Thanks, Jangaudi. I wondered if it was related to that.

Does anyone know what has happened to these two websites? I have been trying to access them for a week now and I just get "404 Not found" errors.

I've been using eight T5 Agro fluorescent lamps (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5NPRN2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) for four years with my seedlings (over an eight square-foot area) and they produce a lot of light, maybe even too much for some seedlings because they a...

Congratulations!

I live in a hot, humid summer climate (Central Texas) and have lost many cacti in plastic pots (even those which can take a lot of summer water such as Echinopsis hybrids) because the mix either had organic matter in it or didn't drain fast enough. I have had to severely modify my soil mix (compost)...

Spectacular flower! Well worth the wait.

I'd be careful using oils on smoother cacti such as Astrophytum, Lophophora, Thelocactus hexaedrophorus, gymnocalycium and so on. You might see some staining on these. On cacti with heavier spination you are much less likely to see any discoloration.

Thanks Nikon Guy and Dave W for your explanations. I screen my scoria, decomposed granite and basalt at various sizes, depending on the usage, so I guess those qualify as grit.

Greetings from down under! So... I decided to try out the baggie (ziplock to some of you) method of germinating cacti seed. The aim of this method (I think) is to create an isolated micro ecosystem for germination and growing of the seedlings. I usually germinate my seeds using a three part mix of ...

Supergodzilla, after you open the bags to feed them and then close them up again, do you find that you will get algae, mildew, etc? Or do you give them a spray of funcgicide or H2O2? I've had one pot developing some algae, but no mould issues. Nothing that has affected the growth of the plants. At ...

I've been experimenting with leaving them in baggies for different lengths of time. My last season of cactus seed sowing, I've left all the seeds in the bags on a heat mat for 10 months now. Primarily, this has been to keep them growing over winter. They've definitely put on more size than previous...

Keep in mind that most seeds germinate best in temperatures between 21-30 degrees C. If you go too much above 30C some species will not germinate. I don't know how hot it gets where you are in summer, but in my greenhouse in Texas I try not to start seeds much after May 1. I actually germinate them ...

By methylated spirits, do you mean denatured alcohol? I have used isopropyl alcohol for mites before, but I hadn't heard of using methylated spirits. I made the mistake of spraying some echinopsis with isopropyl alcohol once while they were out in the sunlight. They were horribly burned and unsalvag...

I don't bother with trying to reuse for my cacti. It's too much work. It usually gets dumped somewhere in the yard or garden that needs soil.

Nice site, indeed. Thanks for sharing.