philistine

This may be quite irrelevant, but I have taken cuttings from the Nerada and the Nucifora tea plantations in FNQ on several occasions and they have NEVER taken!!!!!!!!!!!! (some kind of Karma perhaps? but COME ON! a couple of twigs taken from a 10+ acre plantation? I hardly call that stealing....) The closest I ever got was one single cutting from a batch of about 20 or so that stayed green and kept it's leaves for about 3 months...... then it died.... I guess the point of my story is, get seeds or already rooted plants!!!! Anyway, good luck...

Working for Jims Mowing, Ive recently heard about the latest installment in the JIM'S epic saga of home service franchises, check it out ya'll.... http://www.jimspermaculture.com.au/ Could be interesting.....?

Ive tried the double graft thing, but the root-halves always die on me.... I know some people have luck with it, but Ive given up on it all together... I got sick of seeing the shriveled up deadness But yeah see how ya go, I'll try to get some pics up of a large batch of seedling/opuntia grafts Ive done recently... once they show some signs of growth.

Thats a shame to hear about your lack of success with the opuntia/seedling grafts... as you can see in the photo in Teo's grafting book, I've been having success with grafting T.bridgesii seedlings to O.compressa but it does seem to be more difficult than the Pereskiopsis grafts... Ive found that misting them lightly seems to help as the Opuntia dries out and shrinks much more than pereskiposis.... I think the other main thing to consider is that the vascular tissue you are trying to align is in a straight line as opposed to a small ring like in the pereskiopsis and I have been testing a theory that if you align the cotyledons on the seedling with the line in the opuntia it's more likely to take (its still early days yet so I have no proof of this) My reason for trying this was that after cutting a few seedlings (they were astropytums) I noticed that instead of having a tiny vascular ring, they seemed to all have two little points, eg. this ( : ) instead of this ( o ). The two points were in line with the cotyledons - so Im guessing that unlike a ring, which will intersect no matter where you place it (providing it is actually ON the vascular tissue of your root stock) you need to make sure that the line of the vascular "points" of the seedling a running in the same direction as the vascular "line" on the Opuntia. Does this make any sense? If not, let me know and I'll do a diagram.... But yeah, like I said before, this is just a new found theory which I have yet to prove either way...

the leaf looks like piper betel.... from what I can gather.... But aren't ya supposed to take the nut out of the husk first?

I reckon your little desert friend from bunnings is a T. bridgesii, or aka E. lagenformis (spelling?) I just got one myself actually, $3 with the infamous "spike" label, but this one actually had a small paper sticky label added on saying T.bridgesii. And after growing 500 of the little bastards from seed this year, I reckon they're right.... I also scored some kind of crestform cactus (no idea what it is) for $4 with the same desert friends label you had on yours... Love the "cactus juice" bottle

there's a mob called "garden City Plastics" that do mail orders.... http://www.gardencityplastics.com only in bulk quantities though.... not sure what your budget is, but for the square agro-forestry tubes (which are perfect for peres. cuttings being used for grafting) it works out to about 15c each including postage.

Yeah, I had no luck with grafting seedlings to hylocereus, although I was just mucking around blunt blades, putting them outside.... Im sure with practice you could make it work.. check out this link, http://rschoi.com.ne.kr/cultivation.htm It's thai I think, so I have no idea what it says but the pics say it all really. I have had success grafting a loph button onto hylocereus, but I kinda.... killed it by accident.... knocked it off with my sleeve one day and then stood on it... :BANGHEAD2: :BANGHEAD2: :BANGHEAD2: :BANGHEAD2: I reckon go for it, I can get you a truck load of the stuff if your interested..... what you got? - Phil

Microwaves? Blue coloured? Chemical extraction? words with more than 3 syllables? For best results, crawl around on all fours, like an animal and eat them straight off the the ground... not strong enough? then eat more! Shrooms are natures gifts - free, natural and special! just eat them! Sorry guys.... carry on

Nah, similar in appearance, but Totem pole is right, - I think - formerly Lophocereus schottii var. montstrose, now Pachycereus schottii var.monstrose (thanks teo) Speaking of which... (sorry to hijack this thread with a question that most people won't see... hmm maybe I should start another post.... maybe some other time... oh yeah, back to the action:) Does anyone out there have a cutting or some seed of the above mentioned species? I have some seed from a non-monstrose schottii, but it's the mutation that Im really after... Willing to trade or even buy... PM me if anyone has any info on the whereabouts of such a thing.

