Inyan
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Posts posted by Inyan
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Today... I removed the parafilm wax from a few of my grafts.
Smallish specimen here is a Lophophora w. x L. fricii. Anyone else growing these?-
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12 hours ago, Crop said:I don't see how the pods are any better than a card board coffin. The mushroom suit is a good idea, but instead of looking at our carcass as a waste that needs to be decomposed, couldn't we look at it as a resource? Maybe some sort of fertiliser along the lines of Charlie Carp.
I'm confused. I look at things that need to be decomposed as a resource and a fertilizer or growth medium. Its what inspired me to want to be buried in something like a mycelium suit or a pod. I look at embalming fluid as a poison and most cemeteries as a place to dispose of a carcinogenic chemicals in otherwise perfectly nutritious mediums (our bodies).
If you embalm yourself, you are essentially poisoning all of those nutrients that should be freely available for other life forms.
A cemetery that utilized the bodies in a more eco-friendly way could still provide a place to come and remember ones loved ones. In my mind, it would be much more healing to visit an old old tree and a Trichocereus under that Oak that I new was being fertilized by the remains of a loved one. Whatever garden or entheogenic plants that were planted in such a sacred forest... I for one would rather visit that place as I would feel more of a connection with the Earth as well as those that have gone before me.
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12 minutes ago, Glaukus said:I guess that would be one way to get the kids to visit your grave!
Personally I still feel burial is a waste of real estate, I want my ashes sprinkled in the ocean.
While I understand and appreciate your sentiment as I feel largely the same way. Especially given how many cemeteries are devoid of life save the grass that is growing over the coffin and the occasional flower that is dropped off that will soon dry up and perish.
However, I do feel that a grave does provide a place for family and friends to come together to mourn the loss of a loved one and even celebrate the good times that were had as well. Graveyards can provide this sacred space for healing. And if that is true, wouldn't it be nice if we were to create grave yards full of life and mystery by making graveyards gardens and forests?
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This to me... is right on track with what I think and feel about how a grave should look. Not that one should have to have the same plants as seen here, but it is as it should be. Full of life
Now, with that being said, if your out in the desert you might instead have a field of cacti growing over ones grave... but the idea is the same.
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And I'm thinking now... you might want to go into the fetal position with something like this....http://coeio.com/infinity-burial-suit-2/
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I want to have a C. sativa planted above my head. I can think of no better sacred park than one created in this manner with sacred plants. And what better way to give back to the environment than to remove a coffin and replace it with a nice eco friendly living organism?
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10 hours ago, Xperiment said:To the excellent advice already offered above, I would also recommend growing from seed. You can get a lot of plants relatively cheaply, with a little patience. Seedlings are fairly resilient and you can learn as you go. And as an added bonus you might turn up a crested, monstrous or variegated phenotype.
Growing from seed is indeed the easiest way to grow an army of variegates, crested, etc. I'm a big proponent of growing from seed as you get to see the various phenotypes available in a single batch and more importantly... the best ones haven't been picked out for some other persons private collection.
When you grow from seed you have the opportunity to get some of the finest cacti you can possibly hope to encounter and at a bargain price. On the plus side, growing from seed also affords you the opportunity to learn to graft to expedite some of your seedlings growth. With that being said, you may want to purchase more seed than you plan on growing out if you will account for a few failed graft attempts along the way.
One of my latest seedlings...
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@Humbolt thanks for your concern. I did learn a good bit already from my hurricane grafts though.
Grafting with extremely well watered Pereskiopsis, as happens with Hurricane soaked stock requires you to dry off the Pereskiopsis with a cloth right after you cut it. You have to be expedient in placing your cut scion onto the graft as well as sealing it tight with Parafilm. Otherwise, the grafted seedling will float off right at the start.
Some of my stock I put under car port which effectively blocked some of the wind. In addition, those under the carport had even more light blocked than those exposed to the clouds and thus my grafted plants and stock have grown quite light green in a very short period of time anywhere there is new growth.
Suffice it to say, all of my grafts have weathered the Hurricane very nicely so far with no graft failures. A win for Parafilm grafting! That said, I did have one grafted Pereskiopsis that was a few feet tall fall over in the wind and even that newly grafted specimen has stayed perfectly in tact. So, far it has been a rewarding experience watching the scions hang on for life with the help of the parafilm... it is no contest.
Hurricane Florence Zero... Grafts 100% okay! I'll try to get some pictures uploaded later.
