Hi Harriet, I wasn't collecting the orchids. All mine are cultivated from nurseries. I just wanted to get a good look at them when I fell out of the tree. You are just at the location where the mountains take a sudden jump in elevation so you get a lot of cloud and mist although there is very little...

Hi Peter, Is the off roading being done on existing dirt roads or are people driving around all over the country side? If they are then it is going to cause damage. How much depends on how many people are off roading and how often. Desert vegetation is slow growing and easy to damage. Once removed i...

Its a crazy old world out there. Up the road from Melo Heaven in the Rio Chicama in Northern Peru (La Libertad) there are more Neoraimondia arequipensis than you can shake a stick at. I am still getting the hang of the digital camera and exposures are not as good as I might have liked but hope you g...

Back in the field again. Some pretty crazy multi-Melos. Have not seen them before. Found quite a few in a ten minute walk. Collected a nice three headed one but it was replanted when I found one with EIGHT heads (photo to follow another day) http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/userpix/2794_DSC_0261_1.jp...

I did actually prepare quite a long reply to Phil's question about collecting plants in the wild but my internet Explorer crashed before I posted so here goes again. There probably are laws prohibiting digging up cacti in Peru as there are for illegal logging, collecting rare birds etc but I doubt i...

Daddy Oroya, Mummy Oroya and Baby Oroya! Mum and Baby were collected by me so may not even be the same species as Dad. Won't know until they flower. http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/userpix/2794_DSC_0237_1.jpg Close up of the flowers (which are not my doing. Bought it like that). http://www.cactiguid...

Taking some of the ideas mentioned in some of the other posts (no plagarism here) making on objective list of the 10 Most Exotic and Beautiful is not going to happen but the Top Ten lists is a great idea. Not sure how much work a new category is but a Top Ten section under special features would be ...

Can claim any points for the flowers. Bought it like that today.

Suspect no-one can as I bought it without a pot so think it was recently collected from the wild.

Will ask next time I see my man.

This is the next stage in my development of the hobby is trying the get my specimens to flower.

Talk about plagarism. I clicked on the link hoping to see some stunning photos and get Daiv's list of the most common cacti (not that there is anything wrong with them as cacti but 10 Most Exotic and Beautiful Cacti they are not.) I do have a Powerpoint of some truly stunning cacti photos (not by me...

My dealer has done me proud. Bought a number of specimens today but this is the best (will photograph the others in the next few days). I have a couple of these that I collected myself but they are not in flower and are much smaller. Interestingly this one has yellow spines but they come with red an...

Thought some of you might like this. Its a little country cemetery in Northern Peru on the road to Huaraz, it is desert on one of the many river valleys so there is plenty of agriculture but only on the valley floor. There is a small water supply on the graveyard so some of the graves have tended pl...

Can anyone identify this.

Purchases in Lima from my cactus guy but what he tells me it is does not exist. Kind of cool though.



Also here my super Melo.



Regards..........Owen

Just back from a trip to the area around Rio Chicama in La Libertad in northen central Peru. No problems indentifying Armatocereus matucanensis but these are not the most common in the area. http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/userpix/2794_DSC_0203_1.jpg There are whole forests of much larger, similar c...

Here it is! 15 second, 1.8 Mb movie of five flowers opening on one of my Melocactus which I made from stitching together 30 photos taken with my point and shoot digital camera a few months ago. The Discovery Channel it is not but thought some members might want to see it. The interesting thing is th...

[img]http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/userpix/2794_OM_Cacti_0510_009_2.jpg[/img Thanks for all the help with the ID and Daiv is pretty much correct with his guess at the balcony. Rooftop terrace as shown in the attached pic. Off into the hills for work tomorrow so hopefully collecting a few more plan...