poisonshroom

Iv heard of people bathing in beer, and it wouldnt surprise me that it could clean hair and skin. i dont love beer enough to give that a try though lol

Do you mean cut the actual vine part that continues to grow past the flower? the flowers have all wilted now and i have (attempted to) pollinate most of the flowers that i could reach, so hopefully most of the lower ones should produce fruit soon.

Iv heard of a few different cacti being used for conditioner. Trichocereus and opuntia (prickly pear) being the main ones. not sure how well they would work though.

Well its growing up an Ironbark with a large sapodilla next to it, so it receives some (dappled) shade maybe for a couple of hours a day, but otherwise it gets quite a bit of sun. Noone goes out of their way to fertilize it at all, and its growing out of a small pot (the roots have well and truly destroyed the pot and run down to the ground). Its right next to the driveway and the soil (lik e the rest of the townsville area - except near the ocean) is basically solid clay most of the time with poor drainage. It is near where the lawn is frequently watered though. i think flowering is triggered by a well watered plant that then receives a shit load of extra water then maybe some sun. i can only comment on a plant this size and age (5-10years) though because none of my other smaller ones have flowered. but it flowers most years around this time, we just never get fruit. i could start feeding it to see if that brings on more flowers, but i doubt it will be effective because of the fact its clay with poor drainage that then also slopes down to the driveway. any excess water quickly turns the driveway into a small river, then the whole yard turns into a swamp.

That is interesting =] Seems like only certain ones are self pollinating, so hopefully mine is. i guess ill know in a week or two. thanks for the link. good read

hahaha yea me too and yea collecting plants in general makes me want my own property to plant them all in the ground (where they belong)

They'll do fine, but will probably grow fairly slow. i have a couple of brigesii indoors at the moment while i sort out a new home for them, and they are still growing fairly fast, but a bit deformed (losing ribs)

I hope so too and mutant dragonfruit is delicious (and expensive!). The only time iv eaten them was in singapore, but you can get them here at certain times. They dont have a lot of flavour, but its a mild kiwi/pear kinda flavour and the seeds make it nice and crunchy. Chilled on a hot day would be heavenly might have to keep an eye out around town for other flowering plants and collect some pollen (only trouble is you often need a tall ladder to get to flowers)

Damn - i hope im lucky too. iv never seen so many flowers on the thing! thanks for clearing that up =]

Good ideas guys =] ill have to pick up a ph test kit, and ill repot it asap. ill also try some dynamic lifter pellets (cant hurt even if thats not the issue). The rain seems to have eased off now, so i think the next few weeks are going to be pretty busy - the whole yard is a swamp at the moment and a lot of my plants are not liking it all that much. surprisingly my cacti seem to be the least affected by the weather, they are all going mad and only 1 (which is indoors) has had an issue with rot. ill also give everything a good feed tomorrow (the ibogas are both under cover now, so nutrient runoff and overwatering shouldnt be much of an issue any more. i just hope i can save my plant.

The ceramic pot has drainage, but it was sitting on the ground (clay), so that may have blocked the holes too much. Im going to repot the healthy one later into the terracotta pot that its sitting in in the picture, so ill probably put the sick one in the pot the healthy one comes out of. The soil is similar for both except the sick one has a fair bit more perlite and gravel in it (my attempt to overcome the decreased drainage from the glazed pot). Id say your right though, because i had an "unnamed bolivian rainforest plant" ;) in it that started off in a fridge crisper with holes drilled in the bottom in a similar pot and its leaves started wilting on one branch, and spread branch bybranch until it just carked it Thanks for the suggestion

Hey sola - i would be interested in some seeds for this plant. sounds like it could be interesting =] just pm with how you want to arrange postage. tomorrow ill have to look a bit further into its uses etc happy new year guys

Thanks for the links =] Iv lined it with thick clear plastic, and in the morning im going to put the shade cloth over the holes and prepare the soil. still not quite sure what will go in there yet. i think maybe the Voacanga, Iboga, a psychotria and maybe a tabernaemontana. They are all pretty small at the moment, but i think when they have lots of room they will grow pretty quick.

