Mr. Bowser

Shiiit even the midwest / great lakes in US is feeling effects from Sandy with high gusty winds, 30+ ft waves and some nasty freezing rain... We've never felt the effects of hurricanes here before except maybe a few cloudy days... but nothing compared to what the east coast will be getting for the next few days. I'll bet the US members most affected by the storm are more concerned with their homes flooding than posting on the forums about their experience. Still, those Bush years put everything in perspective... Santiago, you forgot the JFK assassination and 9/11 (and conspiracy theories)!

I read somewhere that bottom watering can help prevent soil compaction that can occur when top watering, but haven't really noticed a difference. Watering from the bottom can save time where you don't have to be spraying the pot for 5-10 min, you could just let it sit and have the capillary action do the work for you! From my brewing literature, they recommend boiling water and letting it cool to room temp to precipitate out much of the calcium carbonate in the water which will leave a residue of calcium carbonate in your pot. I've never tried this however, our water isn't too hard for my purposes, and I tend to think the calcium carbonate buffers the pH of the soil to keep the pH dropping too much from fertilizers.

My guess is the roots were kept too wet in the new soil and started to rot. The rest of the cactus is probably dehydrated, since the roots weren't providing water and the plant was trying to ward off infection. I'd take it out of the new soil, check out the roots or whats left of them and let them dry before trying to replant in more freely draining soil with lots of pumice and grit. Probably also make sure the soil is neutral or slightly basic to prevent future rot. Might be able to graft a healthy section, but probably dicey. Good luck!

looks like it may have been replanted, whats the new soil like?

Wow, that mutant tricho seedling looks pretty cool... excited to see how it develops! Any plans to graft it?

Will you cast your vote this fall on a faulty electronic machine that's partly owned by the Romney Family? Will that machine decide whether Romney will then inherit the White House? Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 7. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States. In other words, a candidate for the presidency of the United States, and his brother, wife and son, have a straight-line financial interest in the voting machines that could decide this fall's election. These machines cannot be monitored by the public. But they will help decide who "owns" the White House. Also see: Will Bain-Linked E-Voting Machines Give Romney the White House? They are especially crucial in Ohio, without which no Republican candidate has ever won the White House. In 2004, in the dead of election night, an electronic swing of more than 300,000 votes switched Ohio from the John Kerry column to George W. Bush, giving him a second term. A virtual statistical impossibility, the 6-plus% shift occurred between 12:20 and 2am election night as votes were being tallied by a GOP-controlled information technology firm on servers in a basement in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In defiance of a federal injunction, 56 of Ohio's 88 counties destroyed all election records, making a recount impossible. Ohio's governor and secretary of state in 2004 were both Republicans, as are the governors and secretaries of state in nine key swing states this year. As we have previously reported, H.I.G. Capital has on its board of directors at least three close associates of the Romney family. H.I.G. Capital directors John P. Bolduk and Douglas Berman are major Romney fundraisers. So is former Bain and H.I.G. manager Brian Shortsleeve. H.I.G. employees have contributed at least $338,000 to Romney's campaign. Fully a third of H.I.G.'s leadership previously worked at Romney's old Bain firm. But new research now shows that the association doesn't stop with mere friendship and business associations. Mitt Romney, his wife Ann Romney, and their son Tagg Romney are also invested in H.I.G. Capital, as is Mitt's brother G. Scott Romney. The investment comes in part through the privately held family equity firm called Solamere, which bears the name of the posh Utah ski community where the Romney family retreats to slide down the slopes. Unlike other private equity firms, Solamere does not invest in companies directly. Instead, Solamere invests in other private equity funds, like H.I.G. Capital. Solamere calls them partners. These partners, like H.I.G., then invest in various enterprises, like Hart Intercivic, the nation's third-largest voting machine manufacturer. As reported by Lee Fang of The Nation, Solamere was founded by Tagg Romney and Spencer Zwick, Papa Romney's campaign finance chair. Ann Romney and Mitt's brother G. Scott Romney are also invested. Mitt himself threw in $10 million "seed money" to get the fund going, and spoke personally to its first full investors conference. Solamere's public web presence has been reduced to a front page only, so a complete list of it's partners can not be found. But reportage by the New York Times, Boston Globe, Esquire and the Nation have slowly given us a partial picture of which funds are being funded by Solamere. Some $232 million has been raised so far, according to SEC filings and industry publications. In addition to Romney's finance chair Spencer Zwick, Solamere has also provided the campaign with its finance director, Richard Morley, and a western regional finance coordinator, Kaitlin O'Reilly. O'Reilly is listed as an executive assistant at Solamere, and also at SJZ LLC, which was founded by her boss Spencer Zwick. The SJZ LLC campaign finance consulting firm has billed Mitt's campaign over $2 million this election cycle as well as doing another $9,687,582 in billing to various Congressional Campaigns. The host of the private fundraiser at which Romney made his infamous "47%" speech was Marc J. Leder, co-CEO of Sun Capital, another "partner" of the Solamere fund. As in virtually every close presidential race, Ohio may well hold the key to the Electoral College decision as to who will become the nation's next chief executive. The presence of Hart Intercivic machines in Hamilton County, home to Cincinnati, means there is a high likelihood the votes that will decide the presidency will be cast on them. Major media like CBS have begun reporting that Cincinnati could be "ground zero" in this year's election. But these Hart machines are deeply flawed and widely know to be open to a troubling variety of attacks and breakdowns. There is no legal or other means to definitively monitor and re-check a tally compiled on Hart or other electronic voting machines. Ohio's current governor and secretary of state are both Republicans. Does this mean the Romney investment in Hart Intercivic through H.I.G. Capital and Solamere will yield it not only financial profits but the White House itself? Tune in during the deep night of November 7, when the electronic votes in swing state Ohio are once again opaquely reported to the nation and the world, without meaningful public scrutiny or legal recourse. http://truth-out.org/news/item/12204-does-the-romney-family-now-own-your-e-vote Pretty scary when a political candidate can own such a large stake in the low security e-voting machines that will be used to decide the fate of his nomination. While one can't prove that a company that owns voting machines has actually hacked their own machines, there is no way to prove the machines have NOT been hacked, and according to U of M researcher Halderman, many of these e-voting machines can be easily hacked in just one minute. If politicians in ANY other country owned or invested in the easily hackable machines used to decide the election, the US Govt would not recognize the validity of the election.

