Mr. Bowser

Limonene, all natural, biodegradable and derived from citrus rinds, is a contact insecticide, and effective against all sorts of insects including ants and mites. I add 5-10 ml limonene to an equal portion of 90% + isopropyl alcohol and mix, they should be immiscible, then dilute this with approx 1 liter of water. Ive sprayed this on my trichos with no problems, dunno how it'd work with lophos tho. You could also encircle your flowering cactus' pot with a ring of grease, chalk, or citrus rinds to help repel the buggers.

Can't say that its the perfect pH test... You could probably test the water you give the cactus vs. the runoff water if you have pH strips or can get the pH indicator drops. That should tell you if your soil is more acidic or basic than your feeding water. I've also heard of people soaking a small soil sample in DI water, and then testing the pH of that water... never tried it personally. Have used the pH probe before, but the glass electrode always wears out over time no matter how well its treated. Now I just use Gen Hydro drops, they're cheap and pretty reliable.

To clarify, only fully calloused cuttings are potted... otherwise just asking for rot. I've had a t. pach cutting survive for months un-potted... it started growing root buds at the base, and when it was finally planted rooted straight away. I've never been able to coerce a cactus to throw roots before its ready... Anyone know definitively if cacti, like non CAM plants, are capable of absorbing micro nutrients through stoma in the aeroles? I've been foliar feeding rooted trichs for the past two years, and have not experienced any problems doing so. The misting is light enough that only the surface of the soil gets damp, and by morning both cacti and soil are totally dry. I usually foliar feed my palm plants on the same schedule, so it doesn't take but an extra 5-10 min a week to spray the cacti also . The palms do really well with foliar feeding the undersides of the leaves, so I'll keep doing that. Although it may just be placebo effect, I believe the cacti like the nightly spraying also So I'd like to experiment first with foliar feeding rooting pereskiopsis spatulata cuttings, since I notice the peres seem a bit dehydrated while rooting (drooping leaves with matte surface). Control cuttings will be given the same growing conditions as experimental group, only difference is experimental group will be sprayed 2x / week nightly. Since the peres root so quickly, it would be easy to tell if one group roots faster, or appears healthier during rooting. I've also got four 60cm fully rooted clones of a trich that I'd like to run the same experiment with... but think it would take a full growing season to notice any differences if there are any at all.

So I've been foliar feeding cacti for a while now, and was wondering if anyone else here is doing the same, and what other methods people are using. Basically, I like to keep the pH of the water around the roots around 7-8 to help ward off rot, and enhance uptake of NPK. However, at this slightly basic pH, micronutrients are less available to the roots, and to make up for this, the cacti are foliar fed micronutrients at night when the stoma are open. Typically have alternated misting with nutes and with plain water to keep the stoma from getting clogged. Also thought foliar feeding might be beneficial to get nutrients to cuttings that haven't taken root yet. Although it may be equally possible that in a healthy well fed cutting the lack of nutrient uptake could help signal the cutting to send out roots in search of water and nutrients. Any thoughts or experience with this?

Usually I just add 10-20 cc of 3% hydrogen peroxide per liter of nutrient water with which the cactus seedlings are misted and watered (from the bottom). Hydrogen peroxide is typically packaged with chemical stabilizers so its not really an "organic" option. Read somewhere on the web that higher concentrations of H2O2 are fine... but haven't tried it with cactus seedlings yet. The seedling growing media used has no organic matter, just 1:1:1 perlite, vermiculite, and coarse sand. After the seedlings are hardened off and can be left out in the open, they get sprinkled lightly with more coarse sand and coco coir derived potting soil.

Looks like the T. Huanucoensis adapts to the environment with changes in spine length, rib width and coloration. Just curious, how does one reliably distinguish a T. Huanucoensis from a short spined T. Pachanoi or T. Scopulicola if they aren't grown under the same conditions?

Our tap water is very basic pH ~ 9.3, but the fertilizer I use drops the pH to 6 - 6.5. I also use rainwater treated with a little bit of calcium carbonate. I dunk my pots in a bucket of fertilizer water and adjust the pH of the fert. water back up to 7 or 8 with calcium carbonate. If the pH is too high, or scaling on the pots or soil becomes a problem, I just drop the pH back down to 6 for a few waterings until the bucket water is back in range. Don't think the calcium carbonate buildup is much of a problem for me atleast... the calcium carbonate helps buffer the fert water to pH 7-8 and my trichos are much healthier and rot resistant when watered with pH 7-8 as opposed to pH 6-6.5. Haven't pissed in the fert water yet maybe they'd really like it!

Had a few Trichos get black spots overnight after a couple days of rainfall. The plants had been fed regularly with micro and macro nutes, and pH kept around 7-8 . Anyway, dusted soil of the ones with black spots with calcium carbonate and withheld water until the black spots started to scar and become tan around the edges (couple weeks), and they healed with minimal tan scarring. Never had a problem with a heavy rainstorm now and again, but the trichos don't like back to back rainy days. Not sure what caused your black spotting, but if it were me, I'd try to get those cacti to a dry location asap, and adjust the growing medium to improve drainage, and make sure the pH is slightly sweet. Best luck!

Second to EG's post... looks like Knuthianus or a hybrid of that specie. Trichos labled as cuzcos seem to have a distinctive 'S' shape to the indentation between ribs. Dunno if its a difference in lighting, growing conditions or what, but the waxy coating on cuzco seems more gray/white than blue, whereas the waxy coating on knuthianus seem more blue. However, the spines in both cuzco and knuthianus broaden at the aerole, so it could easily be either. Not definitive, just my 2c. More importantly, a nice healthy looking cactus, beautiful color!

Great looking "melted wax" TBM! Doesn't look like the standard "A" (phallic) and "B" (clumping) clones in the USA, but more like the T. Pachanoi f. monstrosus "Melted Wax" clone. Looking forward to getting a TBM clone "A" here. Will probably cut up and graft my TBM clone with a couple T.Cuzcoensis rootstocks (make 1 cutting go a long way!) Anyone know if the monstrose forms flower, or require special treatment to flower? Think it would be awesome to cross mutant with non-mutant to get some interesting babies!

Nature Healer, as Gunter said, looks like you've got the clone 'B' which offsets every 10 - 20 cm clumping into a bush-like form. Clone 'A' is supposed to be the non-hulk 'penis plant' that's not as thick and has longer columns with non-distinct ribs before offsetting. Both clones have smooth and spiny sections.