supergodzilla cactus

[supergodzilla]

I've had a thread documenting my seed growing efforts in the Grown From Seed forum, but I thought today was a good day to start my own Member Topic. Why today? Because today I finished construction of my backyard cactus house.

Bit of background: living in Sydney, we have warm, mostly dry summers and cooler, wetter winters. I wanted to build a structure that would provide plenty of light and warmth through the growing season but protect plants from the rain during winter. A fully enclosed structure was likely to heat up to uncomfortable levels in summer, so I opted against fully enclosing everything to allow for some airflow.

Below is the space in the backyard prior to construction.

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First step was to build a base, that would retain the materials used for the floor. Heavy treated pine logs were used - their weight is intended to assist in anchoring the structure to the ground.

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Then, we built the wall frames and clamped them into place.

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Of course, the next step was to construct the frame for the roof. At this point, you can clearly see the open front of the cactus house - north facing, because most of our rain and wind comes from the south.

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Holes were dug and pylons attached to the frame.

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And then we poured concrete to anchor the structure even more. The winds we get are usually relatively mild, so all of this is probable intensely over-engineered, but it'll help me sleep soundly when a southerly gale blows through.

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[supergodzilla]

With the frame fully anchored and completed, the floor was filled in and then we began cladding. First, the roof.

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And then the walls.

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Weed matting was laid in an attempt to control the worst weed infestations.

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And then work began on the interior - pavers, mulch, and shade cloth went up. I also installed a potting bench...

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Before today finishing the final touches, a few final side panels went up, a bench installed, equipment moved in and most importantly... the collection moved in!

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[A_G_R]

Very nice structure!

[Steve Johnson]

Very nice structure!

Agreed, and that is really an amazing job. Supergodzilla -- when you fill it with plants, please by all means keep posting so we can see what you have and how the cacti do over time. It's wonderful to have members keep up with their Member Topics threads, and I hope you'll give us plenty of good stuff to look at!

[keith]

I like it

[supergodzilla]

Thank you, now it’s built I’ll have lots of time and space to photograph the plants that will fill it!

[Cactusupdate]

it come out great, congrats!

[supergodzilla]

I thought I would start by sharing some of my more interesting experiments. I have found seed raising to be a fascinating and therapeutic exercise... but every now and then a seedling appears tests my patience. This summer just past, I have been doing some grafting. Here are some of my successful attempts. All of the grafts in this post are various Ariocarpus hybrids, all about three months old.

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[supergodzilla]

And a variety of other species, appearing in order:

1. Variegated Astrophytum hybrid
2. Rimacactus Laui
3. Astrophytum myriostigma hybrid
4. Unknown Astrophytum hybrid
5. Tephrocactus geometricus
6. Copiapoa barquitensis v. Lizard Skin

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[spok]

It looks very good and steady structure. Very good plants, too.

[Cactifan800]

Very nice structure indeed and it's good to see another Aussie on this forum.
Can the variegated astro survive on it's own roots or does it have to permanently remain on the graft?

[supergodzilla]

Very nice structure indeed and it's good to see another Aussie on this forum.
Can the variegated astro survive on it's own roots or does it have to permanently remain on the graft?

Thank you! The variegated astro likely has enough chlorophyll to survive just fine on its own roots. I'll probably keep it grafted until it reaches flowering size and then try to root it down.

[A_G_R]

Those Ariocarpus are nice!!! But I'm more impressed by the Rimacactus laui

[supergodzilla]

I like to photograph my collection every now and then to get a sense of the extent of their growth. I took the opportunity this afternoon to shoot some of my modest Haworthia collection.

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[hegar]

Those close-up photos of Haworthia members do almost look surreal. The patterns on the plants and their shapes are quite variable.
In short, those are nice plants in your collection.

Harald