Snowfella's cactus trials

[SnowFella]

Another Rebutia/Sulco sprang out today even though it wasn't nearly as warm. Lots of buds left on it too.


And today's suprise came in the way of this Echinocereus reichenbachii var baileyi.

Knew it had a bud forming but figured it was days away from opening.

And I can freely admit that things have got alittle out of hand to say the least. Not only is the bench I built for the collection full but both overflow bench 1 and 2 are also equally full so some plants now live on the ground. And everything is right in the outdoors undercover family area so any family bbq's could be a daunting prospect with kids around
Here's the full scope of the insanity.
The main bench, full from just about the moment I built it.


The 2 overflow benches, used to be housed on the gas bbq when it only was a dozen or so plants but that quickly got to small.


And some of the now ground dwelling plants, there's more around the side of the house aswell

[Arjen]

nice! apparently spring has sprung there
lovely sulco and echinocereus!

[Snowcat]

Yeah cacti collections tend to grow enormously... You have MUCH more place then I do... So I am looking with fear in near future. My wife gonna hate me i guess lol.

[SnowFella]

Tell me about it mate! Wife tolerates it but still rolls her eyes at me when I obsess over the plants or end up drooling over a new one at a nearby nursery.

[majcka]

Tell me about it mate! Wife tolerates it but still rolls her eyes at me when I obsess over the plants or end up drooling over a new one at a nearby nursery.

Maybe she is just jealous. If you forget about her I mean.

[SnowFella]

Few photos from the last couple of days, with some water in them flower season really seems to of kicked in for real.

M. matudae


Noto submammulosus


G. baldianum


Second smaller G. baldianum


G. platenese


Unknown, but from the flower I suspect it's a Weingartia


2 forms of M. bocasana



Likely hybrid Echinopsis that aborted all it's buds last year, crap photo as I had to resort to using flash.


Nice long flowerstem on it though


And lastly a new purchase, fingers crossed I don't kill this one like it's 2 predecessors!

[majcka]

Spring is in the air! Is it?

[sabotenmen]

The Echinocereus rigidissimus is a beautiful plant. Too bad that they rot so easily. I'm gonna try and buy one next spring. A mineral mix may be a good idea for this plant. Good luck with it, Snowfella!

[SnowFella]

Yup, spring really is in the air! Hopefully with some well needed rains I'd hope, through all of last month we only had 5mm's of rainfall so the lawns now go crunch for every step you take on them. Humidity has been so low for months now that gaps have started appearing between floorboards inside the house

[gemhunter178]

Nice ones! Did you cross-pollinate the Gymnos?

[SnowFella]

Nah, I would if I had the knack for growing from seed but 99% of my attempts so far have ended in complete losses.

Some more from the last few days, likely be a few days now without any real action as the weather have turned and we are finally getting some rain
E. subdenudatum


Parodia microsperma


Another from that Weingartia?


Freak little G. baldianum, lighter shade of red


Why I call it a freak


Unknown Gymno


Rebutia something or another


M. spaerica

[Robb]

Nice flowers Snowfella! Christchurch's growing season is far behind yours, so far only a few early flowering stenocacti have bloomed!

[majcka]

You didn't ask me, but I can't help it;

Your unknown gymno could be a Gymnocalycium occultum.

[Snowcat]

Very nice flowers! That rebutia looks fantastic!

[SnowFella]

Could be Maja, it's definately not G. baldianum as the label says.

Another Echinopsis from last night.




Hoping for this Lobivia to open tomorrow.


Burros tail flower, plant's going to need a trim soon as it's almost hanging to the ground.


Homegrown Yellow pitahaya (Selenicereus megalanthus) fruit, flowered late last summer and sat there all winter without ripening. Harvested yesterday and was dang nice chilled!