and spread evenly over the growth medium. Close the jar and wrap parafilm or gladwrap around lid. People with experience in mycology will know how to do this without getting the medium contaminated. Keep jars indoors in a cupboard for ~2months until they have sprouted and are ~2mm in hight. Place them in a position which receives indirect sunlight (Southern window-sill is perfect). After a while it will look like a bed of grass with potentially hundreds of seedlings. When they start getting crammed in the jar, reflask them by picking them out with tweezers into a larger jar with the same growing medium. Eventually they will have developed large tubers and can be moved into formulated potting mix. The harder ones require the growth medium to be inoculated with fungi. This is done on a petri dish by spreading the seeds over the growth medium and putting a piece of fungi on the edge. The fungi will spread as the seeds germinate. This is a lot of work, and beyond the scope of most plant enthusiasts. The good news is that there are many knowledgeable people in groups such as the Australian Native Orchid Society (ANOS) that are more then happy to help. They most likely will already know and have on hand the fungi species and culture medium that is needed. Just remember that other species of fungi often work just as well and often better than the one found with the orchid in the wild. If anyone is interested and wants more info on what to do, let me know and I'll help you out. I just need to point out that taking orchids from the wild is illegal for a reason. It disturbs the soil and potentially destroys the fungal balance underground, and leaves the site vulnerable for weed invasion. Plants from the wild live in conditions different to those in cultivation, and will most likely not survive. Since getting into native terresterial orchids, I've been out and about photographing them in the bush. Below is a compilation of photos I took in 2012 of orchids in Anglesea . From Left to Right, top down 1 - Purple Beard-orchid - Calochilus robertsonii 2 - Small Spider Orchid - Arachnorchis parva 3 - Bristly Helmet Orchid - Corybas hispidus 4 - Large White Spider Orchid - Caladenia venusta 5 - Large Bearded Greenhood - Pterostylis sp. aff. plumosa 6 - Great Sun Orchid - Thelymitra aristata 7 - Gnat orchid - Cyrtostylis reniformis Here is some orchids I have flowering in the greenhouse at the moment
  10. juzzoa

    Orchid growers

    Thelymitra fragrans normally flower between August to October. Finding one in flower at this time of year is incredibly unusual, as they should be in dormancy. It is amazing how much variation there is between individuals of the same species when it comes to most sun orchids. Nice Photos!
  11. juzzoa

    Orchid growers

    Great to see orchid enthusiasts here. Some Great Photos. I couldn't look over this thread without mentioning native terrestrial orchids. Down here in VIC you don't really see epiphytes in the bush, but there are many terrestrial orchids. They are one my favourite plants to grow. Here is some of the shots I've taken of orchids i have growing... Here is a Bunch of thelymitra in jars I have on the windowsill. The large ones have been deflasked and are growing some decent sized tubers... pterostylis tenuicauda pterostylis nutans pterostylis anatona diplodium robustum corybas fimbriatus
  12. juzzoa

    Germinating low viability seeds

    I thought it would be relevant to post my latest experience with germinating 30 acacia maidenii seeds. The seeds were placed in a beaker with boiling water poured on top of them and a sprinkle of native seed starter stirred in. Within a few hours some had swallen. Within 12 hours half had swollen and changed red/brown colour. The swallen seeds were removed and buried 1cm deep into a 50/50 mix of sifted native potting mix and propagation sand. (Batch 1) Most of the remaining seeds had swollen by 72hours. These seeds were placed on the surface of the same potting mix used earlier, except 1 cm of sandy clay was placed on top. (Batch 2) This was the result: Only 3 Seeds germinated from the first batch, but nearly all germinated from the second. I can only speculate as to why the second batch of seeds germinated so well. Maybe good microbial growth occurred with the silty clay placed on top Maybe the native seed starter needed time to soak in. Maybe the viable seeds took more time to swell. Whatever was the reason... next time i germinate acacia seeds I will definitely follow the technique used on the second batch.
  13. juzzoa

    cacti cuts giveaway

    Nice work qualia ...... put me down for the Yowie
  14. juzzoa

    Is my cactus sick?

    It looks like a fungi infection, growing just under the skin. The fact that it is creeping up from soil level would indicate that the plant is not receiving enough drainage (the soil looks like very chunky organic material). If it was me, I'ld give it a transplant into some freshly made cacti mix (potting mix, perlite, sand, coir), and give it a spray with fongarid (systemic fungicide). Unfortunately theres probably not much you can do about the cosmetic damage to the skin that has already occurred. All the best KP
  15. I have been growing lots of lops from seed, and have finally produced a crested specimen. Hooray... I never thought It would ever happen... It is a L. williamsii v. mazapil (cristata), and the seeds are of european origin. It is almost a year old and is really taking the crested shape. I'm wondering if anyone has any information on crested lophs. There seems to be a lot of specimens being sold online from overseas vendors. Just exactly how rare are they? www.cactus-art.biz/ claims that: "The sowing of seeds collected on crested specimens give occasional raise to some crested plants, but with a very low frequency." Does this mean that a self pollinated crested specimen will produce crested offspring at the same "low frequency" as normal loph ? How likely are they to even flower, let alone produce viable seed? Im amazed how little info there is on this fascinating mutant.
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