getting started

[prier]

i'm pretty new to the growing thing. i'm after some hints and tips for growing some plants and cacti. reccomendations for books and what are the essential supplies i'll need. I have several trichocereus, phalaris which has just sprouted, a sally d, catnip, wormwood and lions tail plants. i have a basik understanding of growing techniques but i really need some pro advice. currently i've got most of my plants in a lightbox but it's getting crowded and i'll need to move some outside, but i'm worried the weather will kill some things, what can i do to protect them?

[ 25. September 2005, 05:28: Message edited by: Prier ]

[Benzito]

Unfortunately, you need to ask a more specific question.

We can't really provide 'hints & tips' on all plants!

My recommendation would be to click on the search button up the top of this page, and type in the name of the plants you are specifically interested in. I spent my first few months just searching these forums, and not even posting. It's all been discussed on here a million times before, you've just gotta look for it.

As far as moving your plants outside, what kind of climate are you in, and why are you worried they won't handle it? What plants specifically?

I don't mean to be difficult, you just barely asked a question, but made a broad kind of statement.

[ 25. September 2005, 09:53: Message edited by: Benzito ]

[Rev]

dont try and grow too many plants from seed or cuttings at once

do yours in batches and make sure they are well on their way to maturity then do another batch

thats my advice anyway..

[Evil Genius]

Don´t use too much water! Let the soil dry out before you water again. This helps to reduce fungal Problems to a minimum. Don´t forget to feed your plants from time to time.Find a good soil mix which is suitable for your purposes.

[ 25. September 2005, 13:03: Message edited by: Evil Genius ]

[Benzito]

Ok, you guys made me look like a knob now.

I better give some kind of basic advice. hehe.

When re-potting, or pruning plants, it is generally better to do it at the start of a growth season. ie. start of spring.

If you go pruning plants, or re-potting them, in winter, they will probably just die off and never grow back. A vast amount of plants lie dormant during the cold months, and don't grow.

[apothecary]

Yeah Benzito is a knob! :D :D :D

Umm...I think the main thing you should do is to slowly harden off your plants. I start a lot of my guys inside under lights and then move them outside, and because I'm lazy and a tough bastard I never harden my plants off.

You can tell because they usually drop a fair bit of leaf before coming back.

What is hardening off you say? You can move all your plants outside into a spot in your yard where they will only get full sunlight for less than half the day. Leave them like this until they look like they are wanting more light (usually a week or so). At this point you can begin increasing their light intake by moving them into a spot that gets say a few more hours of light, and slowly increasing this over a few weeks until they are somewhere you feel comfortable with.

Wormwood and catnip will be fine in this situation, I am so annoyed at my leonotis leonurus because I can't seem to find a locale in my yard they enjoy, and I simply advise to keep your Salvia inside unless you live in the tropics

[ 26. September 2005, 01:09: Message edited by: apothecary ]

[prier]

Yeah after I posted this I did think it might have been a bit vague, sorry. I’ve been lurking on these forums for a couple of months now, thanks for the basic tips that's the kind of stuff I need. As for the climate I live in Melbourne currently.

Is it best to bring cacti inside when it’s raining a fair bit? I left my first pachanoi outside during the rain for a couple of days once and it got pretty bad root rot, not knowing why it wasn't growing I left it for quite a while till I read up and found out what was wrong with it, I’ve taken it out of the ground an cut back where it was rotting it's currently just inside hardening up again before I repot it but no matter how much of the rot I seem to cut off it seems to appear again, is there something maybe I’m doing wrong?

What would be a good plant food to use with my cacti and how often should I feed them?

I’ve flicked through growing the hallucinogens on erowid, and I can't afford to buy the psychedelic plant encyclopedia (it’s $225 at my local bookstore) are there any other books that would be good for just all round psychedelic plant growing info?

sorry for all the questions, i'm just really new to this and you guys all seem to really know what you are doing.

[smogs]

one of the best ways to start rather is to go to eitehr www.seedring.org, the trade section here or the SAB shop or one of the many other excellent shops look through the list and see if you come across anything interesting.

Then go to erowid or on here and do a search for it to find out a bit more info.

I started out just growing anything that was free, suited my conditions and that I had room for.

[Rev]

What would be a good plant food to use with my cacti and how often should I feed them?

every time you water during growing season you can use 1/4 strength soluble fert like thrive or miracle grow

i dont but thats cost id need second mortgage to afford the ferts. but if you can it pays

forget that book - for now

the internet means nearly all the best info is now free. Books have a much diminished value and get outdated easily especially in thsi field

better to get some good general plant books like ones on growing cacti and succulents, taking cuttings, growing orchids, building soil etc etc

for coffee table books and bed time reading i loved schultes and hoffmans 'plants of the gods'

a much more affordable title

if youre gonna spend that kind of $$$ the get Christian raatsch's book instead

please sombody chime in with the name and link n all that ...

go to amazon.com or florilegium books (oz)

http://www.abebooks.com/home/FLORILEGIUM/

For the current catalogue of available books write to Florilegium, PO Box 644, Rozelle, NSW, 2039. Phone: (02) 9555 8589 or fax: (02) 9818 4409. Email: [email protected]

[psycho0]

maybe bring your cacti inside when it rains alot when they r still young but i leave all my trichs, not my lophs, outside and theyre doing fine!

[prier]

i've had plants of the gods for a while now its a great book, i'm not so new to the ethnobotanic thing, just to growing them. i've used the seedring before too, but i do really appreciate all the replys thanks. any more basic tips to bear in mind would be great.