my collection so far....

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adetheproducer
Posts: 1576
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

I thought of that but I am not good at grafting and don't really like grafted plants they always look different to wild plants which us my aim with growing. It is a bit sad but I have limited space and anything that cannot take our dreary weather in wales is taking up room for plants that can. My main focus on plants is the lophophora which are doing great they are far more tolerant to the conditions I have. I was a bit eager with my purchases when I started and am learning the hard way what are suitable plants. The crazy thing is I have been careful with the ariocarpus I lost and just miss timed one heavy watering which was the first total soak down of my plants for the year. The weather that followed was very dark with thick clouds heavy rain and colder than normal for about a week and it just did not dry out. The plant must have gone into shut down and then just sat in the damp rather than using it. I have other plants I am running an experiment with tolerance of the great British weather, I got a ferocactus pilosus, tephrocactus articulatus some cylindropuntias, opuntia ficus-indica, a lobivia and trichocereus peruvianus and bridgesii monstrose all out in the thick of it outside with no shelter and direct sun for about 8-10 hours which are all doing well. Considering how wet it has been this year I am very surprised of this, we have had upwards of 5 inches of rain may weeks of this year so far I know this because my rain measure only goes up to 5 inches and has overflowed many times. We have had intermittent weeks of sun and then it has been hot so lots of humidity to yet they power on particularly the opuntia and ferocactus.
And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
Wilk
Posts: 240
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:54 pm

Re: my collection so far....

Post by Wilk »

Ade
We may have somewhat different tastes in plants but what I really like about your collection is the top dressing! Is it a proprietary mix or something you have made up yourself? It makes your plants look like as though they could be growing in the wild. Brilliant.
Wilk
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adetheproducer
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

It's not top dressing that's my home made mineral mix no soil. I am going for the wild look and am lucky to live in south wales where there is pretty much unlimited access to a very wide range of rocks so easy to get many different ingredients. I use two different mixes one primarily limestone based and one limestone free here are some pictures of the mixes.
Limestone mix
Limestone mix
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Limestone free mix
Limestone free mix
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The limestone mix has the following

Limestone
Red granite chippings
Green granite chippings
Sandstone various grades of hardness
Welsh penant sand stone very hard
Cat litter - baked clay
Perished brick
Various mud and silt stones
Scoria
Pumice
Slate
Potting grit lime free
Various commercial grits again lime free

There are a few more as well hut can remember them all. The lime free mix is the same but no limestone and more cat litter. Most rock are crushed by hand with a heavy hammer to get the different size shards and chips.
And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
Wilk
Posts: 240
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:54 pm

Re: my collection so far....

Post by Wilk »

That looks like a lot of hammering. Does your mix work for everything and where do you get the pumice? It's not something I ever see for sale in garden centres. I am seriously inspired to try something similar. I have been going in the direction of much less organic (about 25%) for most cacti but I will happily go much less if I can find the ideal mix.
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adetheproducer
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

Yeah it was a lot of hammering but my job is stressful so good therapy. Yeah the mixes I use are good for pretty much all that's why I go for a limestone free so anything that does not like it goes in that. I got pumice from eBay. I got two 2 litter bags but it was expensive. Everything else either came from local garden centres, aquatic supplies and a lot from nature. I do also use a little bit of soil which is a mixture of clay, oak forest loam and some mole hill earth. This is only used with my outside plants specially my trichocereus peruvianus and bridgesii montrose and my agave stricta they need a bit of organic but everything else is on pure mineral.
And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
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adetheproducer
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Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

Some recent pictures
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Copiapoa hypogea
Copiapoa hypogea
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Escobaria vivipara
Escobaria vivipara
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Echinocereus rigidissimus
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Eriosyce paucicostata
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Various minatures  from mexico
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Lophophora diffusa
Lophophora diffusa
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And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
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adetheproducer
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