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Grafts of the day in a hurricane...
Like most days, I'm grafting today, but today is special as I'm leaving these grafts outside to greet Hurricane Florence. Lets hope we all survive and yes... lets hope these grafts survive the hurricane as well. These seedling grafts will be left out without any protection to be pounded on, rained on, and generally abused by Florence. Hopefully, I will be back with an update for you guys and gals.
I'm fairly confident that if we make it out alive, so too will these grafts. With that being said... let the Hurricane begin.
Size of seedlings being used today
And this is how we do it.
. Stay tuned for updates on grafts able to withstand a hurricane or not?-
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Fail to trim and you scion will fail to grow. Case in point
So, you can guess that in addition to rectifying this travesty by trimming my stock plants today I also made a handful of grafts as is the case most days. While I was at it though, I also took a Pereskiopsis from full sun to partial shade to demonstrate dark green growth on bottom half indicative of full sun exposure and light green growth on top showing shade growth
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Graft made today
Caterpillar buffet again.... looking like caterpillars are eating my babies every day now for a few days...
Another hybrid....
and this little one... not grafted
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And today... two new
mutants discovered while preparing to graft
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7 hours ago, Humbolt said:Bark has no value to me for a potting mix as it actually pulls nutrients out of the soil. As a top dressing bark is fine. The more bark you have in your soil the more you will want to fertilize.
7 hours ago, Gimli said:My big ground patch that I've been meaning to do is bulk soil coming from a company local to me, mix of composts, coarse river sand, manure with added minerals and trace elements. I have also found that of all the pre-made soils you can buy in bags, Baileys Premium (red bags) is the best if you're lazy (and growing in pots)
As far as ferts go, I feed whatever I have. Blood and Bone, compost tea, even hydro nutes (like GTs Complete Focus or anything Canna (tis good shit)
Like Gimli, I often use pre-made soils.
Like Gimli, I like to add bone and blood meal to my cacti soils. With an emphasis on the bone meal rather than the blood meal if I'm going to skimp on one. I've used cow manure, bat guano, and even buckets full of chicken manure scooped out of my own chicken coops for my cacti. Most people tend to underfeed rather than overfeed their Trichocereus. The same thing goes for watering in the warmer months. Keep your Trichocereus in full sun and in warm soil and your going to experience some phenomenal nice thick growth.
Especially when I don't have the time to make up my own soils. I've used Miracle Grow soils for Trichocereus, bags of black cow (composted cow manure), etc. Just about any moderate to high quality garden soil for potted plants will work great for most Trichocereus. Now, with that being said, If you've ever grown Tomatoes or Brugmansia... feed and water your Trichocereus like you would a Brugmansia or a Tomato plant during the hot summer months and you will be very happy with your results. If your unsure of how much to add or whether your doing more harm than good, plant a Brugmansia with your Trichocereus and as long as your Brugmansia is lush and green you can be sure your Trichocereus is going to flourish. The best part about that... your Brugmansia can be made to go dormant just like your Trichocereus when winter comes if that is your practice. With that being said... fish emulsion and blood meal, both of which I frequently use mixed in with inorganic fertilizers... are major animal attractors. So, use with caution depending on where you live.
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7 hours ago, Average Joe said:I like to give them a nice rich soil. I would assume this delays flowering in some cases but promotes a more rapid/consistent growth??? would love to hear if anyone has a similar philosophy
I've always kept my Trichocereus in very rich soil, watered them heavily, and fertilized heavily as well. An example of the fertilizer I use for my cacti... rich in organic and inorganic fertilizers
. For nice thick growth on your prized Trichocereus specimens you will want a rich soil and a healthy dose of fertilizer. If the soil can drain or dry out within a few days at most that will help your roots to develop and grow as well. Trichocereus grown in a bog system tend to have underdeveloped roots as compared to those that aren't. -
On 8/25/2018 at 1:21 PM, MeanGreen said:Nice fruit man, I'd say about a month - month & a half between flower and fruit usually.
Got this double fruiting today on my semi cristate:
Looks like you are going to have some potentially very nice babies to graft and soon... what I wouldn't do to be a fly in your green house Mean Green.
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On 8/27/2018 at 3:45 AM, Average Joe said:One of my friends needed to be repotted. She had definitely outgrown the pot, roots spreading through the bottom and all. Nothing a few taps with the hammer couldn't solve.
Nice rich soil you have there Average Joe. I see you believe in rich soil for your Trichocereus as do I.