I wish I had some pics to back this up, but Ive seen mushrooms that size up around Grafton, nth NSW. Theres a road called "waterfall Way" (I think.... this is stretching the memory banks here...) but along the road is a small rest stop/camping area at the top of some waterfalls (can't remember what they're called either) and there are mushrooms that size growing around the carpark. Not sure what you call them, Ive always known them as Slippery Jacks, brown on top and slimy, with yellow sponge instead of gills. My mum and I used to pick the smaller versions down south in Victoria in pine forests and make traditional polish style mushroom dumplings.... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........ dumplings.... you coould probably have called them pirogi, we'd dry the mushrooms for storage, then when it came time to cook, soak them in hot water, dice them real fine and fry them with finely diced onion and butter. Then you make little pastry circles with a cup or a glass to use as a cutter and fold a little spoonful of the mushroom mix and seal the edges. These were then baked and served with piping hot Borscht..... (which is a soup made from fermented beetroot) SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOD...... Sorry, that went completley off topic there.....

Yes, I must extreemely second that caution on the lime paste!!!! I had my first experience with the paste and used a little too much.... it BURNED THE SHIT out of my mouth, toungue and gums!!!!! The pain lasted all day (i had a chew in the morning) Then to top it off, that night my host at the time cooked an incredibly spicy sezchuan pepper stir fry and HOLY MOTHER OF F**KING SANTA CLAUSE, THE EASTER BUNNY AND VARIOUS OTHER COMMERCIALLY CONVOLUTED CELEBRATORY FIGURE HEADS did it HURT!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah... so anyway, I also discovered that just grating a FRESH betel nut on the real small bit (the one you powderize parmesan with) and mixing it with a little all-spice and some palm sugar was also quite effective as well as being rather pleasant. One heaped teaspoon of the powder (you'll get a shitload from one nut) put under the tongue and just sucked on and chewed occasionally is stimulating enough (for me anyway) also takes effect almost instantly.... no need for lime - although im sure it would increase the effect somewhat....

I just read the stapelia cuttings question and was going to just chuck in this question on the bottom, but I thought it might be better to just start a new topic. Anyone got experience sprouting stapelia seeds? Would the normal cacti seed tek suffice? ie. don't bury seed, use sand, high humidity etc... I have a bunch of seeds and tried a small batch in the traditional sowing manner, sandy seed raising mix, just under the surface, kept moist etc etc. but nothing seems to be happening and it's been almost a month....

Nah, I reckon the meristem (or area of the plant with actively dividing cells ie. the very center of the tip) got wounded and then the areole closest to it, most likely the freshest one right in the center thats just freed itself from the creation vortex , has started producing a pup as a hormonal response to the damage. Bestowed with the power of "apical dominance", but being situated just slightly off center, the new pup would have caused a slight disruption in the noramallly parallel order of the surround ribs - you see it when ribbed cacti lose or gain a new rib - but gradualy formed itself back in the middle, pushing the disruption out and growing above it normally. so yeah.......... like stuff n' that - Phil

you mean the traditional way? How long do they (usually) take? Do you soak them beforehand or anything?

Sorry, i know this post is s bit old now, but I though I'd chuck in another $20 dollars worth, though I'll just chuck it on to your Tab. As far as I know, the husk is quite important for germination, it seems to provide a nice little moist jacket for the nut and a good medium for the emerging roots until they break out into soil. Having said this, I have no idea if they'll germinate without the husk, they might just grow fine...? All the nuts I grew and sent out where picked up off the ground, not buried and seemed to be thriving just by sitting on top of a layer of leaf mulch... but that place was magic for plants, don't know how to explain it.... right in the rainforest everything there would just GROW... never had any problems with parasites or insects... it was like the ecosystem was already so developed, there was no room for anything to become unbalanced, pests just get eaten by predators and fungi and bacteria seemed to just be beneficial and natural.... Sorry, went off tangient there.... The little white bits popping out of the round end of the nut are the beginning of germination, most likely the first leaf, I think the roots follow soon after. Shade is definately good, although nuts I saw sprouting in another location in full sun looked much... fatter.... shorther distances between leaves and wider stems/trunks but a little bit burnt from the sun. I hope this answers your questions, but you probably found all this out by now. Take it easy, good luck - Phil

