cactus garage

[Guest jessie]

Hope its okay to post this here, but here's a link that may be helpful: http://www.eisa.net.au/~cactus/

This place has a lot of different stuff (cuttings and plants) and some things are quite cheap. The service is quick and reliable, so i recommend you email for a price list if interested.

[rkundalini]

This guy has a stall at St Andrew's Market in Melbourne. He seems to be cool with the entheogenic nature of Lophophora and Trichocereus, judging by the signs he puts up (e.g. "Puts hair on your neurons"), just in case anyone was paranoid. You might wish to explicitely enquire as to the health of what you're getting though -- wira as I recall you bought "rescued" a sick peyote from him?

[Guest reville]

I found him to be quite good

and peyote is touchy if it gets injured in th wrong season.i have fretted often after transplanting cacti not knowing whether or no theyll make it

[Guest wira]

The one I bought from him was ok, but he said he had another very similar to it that had suddenly rotted the day before. I don't think he hardened his Lophophoras off very well. The plant is since in prime health A lot of his stuff is pretty good, but I've found some things infested with mealy bugs that he hadn't noticed, so it is possible that if mail ordering you could receive an infested plant. I would think, and hope, that he would check them thoroughly before packaging.

He also sometimes has T. bridgesii monstrose, but at least from his market stall there is more of a focus on small globular cacti.

It might not matter if you're just buying from him, or having a quick chat, but although he is "cool with the entheogenic nature of Lophophora and Trichocereus", that just means he is aware that they are psychoactive and he thinks that's fine, but he's never partaken himself and doesn't plan to. As far as he is concerned, whiskey is better, and he doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that these plants act quite differently to alcohol. So if you start trying to chat as though he's a fellow tripper, there won't be much common ground. He is very much the tits, grog & BBQ type old codger

Still, he's a nice enough old guy and likes to crack [dirty] jokes... you can bet he sure loves the penis plant

[Guest jessie]

I'm amused to hear that this guy has never felt the temptation to enjoy his cacti collection as something other than ornamentals. I just dont understand that mentality :-) I assumed otherwise as he enclosed a whole heap of notes about psychactive cacti last time i ordered from him!

[Guest wira]

He has more of the "dry whiskey/Indian dope" view of peyote The info he has on psychoactive cacti seems to be gleaned from various things he's read in the past, some of which is outdated and inaccurate, so don't believe everything he tells you. I suspect he circulates this information solely to sell more cacti... not that I necessarily hold that against him, he is running a business after all

[DreamingNagual]

Are these products safe in the mail???

[billy]

just got his list in the mail today, pretty fast considering i only emailed him 2 days ago ! seems like a comprehensive sort of supply he has there. i may take a trip down to melbourne soon if i can get it together and have a look.

still - i feel sorta guilty talking about other suppliers here, considering Torsten is suppling the forum etc.

[Torsten]

Don't feel guilty! Go for it. At least I won't have to work quite so hard if you also buy from somewhere else

Anyway, I like Peter and buy from him myself.

[Guest wira]

You probably know this, but for those who don't it's worth mentioning - many commercial cactus growers [and the Cactus Garage guy is no exception] regularly spray their plants with Malathon [sold as Malathion in the US] to kill pests. This stuff is a heavy duty cholinergic toxin, and you don't want to ingest it. Any cactus you buy, you should probably not immediately consumed for this reason [though personally I also think there are other reasons for not eating them straight away ].