As for me, I grafted a bunch of hybrid babies
today after I found a caterpillar eating some of my newly grafted seedlings. Check out the hole on the side of this cacti...
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More grafts done today... now, I won't bore you with the usual step by step pictures. Instead... I'll hit you up with a few pictures of how I roll on the other minutia of grafting... those steps many don't talk about.
Without further ado.
First, its nice to have a tray of stock ready.
Now, I fertilize my stock regularly, but when transposing
I prefer to soak them in a little something stronger. Sometimes I'll soak my seed in fertilizer to clean some of the dirt from them as well. 
. I've also been known to simply use water 
for that my seedling soaks. Whichever you choose... I try to do at least two baths with the last being water or if I'm concerned I might add in a bit of h202. Next, I often lay out a few stock plants and wrap them with a little parafilm
. This keeps fuzz and what not from getting into my grafts later and also helps the next top l layer of parafilm stick a bit better. Note, in the previous picture, some have also been grafted already. Another perk of parafilm... you can lay your grafted work on its side or upside down after you are done. Bump into your grafts... no worries.Before long, you should have a nice stack of grafted babies ready to go.
Just be sure to have some light or your babies might look like this mess when your done. Suffice it to say, I was grafting in the dark again! Not a smart move, but I can't stand not to graft each and every seedling I have plucked for the days grafts.
. Lastly, you will want to feed those fresh grafts as this will help settle in the soil you worked around your stock to keep them snug. I make this a wee bit stronger using both chemical fertilizers such as miracle grow, fish emulsion, etc. You may wish to skip the organic fertilizers if you can't keep your trays away from the wild life though as organic fertilizers have been known to attract foxes, dogs, etc.
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Soaking dirty little girls
and boys 
today before the grafts were to begin when I noticed this alien munching on the thigh of one of my little ones. All that trouble to keep them clean so they can be grafted and this darn little one 
is eating them up just as fast as I can graft them. Apparently he doesn't like the stock as he just goes after the scions. -
Another day another hopeful
light yellow hybrid gets grafted.
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Asking if the plant Earth is giving you enough unconditional love is failing to realize that in order to experience unconditional love one from another one must first have unconditional love for oneself.
No, I don’t believe there is any inherent need for murder, rape, cancer, man made global warming, etc. That kind of thinking is indicative of thinking entrenched in dogma at best and at worst is indicative of one that is incapable of genuine empathy and shows a genuine lack of conscience.
Good and bad can indeed be subjective, in that good and bad is often colored by ones dogma and or personal beliefs. However, be that as it may, most of us instinctively have empathy for another human being when it comes to their suffering. This is what makes us humans and not psychopaths. I will explain a bit further. If I were to take 10 people in this forum at random and show them a young dead man that had been mutilated for no apparent reason I’d be willing to bet 9 out of 10 of the people here would have sympathy in that they would feel compassion for that individual that might even be so strong as to cause a violent retching or vomiting from the pits of their stomach. We inherently feel and know that mutilating another for no reason is wrong. To feel differently is something that must be taught or one must be born with the inability to feel empathy or sympathy.
So, to wrap it up without explaining things too much more and in too much unneeded depth… if one has knowledge of an act that causes pain or suffering or that will cause pain and suffering it is natural to want to help to alleviate that pain and suffering. It is inherent in us as human beings to want to alleviate pain and suffering as we have empathy and sympathy for others that we see as the same as us.
So, failure to do anything about a murder, rape, or any other such atrocity speaks volumes about the person who fails to act so long as they have adequate knowledge about the fact.
The art of detachment.... that is something many are good at however. Some out of necessity, as for example those who work with the dead must stay detached from their work lest they have horrific dreams at night. As I can attest as I've worked with both the dead and those who work with the dead.
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Some more hybrids.... yeah, I love em purple
or red
. Provides some detail if you notice the cut going down the side on this own... that shows you the line I sometimes make to remove the parafilm
. You can see however, it is definitely not necessary to remove the parafilm so early
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Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora fricii
in Cacti & Succulents
Posted · Edited by Inyan
I intend this to be a day by day account over the next 30 days or so and then space it out a bit more as time progresses. Sadly, the stock these two are on are devoid of most of their leaves so you won't see as great an explosion of growth as I would like.
If anyone else has the same hybrid... please feel free to interject your pictures here as well.
Two different Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora fricii with the hopes of eventually being able to get some f2 specimens going this coming April-May time frame. Keep your fingers crossed for me.