Stem looks alot like S. Hamatus

just 2 cents here I always use rooted grafting stock. I assume grafted stocks have more potential energy available for penis pumping... i mean graft pumping I've grafted very thin emerging tricho pups onto peres, but it seems a bit trickier than grafting tricho seedlings to peres. Just an assumption, but I'm thinking the TBM section will continue normal columnar growth, but wont throw out any more pups until the scion produces more areoles with spines. Probably be easier to graft a smaller diameter scion to a larger stock, at least for me. as long as the vascular rings overlap, you're all good

Agree with Got about the graft, unless the non-growing scion is showing signs of excessive dehydration it will probably be ok to sit for a while. Agree with Got about the vermiculite being no good for a soil dressing, as it holds too much water and can be easily overrun with algae. My favorite for seeds and seedlings is very coarse sand (1-2 mm) when very young and then move up to small pea gravel size (2-5 mm pieces) or a mixture with small pieces of pumice or LECA. Looks like yours could use the small pea gravel size . One layer thickness should be fine

As to the tricho babies... I'd harden them off by gradually giving them more and more airflow every week, i.e. take the lid all the way off for a few hours, then back ajar and keep misting or maybe switch to bottom watering less frequently when they start to dry out. Also, I'd cover the soil with a layer of course grit (2 mm or larger), this will help keep them anchored, and help the soil go a little longer between waterings. Then I'd either graft to peres. or gradually start to give them a little more light. As for your grafts, if the vascular bundles aren't overlapping then it will have to be re-grafted (or rooted). How long has it been since grafting? Is the scion soft and squishy? Or does it seem plump and firm? You could always cut the scion leaving a few areoles on the stock, and try grafting again, that way if the original graft fails, you can still graft a healthy scion before it gets really dehydrated. Any new pups from the stock... just cut em off with a clean knife [Edit: sorry for any redundancy, Bogfrog posted while I was typing ]

Exactly! Its not surprising that an individual would take short cuts in their work to try to get ahead in their career. She was reporting far more tests per day than was realistically possible compared to her co-workers. What is horrifying is that even when her behavior was clearly suspicious, no one in management stopped to think about the possible repercussions, and dismissed the concerns. I wouldnt be at all surprised if this kind of behavior is just the tip of the iceburg. Considering how embarrassing situations like this are for the US justice system, I'm a bit surprised this level of corruption was allowed to be made public.

Magicarp!

Thanks for sharing the photo, looks like the S. grandiflorus in the middle of the shot, and S. anthonyanus on the right? Nice grafts btw! I put them in coco coir / grit mix with some filtered light to root. Considering your experience I'll probably give them some more shade! Hopefully they like their new home Thats an awesome shelving unit thing, I'd really like one for my place!

IME there are a couple other common traits of cuzcos The base of mature spines seem darker than the midsection or tip. (After the spines have set and before they turn all white) The long central spines broaden out noticeably at the areole, in comparison to peru where the spines seem needle-like all the way to the areole. Peru ribs seem smoother/rounder in shape, but I can't really explain this one adequately

5b in USDA... but the last few winters were much warmer than 5b. The little seedlings in question are actually 2 yr olds (I was mistaken of their age) and are about 10-15 cm, and don't seem to be etoliating under the MH yet. The larger ones I'll stick outside until they go dormant. Its supposed to be 5-10 C and dry for the next week hopefully they'll go to sleep since they haven't been watered in a while. Thanks for the advice!

So, I brought the cactus collection inside the house for overwintering. They receive light from a metal halide currently 14/10. I've stopped watering the large trichs, and am still watering the year old trich seedlings (about 10-20 cm tall now). I'd like to keep the seedlings growing steady through the winter if possible, while keeping the large ones dormant. I'm thinking that 14/10 is too long of a day length for dormancy, some of the large trichs seem to be getting thirsty/hungry. If I drop the daylength to 12/12 or 10/14 can I force dormancy in the large ones, while keeping the seedlings active just by watering/feeding? Thanks!

