I swore off buying more Ariocarpus.....

[BarryRice]

....and I was firm about it. NO MORE!

And to celebrate my new resolve and deep personal control, I visited the Monterey Bay Cactus show, and got four nice new Ariocarpus. Oh, and a Schick Echinopsis hybrid....

[MadridPeter]

You may need to get outside help if your own willpower does not suffice I am lucky because I limited by an impatient wife and little space

[DaveW]

You have to tell wives you won them in a raffle Peter, make sure you always take the price labels out though. If you have to buy them always change the label to indicate half the price you actually paid for them. Also keep killing a few every year to make more space.

[george76904]

Well congrats on the new plants, but since you did swear off buying them, there's (always) some free space in my collection
Just kidding, enjoy them. I have only recently been getting interested in ariocarpus, but they are already one of my favorite genera.

[iann]

A. fissuratus is still my favourite.

[MadridPeter]

Oh yes Dave I think I am already a professional at covering tracks...postage invoices swiftly disposed of and sometimes even saying the item cost one third of its actual price..or saying "but we have got to save that one itll only die here" in a supermarket...but rather than killing off unwanted ones to make space I give them away to anyone interested....got myself in a pickle though as just this month i have bought 3 (bieblii kuehhasii (tiny blighter i hope gets through winter), e. subdenudata & t. grandiflorus) and sneakily slipped a couple of offsets off a haku-jo maru i saw in a garden centre..such a funny looking and interesting plant!!

[majcka]

To swear or not to swear....Rather not! You will always lose!

But you got some good plants. You can't buy me with those (except Schick Echinopsis hybrid), but I can't say they are bad.

[graffiti]

So you can give your old ones to me and then you can buy without guilt. Seems like a win/win to me.

[jfabiao]

It pays off in the long run to admire and show your significant other plants outrageously priced. You can always say "remember that Ariocarpus we saw costing 150€? Well, look at this one I got for 20€!!!!"

[majcka]

It pays off in the long run to admire and show your significant other plants outrageously priced. You can always say "remember that Ariocarpus we saw costing 150€? Well, look at this one I got for 20€!!!!"

Or sneak it into a GH and say you have this one for a long time. She probably doesn't count all of them, does she???

[MadridPeter]

yeah jfabiao i got a papillosus for 14 euros including postage and only 2 weeks before i saw somebody buy one on eBay for 104 pounds sterling including postage so i could tell my wife i saved 126.97 euros (taking into account the exchange rate!!) ...graffiti i would happily give you 3 plants i have but youre so far away...here in spain its not that easy to offload cacti even for free...i advertised some on a free secondhand website and got absolutely no answers at all

[DaveW]

What you tell your family you paid for your plants is a bit like that old joke:-

"A man on his death bed pulled his friend closer to him and said "whatever you do Jack don't let my wife sell my photographic equipment for what she thinks I paid for it!"

I think many of us in the EU would be interested to hear of spare cacti Peter since they can be sent freely around the EU by post. It's sending or receiving them from outside the EU that's the problem. I have had plants sent to me in the UK from Slovenia as well as Germany and also brought plants back from Spain without any problems when I went to the Costa del Sol. I agree it's strange our hobby is so poorly represented in Spain where many have the ideal climate to raise them.

A few Spanish cactus clubs seem to start up and then disappear, becoming dead links on the Web. This seems to be the only one whose link is still working:-

http://asac.cat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Pushrestart]

What you tell your family you paid for your plants is a bit like that old joke:-

"A man on his death bed pulled his friend closer to him and said "whatever you do Jack don't let my wife sell my photographic equipment for what she thinks I paid for it!"

http://asac.cat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As someone who does photography on the side, this is so very true, people have no idea how pricey photography goods are.

You have to tell wives you won them in a raffle Peter, make sure you always take the price labels out though. If you have to buy them always change the label to indicate half the price you actually paid for them. Also keep killing a few every year to make more space.

This is hilarious, hide the evidence, all of it !!

[MadridPeter]

Yes I stumbled onto that Spanish society website although its all in Catalan and society/members located very far from me.....

As for spare cacti I would be delighted to send 3 to anyone who is interested although at the same time id be apprehensive as they are not in the best condition (well healthy but 2 of 3 a bit etiolated..not severely)

I know that line about jack was a joke but i was only thinking the other day what will become of our collections once we pass away! these great plants can live a long time...I have seen many collectors with incredible collections but with no obvious candidate to take over

I am going to start my daughters training as soon as possible

[DaveW]

The problem in the UK can be if people are taken ill or die just before the cold weather therefore the plants can be neglected for a few weeks until somebody sorts matters out and by that time the heating may be off and many plants can be dead. However not being watered, or the greenhouse ventilators being opened up in the height of summer can also burn and damage the plants.

It has been suggested therefore you ask another cactophile should you take ill or die to immediately take charge of the plants regarding watering etc, or if you are a cactus club member get the club to take charge of them whilst things are settled as often the widow or family have other things to think about and the plants are their last concern at such moments. Often the local club will then arrange an auction for the family to dispose of the plants if nobody in the family is interested in carrying on the collection.