Well as the title says, i have a 1/2 / 1/3 wine barrel that im planning on converting into a planter. Im thinking of putting it under a marquee thing i have set up in my yard, so it will get lots of shade, but some afternoon/morning sun. The barrel is about 35cm deep and 70cm across. My question is what should i put in it and how many things will fit? Im thinking of putting some of my iboga related plants in. I was thinking a voacanga africana in the middle (because it will eventually be the tallest), and maybe a tabernanthe iboga and tabernaemontana(s) closer to the edges. Will this all fit? Other things i was thinking of were psychtria spp - i have a couple of big p. Viridis, a few seedling p. Viridis and nexus and a p. Carth seedling on its way. Any suggestions or ideas? Im planning this to be sort of longish term (its going to be super heavy with all that dirt in there) and sort of a display. Thanks

I think my mother wanted to make a water feature out of it originally but one of the bands fell off and the plank warped. I dont know how long it will last as it is - looks like its starting to rot a little on the inside anyway. i think ill try and line the edges with black plastic and the bottom with shade cloth (the holes i drilled are about 35mm across). Thanks for the light soil suggestion. i was planning on using lots of perlite for that reason. i have plenty of verm as well (i accidentally bought a big bag of that instead of perlite lol). the good drainage from lots of perlite will also help slow rotting down i think. thanks guys =] keep 'em coming EDIT: ph you posted as i was typing lol. so far i have plenty of big holes drilled, and i might go out the back later and dig up a heap of courseish sand that we have out there to add. but i do plan on making it nice and light. Im planning on using this biochar stuff i have (its like a soil conditioner) when i mix the soil up to get it in good condition to start with, and i usually use seasol and power feed, so i could probably just mix them and apply every two weeks as opposed to alternating weekly to help prevent salt buildup. maybe granular slow release fert instead?

Either way, its a really generous offer, and grafting isnt too difficult with a steady hand and a bit of practice (having said that im not the best at it - i get the shakes when doing anything that requires fine motor co-ordination. My experience is only with seedlings and selenecereus as stock tho) Thank you once again man

Yay XD i always miss these giveaways Sometime soon ill have my own gift giving thread (once my collection grows a bit and start reproducing) And meeka if you check back on this id reccomend it - its a very generous offer here rooting cacti cuttings is simple and the best way to learn is to do it! You really would have trouble going wrong

Hey hope i didnt miss out!! Sorry if i posted like 5 times - iphones suck

Hey hope i didnt miss out!!

Thanks for the suggestions guys i like the idea of putting some coleus in there for colour. I have a beauty thats just starting to grow from a cutting i got along with some other 'coleus' that would look pretty striking (psychedelic indian rug patterned leaves). I think by the time the voacanga is big enough to block too much light the marquee will be had it - its one of those cheapies you get from sams warehouse or somewhere. The black plastic lining is a good idea too, coz the only reason my dearest mother is letting me steal it is that one of the planks has warped right out of place and the surrounding ones have pushed round to fill most of its place. Also the ropes underneath are a good suggestion too (i was trying to think how ill be able to move it if i need- and im kinda "lean" lol). Any other suggestions or advice? I think its going to look great once its all sorted. A bit of work to do first though. Like drilling holes in the bottom and cutting the warped plank out

Thats interesting tst - iv heard of iboga alks being used as an analgesic along with a missive list of other potential uses. I think the whole group is interesting mainly because of the diversity of effects produced by similar chemicals. Which tabernaemontana sp are you referring to btw?

Hows it going tripsis? Im in if you still have some left =]

Have to agree there - also excellent germination rates

Sounds like Tabernanthe Iboga to me

Hey all - i havnt gone ethno shopping in a while (mainly because im out of work at the moment), so i decided to put up a new trade list I have: Selinicereus Spp. cuttings (fair bit available, great for grafting and very easy to strike - i put a piece about 2cm long in one of the pots and its sending off pups) Hylocereus spp (dragonfruit) cuttings (shitloads) 3x Tabernaemontana Pandacaqui seedlings (about 5cm tall) 4x Delosperma Tradescentioids (sp??) rooted cuttings or i can get more unrooted cuttings (very easy to strike) 3x Psychotria viridis advanced leaf cuttings (still small, so i would consider shipping in a small pot) Sceletium tortuosum cuttings (quite a bit of this) Trichocereus Bridgesii cuttings (only a couple, from about 15-30cm long) Justicia pectoralis v. stenophylla (a couple of these) White or peach brugmansia cuttings (big and small cuttings, the white is B. Aurea, bot sure about the peach yet as it hasnt flowered) Vanilla Orchid cuttings (lots of it and easy to strike) Heimia Salicifolia plants (a couple of small ones) I also have a couple of other cacti i can take cuttings from if anyone is interested and a variety of seeds (datura, chilli varieties etc), and i can take pics of anything people want to get a look at before trading. I dont have anything particular in mind. Another iboga would be nice or some voacanga (other than africana). Im pretty much interested in anything different or unusual or of ethnobotanical significance (vascular plants and cacti and seeds) though, so just make an offer and ill consider =] thank you