teonanacatl
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Posts posted by teonanacatl
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Anyone tried keeping cacti flowers in a vase or the like? If cut as a bud do they still open? I think the large flowering columnar types would be amazing even if only for the one night
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Great idea to pin it!
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I know the link has been posted in a few threads but I think it deserves its own!
Its a great article, the author has done a lot of thinking and whilst he struggles to be concise (I think its translated so thats probably why) the advice and views in it are a must read. The authors view point is very level headed, he makes suggestions (very valid ones) but recognises at the end of the day different people want different things from their cacti and no soil mix is perfect. I do like how he suggests one go about working on their soil mix though. One could consider his article as guidelines and philosophies for determining the right cactus soil mix for you.
He suggests that a 100% mineral soil mix (no organics) should be the starting point for any cacti, adjusted by adding organic material to increase growth, or limestone to decrease growth as desired by you. The 100% mineral soil is a freely-draining, low-rot, low-moderate growth but healthy growth soil. It is also a long term medium and fertile medium. He touches briefly upon mycorrhizal associations and soil microbes ability to "mine" the nutrients from the rock for the cacti but there are much better sources for information on this.
He gives great advice on a variety of components of a medium and suggests where one could get it from for cheap.
I strongly agree with a lot of his statements on the treatment of cacti and their resistance to disease and pests. Basically he makes a case that cacti are adapted to low water, low-moderate available nutrients and high sun conditions, some are furthermore adapted to higher pH conditions. Adaptation to these conditions allow these plants to survive when other perish. In cultivation there is a trend to push the plants growth and whilst the plants respond with lots of flowers and large size they are not necessarily healthy (think obese people) and suffer from pest and disease problems.
Lastly the pictures of the natural habitats where some of these cacti grow are amazing. Likewise the "scenes" he does in his pots are cute and look great. Hope those of you who havent read it enjoy it!
http://xerophilia.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/The-Stone-Eaters.pdf
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Hmm I miss my cactus collection, but orchids are much more manageable in my climate! Maybe Ill start collecting some!
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Id make drinking alcohol and sell to mates then use that cash to buy fuel, more economical- just my thoughts though, do what you want to do
Making biodiesel from scrap oil or diesel from pyrolysis of plastic is likewise worthwhile- they are waste streams which you can convert to a useful product.
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Cheers mate seeds would also be fantastic. I use to get mine from the centenary lakes area in Cairns but they killed them all.........
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Looking for lotus (Nelumbo) plants. Prefer tropical native species/cultivars. PM me if you can help and we can organise a trade.
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Hmm i found the problem, Im on a mac running safari and I only get "anytime" and "all results" options under search tools.
Running firefox I get the usual options!
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Google has changed again, the option use to be under search tools. Now where is it?
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So I pump from a soak in the ground (sandy area with hole dug below water table, though still above salt water table) to a header tank on a hill near my place and then use gravity to feed my house.
DYHIW you spend 3 days with vomiting and diarrhoea only to find a big, dead, well decomposed rat in your header tank (could smell it in the water after 3 days) which is now empty however the soak you pump the water from is nearly dry so you cant afford to flush the tank..... Come on Rain!!!
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Great points paradox! Mollison wanted people to think, yet they follow blindly.....
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Exactly but banana circles, mandala gardens and herb spirals kinda become permaculture pin ups and people make them without thinking. I guess as always there are people in this world that can think for themselves and those who cannot.
I totally agree Paradox!
Its just always driven me mental that they claimed that you could fit more plants in by planting in curves etc, I finally had some spare time to model it.
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The box is a Red Coolabah burl that I bought online, Ive still got more which Im excited about
Thanks! -
Thanks Alice!
It took a lot of planning, basically after laying it out on the piece of jade I used a drill press to drill the holes you see, that set up the symmetry and geometry. The rest was freehand.