Sprinkling some coarse sand 1-2 mm pieces to the top of the soil does wonders for seedlings even if they're not sprouted yet. I've germed seeds under 14/10 and 12/12 fluoro and filtered MH and they seem to do just fine. I use the heat mat since I germ in winter and ambient temp varies from 15-20 C from nite to day. Have to agree here, I'd stay away from 24/7 light cause its moar expensive . I have no idea at what point seedlings are able to fix CO2 at night so I like to give them a little night time from the beginning.

I've never used the quartz stones, usually just sieve out the 1-2 mm pieces out of play sand because I'm cheap. I sprinkle this over top of the seedling soil immediately after sowing. (trying to sow directly onto a layer of grit is a PITA!) I shoot for a thin layer about 1 mm thick (can still see about half the seeds through the grit). After they all germ, then sprinkle a bit more. Like EG said, the difference is amazing. Keeps that cobweb mold stuff to a minimum, and makes it easy to remove if you get any.

Cool thanks! I wasn't sure what triggered dormancy, and kept getting unsightly etoliation when overwintering in the house using MH Come to think of it last year, the cactus I was lazy with and kept outside until it got really cold seemed a bit less etoliated in the spring than the ones I brought in earlier while it was still warmer out. Guess I could put them outside and out of the rain to get them to go dormant, its probably cold enough now to make them go dormant but not cold enough to be harmful. So once they're dormant, can I bring them indoors without breaking dormancy? Would distant MH light be ok without breaking dormancy? Or should I just let them have very minimal light to maintain dormancy? Ambient temp in the house in the winter is 15-20 C, it would be ok, but not ideal to have them in a room at around 10 - 15 C

Thanks for sharing all the pics! Love the leuchtenbergia and all the pach crests; a very diverse and interesting collection!

My favorite t. peruvianoid... not sure if its a named clone, bought it as t. peruvianus has the thickest growth of my trichs roots and grows insanely fast (12 - 18" / 6 month summer) very hearty root system, no root rot or black spots, and can over water all summer no problem love the blue color Still deciding on a favorite t. bridge... will have to see how the seedlings do when they grow up

If its bending over at the base, I'd probably want to do something to support it... just to save space and whatnot. Don't get me wrong, plants that are stressed seem to find a way to adapt which makes them stronger in the long run. (just like people: a human raised without ever encountering adversity will never develop strategies to overcome adversity) Couple of my cacti have midsection root nubs... doesn't seem to harm them any and nothing to stress about. I'm prone to take cuttings to propagate, so having a cactus throw root nubs above where I would cut anyway seems like an open invitation to me Not sure if the above cactus would thicken/strengthen up at the base on its own, none of my seedlings have done this so I just re-pot them a bit deeper to support the newer fatter growth.

Love how the US govt claims to support freedom of speech on one hand, and condemns those who excercise freedom of speech on the other. Apparently it is only permissible to criticize and expose corruption when doing so supports the US govt. We can freely expose 'enemy' governments corruption and brutality, but turn the lens of truth back on our own government... you become an enemy of the state and lose all your rights as a US citizen. Sounds like 1984 to me. Fucked up shit. [Edit: not that Assange is a US citizen to begin with or anything but...]

ritalin is methylphenidate, adderall is dextroamphetamine but I agree that both are inappropriate for use in children under six... A rational scale to assess the harm of drugs in the "Lancet" (UK) found methylphenidate to be more harmful and addictive than use of MDMA, LSD, GHB, Solvents, and Amyl Nitrate, while amphetamine was found to be more harmful and addictive than cannabis, and the above listed drugs. And methylphenidate and dextroamphetamine are being used to treat ADD/ADHD in children, half of whom grow up to show no signs of ADD/ADHD most likely because they never actually had it to begin with! It was just easier to treat with a drug than helping parents/teachers effectively help children. Both are very commonly prescribe in the US for behavioral problems. The diagnostic criteria for ADD/ADHD include whether the child's behavior interferes with their learning in school. This means poor parenting or poor classroom supervision could led parents to believe their child has ADD/ADHD. Additionally many parents and child psychologists (US atleast) would prefer the medicated solution since it doesn't require ANY effort on behalf of the parent save popping pills in their child's mouth. Turning the TV and Radio off means they might actually be forced into meaningful interaction with their children (heaven forbid!) I'm sorry, but treating behavioral problems in children with addictive drugs (that have no long term studies in children) instead of consistent discipline and appropriate positive reinforcement is unethical. Not only are the children unaware of the side effects and other consequences of their drug use, but often the parents are uninformed or view drugs as an easier solution to consistent discipline and taking a true interest in their child's life and social development. I watched Louis Theroux's "America's Medicated Children" and it really summed up for me all the myriad reasons why this practice is alarming and disgusting. Anyone interested in this thread should watch... its available on Youtube...

Thanks EG, looks like it could be grandiflorus or hybrid. I'm guessing it might be easier to id after its grown a bit fatter/healthier. Maybe graft a few sections to pereskiopsis or pereskia to give it a jump start