reshroomED Posted May 21, 2006 (edited) About six months ago I found a 'lost' T spach cutting, taken about three and a half years ago. It looked pretty much as you'd expect, shrivelled to less than half it's original diameter and almost petrified, so I just shook my head at myself and pretty well forgot about it. All this time it had been sitting on a car roof in an open car-port in Western Vic. Went to ditch it the other day and found this: New growth And roots (even 4" into the 'dead' material) Took the top eight inches to give it a (well-deserved) chance at life and found: Just goes to show how hardy cactii are, and how little water they need. I'll keep a foot of the rest and see what it's like in twelve months. ed Edited May 21, 2006 by reshroomED Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wandjina Posted May 24, 2006 wow! they really are impressive plants... btw...is that you in the tie and waistcoat? Awwww Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
reshroomED Posted May 24, 2006 wow! they really are impressive plants...btw...is that you in the tie and waistcoat? Awwww Nah, i'm the bloke with the horse. FWIW they're my niece's children, and my great grand-father off to the Boer War. ed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humanfuel Posted May 25, 2006 ... my great grand-father off to the Boer War. ....Ed...... are you a Boer.....????..... well... English 'Rooi Nek'..... !!!!!.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
reshroomED Posted March 20, 2008 (edited) Just to show another example of their resiliency: I took a swag of cuts over the past six months, a lot of which were lost to rot and subsequently ditched. When I went to grab some cuttings tonight I found one that I'd missed. This was an 'eileen' centre-cut that has near-totally rotted (half dried, half in final stages) that has pupped since contracting rot. The pup is about 6" long with a base about the size of a twenty-cent piece. An interesting aspect is that it has teensy-weensy sets of spines (groups of four at the very tip to seven towards the base) right up to the most recently arrived aureole, which is quite unusual. But the most unusual aspect became apparrent when I went to trim off the pup and it nearly fell off in my hand It had semi-detatched itself from the mother and was actively forming roots. These plants never cease to amaze me. ed Edited March 20, 2008 by reshroomED Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bit Posted March 20, 2008 I've got a spach which was half dead like the first one pictured when I rescued it. It was practically wooden and had hardly any roots, about 15cm tall. It's closer to 45 cm tall today Speaking of survival though, this is my biggest surpise.. A wedge no more than an inch high at the tallest part, no skin on the thin edge... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garbage Posted March 20, 2008 Easy to see how it could be thought an individual could colonise vast areas simply by falling over. Really interesting would be to find genetic data on the wherabouts of the spread of clones. I was investigating a six inch chunk that i removed and what i did not expect was living tissue within the woody core. It also gave me the chance to examine a pocket of dried black rot,the plant does a good job of isolating the infected area,even the callusing had several layers that could be peeled away to expose healthy intact living tissue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