You can see the progress shots here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.559006450840517.1073741839.506811786059984&type=3
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I dont consider these depraved but others might:
- Was out hunting pigs and the dogs found one, I shot it once but it didnt die and had run out of bullets and had no knife so I tackled it tried to break its neck and choke it, eventually I found a big log and managed to knock it out. As I was carrying it home it kept waking up so I had to keep knocking it out.
- The easiest way to kill birds is to rip their heads clean off, I do this regularly for food.
- The easiest way to kill an injured kangaroo if you dont have a gun or knife or anything else is to stomp its head- have had to do this more times then you'd imagine.
- Ive tried to kill a large boar with a machete, I was hungry and didnt have a gun with me. The pig smashed and charged me multiple times, I was lucky not to get ripped, the pig got away after I chased it for several km- not sure it would have survived its injuries though.
- Ive had 2 occasions where Ive shot large boars in the brain with my .22, then bled them out and gone home for the wheel barrow to carry them home only to come back and find zombie pigs. In one case I had a knife so I just bled it again. The other case I had no knife so I beat it unconscious with a rock and then stuck a stick down the aorta to remove the clot that had formed.
- The best tasting pigs I get are pregnant sows, loads of hard fat and sooo tasty! Anyway being pregnant they are full of foetuses. Ive always wanted to take them home and cook them but thus far none of my hunting partners/ witnesses has allowed this.
People will probably be thinking "thats not ethical", my opinion is that its hunting, its not ethical. You are taking a life and thats not ethical though you should do it in a humane fashion. Life is not perfect and for the 100's of animals Ive killed for food very few go wrong, what Ive listed is the worst. I believe one has a responsibility to kill an animal as humanely as possible, and sometimes depending on the circumstances thats not very humanely, thats life.
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Ok so his design wasnt very efficient. The middle one beats my initial straight lines but has less of the apparently important "edge" at only 56m. The one on the right approx even with 4 straight lines. The one on the left is the best so far and is repeatable too! It has an efficiency of 0.12 which is nearly double his designs.
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This is a very nice design, they used varied paths etc so its not really fair to compare at the moment. Ill try and adapt it to my model and see if I cant get better then straight lines!
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Ive got a new bone to pick with Mollison over his mandala garden beds and his non-linear plantings. In the book, and many other permaculture resources, it is claimed that planting in rows is inefficient and that curves, zigzags and mandala/keyhole style garden bed make best use of the space.
Here is a google sketchup I made of various styles of bed. In all cases the straight lines fit more plants in when the spacing of paths etc is the same or less.
Each is designed as a repeating unit for a 10mx10m area.
The far left mandala style bed is how Mollison describes to make it in his book, with .5m wide paths. I counted all space outside the circular beds as wasted even though yes one could plant companion plants there, technically is not garden space (make sense?). The second I optimised for space making garden beds no deeper then 1.5m from a path (ie how far I can reach without walking all over the bed). The third is straight lines optimised for to repeat in 10m with .5m paths and 2m wide garden beds. One could get even more from the space making the beds 3m wide ie 1.5m from each path but I wanted it repeatable.
Here is the math:
Garden bed comparisons Garden area (m2) Walkway area (m2) Extra area (m2)
Straight 2m beds .5m row 80 20
Straight .5 and 3m rows 90 15
Mandala 1m wide gardens 36.84 13.02 50.14
Mandala 1.5m wide garden 59.8 13.2 27.18
The two plots on the right are a crooked planting vs a straight planting. They are 100x100m (scaled to 1:10) and trees are planted at 2m spacings along the rows which are 7.1m apart. They are both designed to be within a fence with space to the fence. The total length of the planting and the # of trees are provided below. Each zig-zag row is 127.3m long where as each straight row is 90m long, however there is an extra four straight rows!
The math:
Layout Length (m) # of trees
Zig-Zag 1145.7 572.85
Straight 1170 585
I tried other patterns and none would touch the straight unless you started removing access points, ie make it like a maze or a spiral.
