Hi Keith,keith wrote:Early spring Flowers over now just waiting for the Escobaria minima to bloom. Epi Bokeii seem to be doing well in the diatomaceous earth mix. I suspect some other cactus don't like it at all ? I'm guessing they don't like it if they get stunted and quit flowering ? Mammillaria theresae might not like it? Maybe wants a more acidic soil ? I read it lives in rock cracks in the mountains of Mexico. Decomposed granite might work better ? have to try it. Or maybe its just hard to grow.
Down at the lower right you can see one lone small Echinomastus erectrocentrus , it doesn't like anything and soon will lose its roots like its siblings did. And they did so well in AZ must be the heat ?
I really like what you have on your bench -- would be nice to get a little more detail, so perhaps you could break it up into 3 or 4 photos.
Pumice has been working incredibly well for me, and I have a feeling you'll get better results if you get rid of the DE and go with pumice -- at least for the cacti that are struggling. (Maybe not the Echinomastus, and I've heard enough about how difficult the genus can be to stay away from trying one.) I add granite just to make my pots heavier, so whether you should too depends on whether or not wind is a problem for you. Here's a brief discussion to go along with the following pics, and maybe this'll be helpful:
http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 47#p322072" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;