Benzito

If you have no idea at all where to look, don't waste your time. Unless you plan on dedicating alot of time to searching. I went to Byron during a good season, but with no idea where to look (never been picking before). Whenever I was near cow paddocks, I would pull over and have a peek around from the side of the road, but with no idea what I was after I wasn't willing to trespass on anyone's property. Not having seen any in the wild, it's hard to know if they prefer growing up on little hills, or down in depressions, or nearer creeks, or further away in drier areas,etc. I had no luck, because I had no idea. All I knew was to check cow-pats, but without knowing the ideal growing conditions or any real-world experience with spotting the little guys, it was pointless. I wouldn't recommend making a 12 hour trip, unless you've got some other things to do up there. Like go to the SAB nursery. [ 11. April 2005, 13:46: Message edited by: Benzito ]

The Loph's almost look like some sort of coral formation! That is very cool indeed. Imagine if you accidentally tripped over, landed face first on one of those pots, and ate everything in front of you, like some kind of weird self-defence mechanism. You would trip balls! :D

So, squishyness doesn't necessarily tell you exactly what is wrong, it just lets you know the Loph is unhappy? [ 08. April 2005, 14:54: Message edited by: Benzito ]

Slarty Fart Blaster wrote: quote: you Aussies might find this kind of stuff from this moron entertaining... but not me. Is your moniker meant to be amusing, or kind of post-modern childish? I'm pretty sure that 'us Aussies' definitely don't find that amusing. We just stick to our goats. No slarty fart blasting for me.

I'm from the Blue Mountains and I can vouch that it sure does get cold up there. But generally only a few degrees below zero. That said, we get heaps of frost up there, all winter long and for some of spring. So, if they're frost hardy they should hopefully handle some pretty low temps.

CS, you are the greatest man in the world! I am so very impressed.

You're turgid! May I enquire as to the meaning of this word? So, if it feels kinda soft and squishy it needs to be watered? I would've thought if it had been overwatered, it would go very soft. But I don't know. That's why I'm asking.

And how should her nipples feel? What if they're hairy?

quote: Now where's that piece of lino....I'll bring the spray starch! Actually, it's casual friday and I'm wearing my shelltoe's with fat laces in the office. How's that for hip-hop?

Good news: It appears the cleaners here don't recognise a Lophophora. My baby is still sitting on my desk today. Just have to see how it goes. I figure I'll hold off a little while before I try watering or anything. Just let it settle in.

Hermitude + Ketamine = Bliss. If you get to see them live, bear this in mind. Their show at Cockatoo Island was great! And, yes they are very humble dudes. Shared a J with them outside one of their shows in Katoomba once, they were more embarrased to be talking to me than the other way around. Kind of like how they say "The snake is more scared of you, than you are of him"

I turned up at town hall yesterday, just out of curiosity. I wouldn't call them 'babes' mr. smogs. More like crackwhores.

Thanks for all the advice guys, I'm just gonna sit back and keep reading. quote: with a graft what benefits are there?? To my knowledge, the key benefit is faster growth. The growth hormones from the root-stock will affect the planted grafted on top. Some ppl graft Loph's to dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) because they are one of the fastest growing cacti in the world. But, I am yet to delve into grafting, this is just what I've gathered from my readings.

Great 2b, sounds promising then. Have you noted any growth while you've had it on your desk? And also, how regularly do you water the little guy? Would a cacti in sunlight, outdoors need more or less water than a cacti in air conditioning, away from sunlight?

quote: our accent makes me cringe OOOOOooooooooooo Big point of contention amongst aussie hip-hop heads. Rapping is a stylised form of talking, you talk in an Aussie accent, you should rap in one. Figgkidd is a homosexual. Aussie hip-hop has been great for years and years, it's just that no-one was listening. Hilltop hoods have been doing their thing for over 10 years. It just took a flood of american 'rap', for us to notice our own 'hip-hop'.

