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Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:14 am
by tumamoc
Nice! I hope the Echinomastus pull through. I'm pretty stoked 'cause my young-looking E. erectocentrus v. acunensis has got flower buds for the first time. How long do you think it takes it go from seedling to flowering age?

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:28 am
by peterb
They flower very young in habitat, so I'd guess about 5 years? I have never been able to grow one from seed to flower. I have a couple that are getting up there.
I think Bruno has gotten them to flowering size from seed. Maybe he knows how long it takes in italy. :-)

peterb

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:42 pm
by peterb
Some photos of a few things. Spring is very, very slowly springing here. Very mild winter this year, but rather dry here in Tempe this past 6 weeks.

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:32 pm
by iann
Lots going on there. Little going on here. Pediocactus are fat, hard to see any movement on anything else. I'll be test watering some E. polycephalus soon. I tried Mammillaria tetrancistra but no big response.

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:40 am
by billdee
Everything looks great peter!
One of my future goals is to raise a cactus from seed to flower. That would be cool. 8)

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 5:30 pm
by peterb
Raising from seed to flower is wonderful. There are some species that can go from sowing to flower in about 18-36 months. I tend not to grow those and aim for some of the slower stuff that's more like 4-8 years to flower. The key thing for me of course is to not wait for flowers. haha. I like looking at seedlings, so I'm enjoy the plants from the day they sprout, not holding my breath. It is really cool when the slow ones start to put on adult characteristics.

peterb

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 5:46 pm
by peterb
A few more pics.

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:07 pm
by billdee
peterb wrote:Raising from seed to flower is wonderful. There are some species that can go from sowing to flower in about 18-36 months. I tend not to grow those and aim for some of the slower stuff that's more like 4-8 years to flower. The key thing for me of course is to not wait for flowers. haha. I like looking at seedlings, so I'm enjoy the plants from the day they sprout, not holding my breath. It is really cool when the slow ones start to put on adult characteristics.

peterb
You need to grow some Aztekium ritteri then. :) I read that they only grow 1 mm or 2 per year, or something like that if I remember correctly. I personally don't like grafting too speed up growth, but that's my personal preference though, and I agree with you that is enjoyable to watch slow growers to go through their changes before reaching maturity.
Nice new pics by the way.

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:58 pm
by peterb
A friend of mine got me a tripod and I was experimenting with it yesterday a little bit. I haven't ever used one. I look forward to learning more about how it can improve photos. The macros do seem sharper to me. The first three photos are not with the tripod.

peterb

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:34 pm
by mughal113
Definitely much sharper... you were not doing bad without that tripod either :-)

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:58 pm
by hob
another tip is to use the self timer .........lets the camera settle after pressing the shutter.

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:00 am
by peterb
Thanks for that tip, Hob. It's easy to use the timer on the Sony Cybershot. Here's a couple pics of Mammillaria estebanensis using tripod and timer.

peterb

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:52 am
by Lazz
Nice plants. The Mammillaria shots look great.
A handy tip about the timer as well. I will definitely give that a go. :D

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:00 pm
by mughal113
Nice plants and amazing photos :-)

Re: peterb's 2012

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:09 pm
by RichR
Beautiful shots of the M. estebanensis!