How do I create a voting pool?

[stefan m.]

I want to create a voting pool for favourite plants(cacti category and succulent category ) , and the top 3 winners will receive cactus/succulent of the month topic.but the idea is half baked, and cant cover for plants that i dont grow(most south american cacti, euphorbiaceae, aizooaceae, apocyanae and others)

[ElieEstephane]

Cteate a new topic and at the bottom select creat poll nextvto attachments

[stefan m.]

Allright, Need suggestions for
top 10 cacti
and top 20 succulents.
Will make pools separately
i have my Ideas but feel like running them through.Also, need be common plants, two per genus , (one for cacti).

[ElieEstephane]

I think it's better to do not so common plants to introduce everyone to rare or unheard of cacti

[stefan m.]

Well, a lot of people got ultra rare eriosyces, aztekium, lophopora and what not. Im more implying "easy to grow" plants(so no stuff like neoraimondia or mutants like cereus monstrosse or gymnocalycium mihanovichii hibotan).
I was thinking among the lines of ferocactus, pilosocereus, echeverias , etc.
While growing rarity is fun, remember that for some people its hard(to be determined in my case).

[ElieEstephane]

Well ferrocacti are really interesting like chrysacanthus, peninsulae, pottsii, alamosanos, acanthodes, diguetii and many more. Personnally, i like every single ferocactus with all subspecies and variations.

[stefan m.]

Not really. ones like viridiscens/fordii? , hystrix and glauscens worked better than peninsulae(mealybug attraction) and potsii. So you know, its not by genus, and its from grower to grower.

[stefan m.]

Anyway, the pool of suggestions im creating should include(and based on cactus requests and other users plants, and excluding some plants that are TOO common(and this list is including popular wholesale, or very popular seed-grown plants
for cacti
-stenocactus multicostatus
-astrophytum myriostygma
-astrophytum capricorne
-ferocactus hystrix
-ferocactus glauscens
-mammillaria karwinskiana
-mammilaria elegans*
-mammillaria elongata*
-echinocereus triglodachiatus*
-echinocereus rigidisimus
- echinopsis peruviana
-echinopsis -shiick hybrids*
- echinopsis subdenuata
-disocactus x hybridus
-gymnocalcium baldanium
-parodia scopa*
-parodia leninghausii*
- pilsocereus azureus
-pilosocereus pachycladus
-myrtillocactus geometriazans
- pachycereus pringlei
- pachycereus marginatus
-polaskia chichipe
-stesonia coryne
-stenocereus thurberi
-stenocereus griseus
-gymnocallycium baldanium
-gymnocallcium damsii
-gymnocalycium pfanzii
- rebutia heliosa
- rebutia muscula
-sulcorebutia rauschii*
-cleistocactus winterii*
-cleistocactus straussi
-harrisia justbertii
-cylindropuntia imbricata
-tephrocactus articulatus var. papyracanthus
-consolea falcata*
-brasiliopuntia brasilensis
-matucana madisoniorium*
-setiechinopsis mirabilis*
& would like suggestions on opuntia genus. will post succulents on a later occasion. marked ones i cant give data about

[stefan m.]

Succulents
Echeveria
-perle von nunberg
-setosa
-pulidonis
- runyonii*
- shaviana
-purpusorum
Aeonium
-arboereum
-kiwi
Sempervivum arachnoideum
Cotyledon orbicualta
kalanchoe beharenis
bryophylum delagoense
crassula perforata
agave victoriae regiae
agave striata
graptopetalum paraguayense
pachyphytum oviferum
gasteria bicolor
haworthia limfolia
haworthia attenuata(not sure , very common)
haworthia retusa
aloe broomii
aloe variegata
aloe humilis
aloe plicatilis*can only provide germination details and aftercare
aloe juvenna
***from this point on i dont grow these plants***
jatropha
euphorbia lactaea
euphorbia ingens
euphorbia horrida
euphorbia obesea
euphoriba trigona
lithops optica
fenestraria
faucaria
Cheiridopsis cigarettifera
aloinopsis
titanopsis
pleiospilos
hoodia
adeiums
pachypodiums
etc(feel free to add).
Ill chose 3-4 from each order.

[stefan m.]

So, no one's voting.......

[DaveW]

I think you are making it a little too complex Stefan by being enthusiastic and listing too many names. If people see a list of half a dozen species they will read it, but when presented with a list that is too long it's a turn off for them. Probably you may be best to stick to genera rather than species, since again it gives people more choice. The less specific the definition is, the more entries you are liable to get.

Even things like "a cactus in flower", or ditto for succulents, is likely to attract more pictures than one listing the genus or species.

Also it is obvious from many posts that what are common in one country are rarer in another. S. American cacti and certainly Eriosyce are not rare in the UK, neither are Lophophora's. However collectors admitting to owning Lophophora's in countries that prohibit growing them may be rare. You cannot really say any plant is unobtainable in any country if it is generally stocked by seed merchants and you can import the seed, only it is just not commonly grown because people have not taken the trouble to set and grow it. It's not always up to nurserymen to grow your plants from seed for you, if so you will always have a limited range of species available since they mainly cater for the more lucrative mass market and often the casual windowsill grower.

For instance, regarding being specific, in your list Echinopsis "Schick hybrids" are not that common in the UK anymore since CITES made it impossible to import the ISI offerings from the USA. However other Echinopsis hybrids like the Abbey Brook ones are grown by some over here. Pilosocereus are often avoided in cold old Britain since they need warmer greenhouses in the winter, since most in the UK keep their greenhouses just above freezing, which is OK for most cacti and saves on heating bills.

[stefan m.]

I labeled south american ones(with the asterisk) as plants i cannot provide growing info about(do not have or died instantly). Second, i do believe that abbey brook are dwarf types(hybrids with oxygona), and i do label oxygona and eyriesii as too common. Third, ive seen a few pilosocereus with growers in germany and britain(at least on you tube). Yet Ive only seen one eriosyce in wholesale, and it was infected when i bought it(but young me didnt know better, so im excluding that one in particular). 4th, i did mention some plants from seed(matucana and lohphora are most popular ones i know off).
So , forgive me for being a casual windowsill grower because wholesale and importers are evil. And finally, reviewing some of the previous plants on the least, some of them are labeled "very hard to grow", so im PURPOSELY NEGLECTING plants like that.

[ElieEstephane]

I can't see how you are always labelling certain plants as mealybug attractors or any other bug. It's all about growing practices. When you don't have high humidity and your soil is not too organic, pests are very rare. As soon as you buy a cactus or any other plant, first quarantine it. Never add a new plant to your collection immediately. As soon as you get a plant, remove and discard old soil, clean the plant and roots a little and i guarantee you will never have pest attacks.
Calling any plant a pest attractor is too general and related to every individual and doing so will put off many potential growers from acquiring beautiful plants.

[stefan m.]

A pest attractor, is a plant more prone to a certain type of disease than any other plant. Ive grown a lot of plants over the year, and none is more problematic than ferocactus horridus. And yes, ive changed the soil, and i already explained the organic soil issues.It gets mealybugs AFTER its introduced to my cacti. Though youre a heavy fertilizer user, i refuse to touch the stuff, so thats another issue entirely.

[ElieEstephane]

Though youre a heavy fertilizer user, i refuse to touch the stuff, so thats another issue entirely.

Absolutely not. I only very weakly fertilize plants twice in summer and seedlings only get a few grams of fertilizer per 20L of water due to their soil being too poor.