lhb2444

PM'd

Hey Zelly, I was mainly referring to a few small lophs, some ferrocactus, gymno's and what not which have all been put into a makeshift hot house of sorts and they seem to be loving it!

Yeah this is my first addition and its love at first sight

Your too kind! If its needed though don't shy away from asking as I'm sure were all happy to cover our postage costs

Pm'd Many thanks.

Yeah I saw that thread Gerbil, terrible turn of events. Unfortunately you just can't deny some peoples need to take what isn't theirs.

Yeah I've definitely heard of/seen the aftermath of some trich stealing, usually seems to be only the typical looking pedro's that I know of though so I guess anything that doesn't look to similar or any super heavily spined cuts should keep them away. The heavily spined cuts even seem to keep me away from propagating/harvesting as its just all to much effort!

Hey Paisano, Thanks for the tips, the soil they are in now feels pretty damp and cold and so I think a repot is definitely in order next weekend. I usually use about 2 parts perlite, 1 part coarse sand and 2-3 parts commercial cacti mix for my cacti so I assume that same mix or there abouts should serve these beauties well. Looks like i'll have to start consuming more eggs too!

I just scored 2 fairly big pachypodium's (they look like p. lamerei but the people at the nursery had no idea what they were so can't be sure) for a steal as they wanted to get rid of them, however their leaves are looking quite yellow and sickly and I'm not sure why. I assume it could just be this time of year being cold and wet but then again who knows, I was thinking of giving them some fert but then thought maybe not at this time of the year as I wouldn't really be giving any of my cactus ferts around this time. So any thoughts? Do I just treat these like my cacti?

Thanks Halcyon much appreciated.

Thanks Zen Peddler I've just added some appropriate atropine related samples and its now 100% done! Super happy with it.

Great to know! thanks Stillman.

Do you know if they flower pretty readily/easily stillman? how old are your plants and what size pots are they in? Snowfella I'm really looking forward to watching my plants come to life this spring and summer and I'm hoping I might start getting some flowers around the garden!

I'm using this old greenhouse thats pretty banged up (you can't really see much of it in the picture though unfortunately) which appears to be doing a good job of keeping them dry. I've had my most of trich's for about 18 months now and they've always been outdoors so I think I'll just leave them be as they all still appear to be growing well. (I don't have anywhere else to fit them all anyway)

Yesterday I went for a walk to visit a nursery in Petersham to buy some snail bait and to check out there cacti range which was worse than terrible to be honest, as you can see the 4 cacti they have are all very much dead. Anyway to buy the snail bait I had to use a minimum of $15 on my card and the only thing I could find was this cheap looking garden multimeter (soil ph, light and moisture levels) So I gave it a go on a bunch of the plants and cacti in my garden and got some super mixed results for soil ph and moisture levels for plants (mostly tricho's of the same cultivar) potted in the same mixture at the same time and that have been fed and watered the same amount which leaves me to believe the multimeter probably isn't very accurate or reliable. So whats the best and most accurate (preferably cheap too) way to measure the soil ph and generally what ph is good for my cacti?

Thanks for the reply stillman. Most of readings reported medium to highly alkaline soils. I've read that adding small amounts of vinegar to your water before feeding your plants can help to lower the ph so I might give that a try next time they're watered. I know trich's are pretty hardy plants and can take alot of abuse so how do most other cacti go regarding soil ph? I've got about 15 assorted other types of cacti so should I be looking to lower their soil ph to?

I actually really like the colour of this gymno, I had never really been to interested in them before (although I had never really seen many up close) but I do love the deep earthy colours in this cacti so it's definitely sparked some new found interest in gymno's.

Yeah I thought a lot would move them under cover, unfortunately I don't really have anywhere covered that gets any light, plenty of dark places under cover though. I moved them into a shitty old greenhouse thing which should provide some cover from the elements so that should do for the time being but I think i'll need to devise a more permanent solution for the winter months.

They came from the bunnings in alexandria on the corner of bourke rd and gardeners rd.

Yeah I was pretty surprised there to myco as usually everything I see is labelled as some sort of cereus. This was definitely the best selection I've seen them have at the bunnings on bourke rd in alexandria too, its usually nothing special.

Thanks Tonic they both look like a good fit, much appreciated!

sick spach clump, they're nearly all perfectly straight and parallel to one another.

epic thread, the 2nd last photo in GOT's post is crazy, can't believe how woody the prickly pear is!

Anyone else attending this? http://www.permacultureday.info/?event=urban-permaculture-eden

Also PM sent would loooooove to get me some blue torch! Welcome also!