Howdy folks, Ive been wondering if anyone here has had any experience with nuts from Areca triandra? I have only seen photos of them fruiting and the nuts seem quite small compared to those from A. catechu. Do they have the same/similar properties? Taste any better or worse? Ive been seeing some really well developed A. triandra palms at bunnings and mitre 10 and they're quite cheap, and very attractive in an ornamental sense. I think I might plant on in the garden regardless of potential psychoactivity, but I was juts wondering if anyone had personal dealings with this species. Also, in doing a bit of googling I stumbled across some info that suggested combining betel with shrooms is quite a good combo, allegedly the nut counteracts the negatives of the shroom and enhances the positives.... I myself have never experienced any negatives with shrooms, aside from the odd bout of nausea, but now Im curious...... any thoughts? Thanks in adavnce, - Phil

Hey all, Ok, straight to the point, who knows what the f*** this is? Very cool looking little diddy taken of a much larger specimen (with no label of course!) Is it some kind of Euphorbia? A lot of white sap leaked out when I freed him from his conjoined twin

I have had personal experience with the cactusland guys (guy). I used to live in Melbourne and frequented the Queen Vic. Market - sooooo much good food! and the polish deli OMG anyone who goes there MUST try the polish poppy seed cake, Im talking 500gm - 1kg poppy seed ground up into a paste and rolled up in a cake/scroll type thing..... i think I may have developed some form of opiate immunity as a result of having a polish mother. *sigh* sometimes I miss living there... anyway, where was I? oh yes, the cactus guy, I made a few purchases off him, lophs a bit on the pricey side, but good specimens. The guy himself is quite freindly and I used to go and ask him questions and chat about stuff, always informative - man this guy knows his shit!!! Although in answering your questions, I haven't actually ordered anything through the mail, but all the stock being sold at the stall itself was really good, healthy and well loved so Im sure the mail out stuff would be the same... As for Vlado at arizona cactus garden (cactus-seeds.com) he's been doing this for -years- I mean this guy was probably among or one of the first people in australia to collect and import cacti. I have also purchased a few things from his catalogue and found no problem with anything. The catalogue itself has some ... interesting... nomenclature, but he is reasonably priced and seems like a nice chap. Although your order may take some time it will come eventually and he does throw extras in occasionally, especially if you send him packaging to use for you order and perhaps any spare padded envelopes you have lying around to donate to his cause (he's big on recycling). Hope this helps GD. good luck, - Phil

Hi people, I've got this Loph seedling of the "Hipolito" variety which seems to be an albino.... The seedlings are about 3 weeks old and as you can see from the pic all the others are green, yet sprouted more or less within days of each other, so Im pretty sure this little guy has had enough time to lose his "fresh from the seed" pale colouring. COULD HE BE THE ONE? I have a question though, how long would a little albino survive on it's own roots? I mean given that there's little or no chlorophyll... I want to graft it onto a peres. but don't have any ready yet... so how long have I got? Enough time to wait till my peres. stock get's big enough? Or should I try and source one thats ready to go? (teo? )

Yeah, done a fair few grafts - not all successfull mind you, (my hands shake) but mini hippo, "AND I SHALL CALL HIM MINI HIPPO", should pull through surgery ok. Just gotta find me some stock. Stay tuned for: The Adventures of Mini Hippo!..... (Torsten if you read this, can you find a smilie with a cape? I think now would be a most appropriate time to bust him out... )

GD - You have a way with words that warms my heart and triggers a repetitive noise in the back of my throat similar to coughing.... ummm..... laughter thats it! Life is absurd - peace y'all PS Unemployment has raised my posting rate to dizzying new heights... I think Ive posted more in the last 2 weeks than in the last three years. Ive also been telling my plants to hurry up and f**king grow.

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