Snowfella's cactus trials

[SnowFella]

Just some random photos here, middle of winter down here so it's fun to still see some things still happening on the bench.

Mammillaria hahniana.

This one is a recent purchase that I found were riddled with mealybugs, unpotted, drowned for 10 minutes and then treated with incecticide and it still manages to kick up buds.

Mammillaria rhodantha ssp. pringlei...I think

Sending up more and more buds

Mammillaria decipiens ssp decipiens is doing the same


Mammillaria vetula ssp gracilis hasn't stopped throwing up flowers since I got it.


Turbinicarpus horripilus is making new spines


Copiapoa humilis, I guess looks to be trying to force out a bud through all that fluff.


Unknown (to me) Mammillaria that is starting to grow bigboy centrals and is kicking out offsets.


Looks like more leaves are coming on my Epi hybrid


And lastly some Zygo's
My white/faint pink one is truly over it now.


Others are starting to catch up, orange variety here.

Purple one is way behind


Red one is well in the race.

[SnowFella]

Did it again.
Although I think I'm starting to get the hang of how the local cactus nursery works now. They seem to mainly have a bulk of "common" plants through the sales area and mix in "one offs" from time to time. Last time I was there it was the Copiapoa's I found and this time around some Matucana's, a Mammillaria duweii, a Stenocactus of some sort and one I'm still trying to figure out.

Back row: Lobivia that's cresting, Arequipa??? and an Echinopsis
Middle row: Matucana, Echinopsis, Stenocactus, Gymnocalycium, Gymnocalycium
Front row: Gymnocalycium, Matucana, Mammillara duweii
Least that's what the labels say.


The cresting Lobivia whatever it is, looks like both taller shots are cresting aswell.


M. duweii with some hooked centrals.


And the Arequipa whatever it is

[Tony]

Great new bunch of plants whatever their names are!

[SnowFella]

Cheers.
Think I'm going to have a hard time keeping the impulses under control in the coming month, spending it overseas where nothing I see can be taken with me back downunder.
Heading home to visit family in Sweden aswell as spending a few day's in Amsterdam, and I've already got the wife to agree on a visit to atleast one Botanical garden with a cactii/succulent section

[hob]

Species and varieties
Arequipa aurantiaca synonym of Matucana aurantiaca
Arequipa australis synonym of Oreocereus hempelianus (Achacaño)
Arequipa clavata synonym of Eriosyce subgibbosa var. clavata
Arequipa erectocylindrica synonym of Oreocereus hempelianus (Achacaño)
Arequipa haynii synonym of Matucana haynei
Arequipa hempeliana synonym of Oreocereus hempelianus (Achacaño)
Arequipa leucotricha synonym of Oreocereus leucotrichus
Arequipa myriacantha synonym of Matucana haynei ssp. myriacantha
Arequipa rettigii synonym of Oreocereus hempelianus (Achacaño)
Arequipa soehrensii synonym of Oreocereus hempelianus (Achacaño)
Arequipa spinosissima synonym of Oreocereus hempelianus (Achacaño)
Arequipa variicolor synonym of Oreocereus variicolor
Arequipa weingartiana synonym of Oreocereus hempelianus (Achacaño)

[SnowFella]

Cheers Hob
That's about asfar as I got through this site aswell, haven't really looked further into it although some of those can be excluded pretty quick.
I have a feeling it's been neglected for some time as mostly everything else in that section of the nursery is either eoliated or looks in a generally really sad state. Think it's part of the old nursery from when the place was more a specialist cactii place and not the bigbox supplier of cactii they are now.
Lots of the stuff in there can be had for a steal as they are in such a bad state, nearly walked out with a 35cm tall and 15cm in diameter Astrophytum myriostigma quadricostatum "nudum" for $15 but passed on it as it's severely scarred.

[SnowFella]

Finally got around to start getting what I need to turn my temporary raised bed into something permanent. Starting to sink in just how much work I've got ahead of me now

Temporary bed dwarfed by the beginnings of the new border, temp measurements are 120cm x 60cm.


Heading back to the gardening place tomorrow to pick up bricks for a second layer, could only fit 40 bricks at a time into my little hatchback and just that near bottomed the suspension out
Main bulk of the work will come after I get home from holidays in August, diggin out for and concreting a footing for the bricks and thenreplacing the old topsoil and grass for a sandy loam mixed with dg.

[Harriet]

Just a thought here... you may want to extend the bed all the way to the fence on the left side of the picture. If the grass there is as bad as the grass here in Florida, you will have a nasty weeding problem if you don't.

[SnowFella]

Yup, it's that bad type of grass that send out runners bloody everywhere.
Can't really extend it all the way to the fence though as that fence just wound't be able to handle the pressure of about a foot deep soil. It's just a sheetmetal frame with a thin corrugated steel sheet inserted into it.
So rather than go all the way up to the fence with bricks I'm leaving enough gap so I can get the lawnmower in there plus putting down a 10 inch deep concrete footing. Ought to hopefully take care of most of the weeding problems.

[daiv]

That's quite an expansion. I think it is a great idea!

[SnowFella]

Cheers. It's more or less the size I had planned from the start, although I was planning to make it out of treated wood rather than edging bricks. Bricks just look so much better though, just came home with the next lot of 40 a few minutes ago much to the protest of the poor car's suspension again.

Guess I really did get hooked bad by this bug as the first thing that came into my head after looking at the size of the bed and then at how many hardy cactii I have intended for it was "I'll have to get more cactii for the bed and to restock the bench!"

[SnowFella]

Looks like some of mine who I've yet to see in flower are starting to bud up....and I'll likely miss them all as I'll be overseas for a month now.

Mammillaria carmenae. Kinda rough looking dual header but with plenty of buds forming.


Mammillaria albilanata according to the label when I got it, but after finding one near identical one in another nursery with another label I now think it might be a Mammillaria elegans


Mammillaria crinta. Buds and shriveled from lack of water at the same time, been a while since these got watered now.



Parodia haselbergii


Just purchased Parodia magnificus/warasii, think it's P. warasii, with a bud. Still charing a tray barerooted with 5 or 6 other new additions.


Horrid light for photos today, dull and overcast.

[iann]

If they are dry and you stick them somewhere cool while you're away, maybe they'll all be lined up begging to flower when you get back

[SnowFella]

At the moment they haven't had water for a month now and are at the mercy of the weather gods when it comes to temperature. Some are starting to show some serious shrinkage and wrinkles.
Seeing temps ranging between low single digits (celcius) during the nights to low 20's during the day. They are stuck in a spot where they get a fair bit of direct sunlight though so surface temps climb a fair bit higher I'd say.

Probably leave them as is till I get home though and only instruct the stepson to water the Zygo's and my Epi while me and the wife are away.

Amazing the difference a few months can make though, here's what I think is a G. mihanovichii in March compared to today...shriveled and pale.
In March while in flower


And today after some months of cooler weather and less water.

[john b]

Wow! Look at all the space in that yard that can be filled with cacti.