Some of my first fruit of the season. The gymnocalycium fruit had split open and started oozing the seeds out. I had 39 seeds in the one pod. And a nice big pile of epithilantha micromeris seedpods there where far too many of those seeds to count and there are more popping out the tops of the plants again. They are incredibly fast I stood and watched one grow from pure fluff to red rip fruit in about half an hour today when the sun can out. It was noticeable getting bigger as I stood there.
Attachments
Gymnocalycium mesopotamicum x baldianum
Gymnocalycium mesopotamicum x baldianum
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Epithilantha micromeris
Epithilantha micromeris
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And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
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adetheproducer
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

Some flowers I forgot to post when they opened and I repotted my aztecium and several seedlings.
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Eriosyce paucicostata
Eriosyce paucicostata
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Gymnocalycium vatteri
Gymnocalycium vatteri
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Stombocactus disciformus
Stombocactus disciformus
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Mixed seedlings
Mixed seedlings
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Aztecium ritterii
Aztecium ritterii
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And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
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adetheproducer
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

Here is my collection at the end of the summer. I had to repot some of my lophs they where going to burst their pots open clearly a year spent going roots. As a result I had to move stuff around to make room, so some cacti have been relegated to the middle shelf. My trichocereus bridgesii monstrose split open with the wet weather so I repotted it as well as my trichocereus peruvianus in pure mineral, I did originally have a bit of organic soil in the mix which ended up being a bad idea but the plant is fine and scars formed with no infections. Not much luck with seeds this year. I got a few pods of my lophophora but none germinated yet, nothing from my pelecyphora stombiliformis sorry kristian_Fossmo just getting hairier and fat but no fruit. I think I will invest in another stombiliformis and aseliformus for cross pollination. I did get lucky with seeds from my gymnocalycium mesopotamicum got about 5 seeds sprouted with more likely to follow but lost about 80 epithilantha seedlings to mold.
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keith
Posts: 1860
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2013 3:50 am
Location: S. CA USA

Re: my collection so far....

Post by keith »

Looks good very clean. Epithelantha they do need dryer air soon after germination. And some heat to germinate especially bokeii. I put them in a plastic pot with plastic over the top and then in direct sunlight for a week until I get germination. Easy 40C under these conditions. Once they germinate its under shade cloth and the plastic is off within a week replaced with window screen.

Got to get to work now
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Vipassana
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Re: my collection so far....

Post by Vipassana »

I am enjoying your thread. Thank you for sharing.
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adetheproducer
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Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

keith wrote:Looks good very clean. Epithelantha they do need dryer air soon after germination. And some heat to germinate especially bokeii. I put them in a plastic pot with plastic over the top and then in direct sunlight for a week until I get germination. Easy 40C under these conditions. Once they germinate its under shade cloth and the plastic is off within a week replaced with window screen.

Got to get to work now
Germination was great, I sowed over 100 my full load for the year and got about 80% pop up in a couple of days. I lost a lots last year to damp so did dry them out and all was going well then one in the centre went furry with white mold so I picked it out with a tweezers the next day most of what was left went the same way. I got some still growing and Probly more seeds left to germinate so will put them in my light box which I think will be coming down from the attic soon now the weather is starting to get rather autumnal. No big problem really there will be plenty more seeds next year from them they are far from shy with producing fruit.
And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
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adetheproducer
Posts: 1576
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

Well I thought the summer wad over but the plants think otherwise. One of my lophophora williamsii flowered out of nowhere and I got two buds on my turbinicarpus macrochele and other one or two on my lophophoroides can't quite tell yet due to the amount of fluff so more pictures to follow.
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And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
User avatar
adetheproducer
Posts: 1576
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

They are still going strong. It's been so warm I have had to water some of my smaller seedlings in the green house.
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And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
User avatar
adetheproducer
Posts: 1576
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:15 pm
Location: Porth, the Rhondda, Wales

Re: my collection so far....

Post by adetheproducer »

We have not had much sun since my last post so the lophophoroides is refusing to open its flower.
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And as the walls come down and as I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I have died and will die.
It's all right.
I dont mind
I dont mind.
I DONT MIND
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