I think the problem is people make a grid (lets say 1x1m grid in a 10x10m area) and go zig-zag but dont realise the distance between rows is at its min .71m and max 1m, so its unfair to compare with a 10x10m area with 1x1m straight rows. I hope that makes sense.
It is also claimed that curves, zigzags etc increase edges, this is obviously not true in the field or garden examples as seen above. In the case of the garden beds the mandala garden has only 76m of edge vs the 96m of edge in the straight field.
The zig-zag planting and mandala gardens do offer more aspects and therefore likely more microclimates, great for poly culture but there is no reason why this could not be done with the straight plantings- I think more of a test of the designers skill and plant selection then whether its curvy or straight.
The correct answer should be that choice of cruvy, zigzag or straight plantings depends entirely on the property under design.
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As some of you would know Im a carver, I carve mostly Jade now. Ive posted pics of my work in the creativity forum. The last piece I made was for a worldwide Jade symposium, the idea to raise the profile of jade carving and jade carvers across the world. Some of the worlds greatest gem and jade carvers have participated and there are some truly amazing pieces. If you feel inclined check out the pieces go here and vote on your favourite- you have one vote for each section.
http://www.jadesymposium.org/vote/
Peace!
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Just finished this piece after months of work. Im really happy with how it turned out.
Its my entry in the World Jade Symposium (www.jadesymposium.com)
You can see the progress shots here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.559006450840517.1073741839.506811786059984&type=3
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Took a photographer hunting pigs with me and he got this snapshot as I was giving him an anatomy lesson.
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Yeah not the same as the lab ;)
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CANNABIS should be sold in supermarkets and hard drugs be available from the Government for heroin, cocaine and ice addicts under a federal MP’s radical drug reform plan.
Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm wants to kill the power of organised crime in Australia by decriminalising drugs, opening up the market and bringing down prices.
Senator Leyonhjelm said while it might not be smart to use marijuana, it was a harmless, non-addictive drug and should be openly available. His party’s philosophy is that if a person is not hurting anyone else, the Government should stay out of their business.
Like in the fruit-and-vegetable industry, farmers should grow cannabis for sale in supermarkets and other shops, he said. And anyone should be able to grow it in their garden.
Senator Leyonhjelm believes the same open slather availability could be possible for party drugs, such as ecstasy, as long as it can be proven the only real risk is to the person taking it.
“I’m not saying they’re safe, I don’t recommend them, advise them, endorse them, no,” he said. “All I’m really saying is it’s an individual, adult choice.”
For hardcore, addictive drugs, the NSW politician suggests the Government stop wasting millions on chasing crime gangs peddling drugs and peddle them itself.
Under a “harm minimisation” model, registered addicts would get replacement drugs, such as methadone or “other options”, erasing the need to pay up big to criminals.
In the days of legal opium smoking, people lived their whole lives addicted to heroin, he said. “Because supply was never restricted, they lived a normal life and they functioned quite well.”
He said while being an addict was “not ideal”, it wasn’t destructive until you added in the desperate behaviour of scoring a fix.
Positive step forward I think. I dont think 1900 opium addicts lived totally normal lives and functioned fine, but hey if its available and help is available then its better then what we have now.
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Little off topic
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Cacti for cut flowers?
in Cacti & Succulents
Posted
I love pressing flowers incog, botanical specimens make great works of art!
This is actually a serious question, so Ill rephrase it.
Have you cut a cactus flower (Trich, Echinopsis, any of the dragon fruits or other larger columner types) and placed it in water as a "cut flower"? If so did it still open.
There are a lot of flowers that dont last long, Nelumbo nucifera for example, that will still open when cut as a bud and placed in water. The cut flower industry is a big industry with many many flowers but yet no cacti flowers. So if you have a large cacti about to flower and dont want fruits or cannot cross pollinate it to get fruits could I perhaps trouble you to cut it off as a bud the day before it opened and tell me what happens. Its a curiosity of mine.
Id do it myself if I had any flowering......