I read that where they use cacti as fodder, to control thrips and mealy bugs, "effective control has been achieved by spraying with dithiocarbamate at 1 kg/200 litre of water".

Here are some pics of what potted agaves look like when harvesting pups. The "leaders" or "headers"- not sure if there is a word for them- often lose their way. I got tired and didn't have time to plant the pups right away so I put them in a cardboard box with grass clippings. A ...

The one that looks kind of like moose antlers is awesome! Is it really Euphorbia mauritanica ?
In Google images (which always have some incorrect identifications), that exact picture is the only one that looks like that.

I have problems with weeds overtaking my outdoor cacti too. So I decided to use landscape fabric from now on, and cover it with a thin layer of mulch. I think these are O. Phaeacantha. These are cuttings, the whole thing will probably look a lot better when they start growing new pads. I made little...

I didn't get a chance to try it this year, thanks for the answers, though. The plants look so radically different (for opuntia) that I wondered if cross pollinating them would work. The humifusa have a sprawling habit, which isn't as attractive, to me, but they easily tolerate the freezing rain we s...

I just got an ellisiana through the mail, from Plants Delights in North Carolina. I hope it survives the winter; sometimes we get more rain than snow. Just in case it doesn't, I saved the top pad, it was two pads. The squirrels might wind up eating it even if it does survive.

22% of dry matter as protein not enough? One Windowsill, yes, I was originally thinking of protein content- relying on memory- I didn't recall it being that high. I must have been thinking of this. http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y2808E/y2808e07.htm Protein content varies significantly according to c...

How exactly would you want to increase the nutrients in nopales, mjazz? Which nutrients? 22% of dry matter as protein not enough? I don't know how. I'm not a scientist. I was just thinking that maybe farmers in India that were killing themselves because they lost all their crops due to drought woul...

martenfisher wrote:Inserting genes? Just say no to GMO.

Fighting Malaria With Tobacco

http://israel21c.org/health/fighting-ma ... h-tobacco/

They overlap a little bit, but usually it's at different times. I thought the bees might have already done that for me, but I won't know until the seedlings from the last batch get larger. I thought it was more complex, that you had to remove the stamens of the ones you wanted to pollinate so they w...

Does anyone know of any sites that show how to cross fertilize opuntia?
Specifically, I have a lot of humifusa and some phaecantha that I would like to cross pollinate.

Why so small? There are tons of them on ebay, but a quick search shows maybe the smallest is 12".
I could send you a cutting, I have some, but they are only about an inch wide.

I have some Phaecantha and Humifusa that grow outside that I would like to try to cross fertilize this spring. Can anyone point me to some line drawings that clearly delineate the anthers etc.? I'm going to attempt it also with some Y. Gloriosa and some striped yucca- I'll have to do the work of tha...

I have an O. subulata & it says its an Austrocylindropuntia on the label. Looks nothing like this, though. So I should be expecting leaves in the spring. It gets cold on the porch but the label says it's hardy to 20 degrees. IMHO it doesn't hurt to toughen these things up. I have some pretty lar...

It looks like it's sending forth roots or more pads or flowers... those pink things.
If I like the plant enough, I'll buy it, fake flowers and all.