Ralf's collection - update 01/03/2016

Post by **daiv** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:47 am

Your plants all look great Ralf. So do you have any more nights of freezing? Do you have to run the heat at night?

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:58 pm

Thanks again!

I don't had any freeze since about a week. The forecast is somewhat colder for the coming days. It are freeze and snowfalls possible at my place.
The heater runs around the clock till the end of April or mid of May.

There is something new in the greenhouse. In December I was installed a heating wire on the shelfs. The heating wire is covered with quartz sand and on the sand are the pots.
So the plants get heat from below. I hope and guess that the warmth from below furthers a better and earlier growth.

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:08 pm

Hi Ralf
Nice work. Did it have any positive effects yet?
How is your outdoor Cacti Garden doing?
I hope all survived the winter well.
Jens

Post by **daiv** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 3:13 am

Jens wrote: How is your outdoor Cacti Garden doing?
I hope all survived the winter well.
Jens

I'll bet it did. Ralf's outdoor garden is luxury for those plants!

Arjen · Post by **Arjen** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 7:02 am

nice setup ralf!

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:37 pm

Very clever heating solution! It appears that all the references to "German Engineering" apply to more than cars!

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 2:44 pm

Jens wrote:Did it have any positive effects yet?

Till now not yet. But I'm hoping.

Jens wrote:How is your outdoor Cacti Garden doing?
I hope all survived the winter well.

All plants are still in their winter sleep. That's what I'm hoping too.

Harriet wrote:Very clever heating solution! It appears that all the references to "German Engineering" apply to more than cars!

This is the result of my really boring winter time. Somewhat crazy but a small success if it's working well.

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:52 am

I think the bottom heat will help quite a bit. It should stimulate root growth more than no heat.

promethean_spark · Post by **promethean_spark** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 5:07 am

If you put bagged seedlings on that and run the heater on a timer at night, the heat during the day will drive moisture deep into the pots, and the bottom heat at night will drive it up towards the seedlings. That way they get 'watered' every day, but the surface also dried out a bit every day, preventing fungus and moss.

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:14 am

Now I'm back from Tucson, Arizona. It was a great, a awesome and wonderful time!
In the coming days I'll remove my lost plants from the last winter. Then I've a overview what I've lost.

After that the show will goes further again.

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:27 pm

Great to have you back home savely.

Post by **daiv** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:43 pm

Welcome back Ralf!

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:20 am

Ralf hope you enjoyed Arizona!

Welcome home!

hegar · Post by **hegar** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 4:36 am

Hello Ralf,
I see, you are back in Germany, tending to your own cactus collection. I am glad, that you had a great time in Arizona and hope, that you were able to see some nice specimens in habitat.
If you want to see what grows in my area, go to the "Cacti Places" tab and check out the Orogrande, New Mexico hybrids. Orogrande is only one hour by car from El Paso. This was the fourth year, I believe, that I have taken dozens of images of the native vegetation, with the main emphasis on cacti. My avatar photo is one of those Echinocereus hybrids, where the dominant genes expressed are those of the large-flowering Texas Rainbow (Echinocereus dasyacanthus). The hybrids are usually described as "Echinocereus Xroetteri".

Harald

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:47 pm

Thanks for your warm and cordial welcome back at home. We would rather have stayed in Tucson.
It was a really sad goodbye of our friends. However we'll come back to Arizona.

@Harald
Thanks for your advise. I'm pretty sure that we'll have a layover in El Paso and Orogrande the next time. Maybe 3 or 4 days in El Paso to visit Orogrande and White Sands.
Then by car for about 5 hrs to Tucson. That'll be a good possibility. You see I'm plan the next vacation right now.

Ralf's collection - update 01/03/2016

cool