=D> How often did you water them and what was the weather like during your growing season? If you buy loam, it's always interesting to do a sediment test to determine the amount of silt, sand, clay and organic particles. The test is quite easy and then you know what you're working with. The loam I ...

Turbs are doing well. Rooted nicely and no more losses. D9876BC4-FD15-4081-91E6-D35ABB25582B.jpeg I did get new pots I thought were smaller but the new pots ended up holding the same amount of soil as previous. I doubled up pairs of same species and left over singles have a chunk of limestone rock b...

I did get a flower yesterday

Like many in the USA Gabby you seem hung up on clay pots, whilst most in even damper climates in Europe changed to plastic pots a few generations ago. With the type of free draining mineral mix you use that would suit plastic pots and usually there are many different sizes of those available. Try o...

Never had much trouble growing Turbinicarpus in the UK and mine go down to almost freezing in winter. I agree with George your plants look overpotted for their size and so the soil stays wet for longer. Mine are on the top shelf in the greenhouse and get watered when I remember them! Agree about th...

The book published in '05 Knowing, understanding, growing Turbinicarpus - Rapicactus by Donati & Zanovello does a fairly good job of giving some cultivation advice. It comes in 3 language versions. That looks like a good book but not the easiest to get ahold of! I am going to try since it's bei...

Hi Any tips on growing turbinicarpus would be appreciated! I got a few seedlings last year and I am having trouble getting them rooted well. A few have died from rot. I have watered once a month after keeping dry in winter since March. Not sure if they want full blown summer before being watered? Ni...

Hi Steve, that is right, I used your original mealies thread for instruction! Lots of great information. Thank you!

Thanks ohugal. The discoloration is what I think is bad growth. It’s slightly raised too. I should unpot it and look but since I unpotted and took a lot of roots off not to long ago I was hesitant to do it again. I know it’s growing and the plant rooted well again (tug test). I don’t quarantine beca...

Hi This is not the first time I’ve posted about root mealies ](*,). I actually have been dealing with them ever since! Last fall I noticed abnormal growth on my gasteria and unpotted to find root mealies. I washed and repotted with new soil. A month ago I unpotted my ariocarpus seedlings and found r...

I got my first succulent in 2015 but didn't start buying much until 2017. After almost killing everything a few times I currently have about 200 pots, 40 are cactus. The cactus collecting is pretty new, they've grown on me.

I have macrame hanging outside which are also cotton cords, gets rained on but is in open air and sun blasted, still grew black colored mold in like a week. It is slowly getting worse though, not very fast. If thats any consolation

Thank you Jerry. The holes are in the center where new growth would occur but the hole is not in the whole cactus. It’s like a little cavity. The cactus are grown outside except for winter. The humidity is so high I’ve had suspicions the rain water does stay in the crown too long. I think about putt...

I think my cactus are top rotting. The holes go down a cm or two and maybe soft, not mush. The environment I live in is very wet and humid… north Florida. 90-100% humidity everyday. Can I seal the holes? Are the cactus goners?

The second one is a Haworthia (not a cactus) and the thing coming out the side is a pup - a baby. It looks healthy. It will end up wanting more consistent water than the cactus.