quote: and it won't hurt to let any newly received plant to "rest" a week to heal up from shipping or transplanting before watering. Yeah, I learnt that about 30 minutes after I thoroughly soaked the pot with water. There was still water draining from the soil as I read this somewhere else on the net. I felt like such a fool. But, the transport itself wouldn't have been that stressful. I personally went to SAB nursery, and brought it back in my car. All my plants got better care on the trip back than my girlfriend did. When I repotted it, I kinda did leave about 1cm exposed that was previously under the soil. So, the cactus has a slight brown ring around the base. But the brown ring seems to just be from where the soil level was before, and the ring's appearance hasn't really changed at all in the past 6 weeks or so that I've had it so I'm not too worried about it. Well, I moved it inside to stop any rain upsetting it, and I might just pile some more gravel on top of the mix to help stabilise it a bit. It doesn't sound like anything that life threatening from what you guys are saying. If it gets worse though, I'll try to get pics. I did give my little bro a digital camera for his birthday a month ago, I can prolly borrow it. Maybe I should've bought myself one instead.

That 'erection problems' thing got you all looking didn't it? I got a T. Bridgesii about 30cm long from SAB on a recent visit to their nursery. So, I took the cactii home still potted up, and just slipped the pot contents into a larger pot and filled around it with cactus potting mix. One mistake I made at the time was to water it in well after re-potting. I actually soaked the pot like you would when repotting vascular plants. Anyways, I have had this cactii for a little over a month now, but it seems to be bending over a little bit. It was perfectly straight when I got it, but now it has a slight lean to one side. I do rotate it every week so the whole plant is receiving sunlight. What the hell is wrong with my cactus? I haven't fertilised it, and I've really only watered it a couple of times since I got it. Any advice? Has anyone had their columnar cactii go flaccid before?

So, have buds been sent to any other people yet? What were their experiences?

2b: I have a friend who lives in Bullaburra in the blue mountains. Anyone who knows the place, knows it's tiny (prolly more than 300 though). He wanted ADSL, but Telstra fed them the same bullshit about their exchange not being able to handle it, etc. His mum just bugged the crap out of Telstra every day, and now just their street has ADSL. No-one else in Bullaburra, only their street. Squeeky wheel gets the grease.

Hey Apo, they've got trichocereus at that hamilton's world of cactii place? I live, like 15 minutes from there! Do they label them? Cause whenever I'm in bunnings I'll see "trichocereus species" but if I don't recognise them, I don't bother buying them. It would be great if this place had full scientific names.

quote: It was shaved twice a weekThat bit is even weirder! If I'm fucking a monkey, I don't care if it's shaven or not! It's still a monkey! I wish I could get my girlfriend to shave twice a week.

I would have to say that white text on a black background can be a little harder to read than other colour schemes, but I have no problems with your site specifically. It's not like you use tiny fonts or anything. My only complaint would be that I run windows at 800x600 (None of you remember that resolution? well I've only got a 13" monitor!) and when I open the list of 'all products' the category headings to the left hand side actually overlap the products listed just to the right. So, I can't read some of it properly. But I surf by categories anyways, so it doesn't matter to me. If this doesn't make sense I'll take a screenshot and show you. Otherwise, I got no complaints. And I still plan on buying from you. Even if you had a pink background with pink text I would probably still buy from you.

Thanks guys. I don't want to do anything too hasty, so I don't think I'll pull it up just yet. The poor baby is already stressed from my poor care. It is more a slight lean from the base, like the tower of pisa. Not a bend as such. It does feel like it's a little bit 'squishier' at the base than the top, and it is a slightly darker green at the base too. (by base I mean the bottom 2 inches or so) Some of the spines have grown an inch or two since I got it, so I figured it was doing OK. But now I have my doubts. This is also my first time keeping cactii, I've only kept annual, vascular plants before. So I really don't have any reference points to go off. I only just noticed aswell, that it has actually developed about 3 or 4 small white spots. They look almost like little calcium deposits or something, and are only 1-2mm in diameter, but they don't just scratch off the surface. I'm hoping to get a digital camera soon, but don't hold your breath for pictures. Any further help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys, Ben

That is one homophobic bottle of drink. "Just fuckin buy me you faggot!" "just fuckin buy me!" Oh my lord, if only 2CB were legal.......

Hey mate, I read someone else on this forum suggested using the cable from an old electric blanket as a heating coil. Attach it to some board, put in bottom of terrarium, cover with a couple of inches of gravel and bob's your uncle. Very budget way to do it indeed!