It's fairly coarse, so it breathes well, even when wet. I think that's it's best attribute, it seems that roots stay happy as long as they can breathe. When I mix it with potting soil I use a fairly coarse soil too so it doesn't plug up the mix, I consider it 'time release fertilizer'. Usually I wat...

Based on your results, I may have to make another mesagarden order this year!

Well, at least aphids are very easy to kill, just spray them with safer's soap. You could also treat it with a systemic insecticide like bayer tree and shrub. Aphids are transported and farmed by ants, (so are mealies), eliminating ants is a good way to keep aphids and mealies in check - they're too...

Fine fiberglass (windowscreen) or nylon (tulle) mesh over large drain holes drains the best. Big rocks just cover most of the hole. Rocks do reduce the overall water retention, which some species may benefit from, but you can accomplish the same thing with a smaller pot! Here's what I'd do: 1 Lophop...

I have some cumarina seed, hopefully I get similar results! Gotta love monospecific genuses, it's easy to collect the whole set!

I have every main ario species except bravoanus on their own roots too, but they're all ~1cm (or less) at 1-4 years old. Here are the siblings: Scaphorastus https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_l3TOSBMSyuY/TXh2itaHhaI/AAAAAAAADME/_pf_wnehgwo/s800/IMGP5417.JPG Retusus https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/...

weather.com has average temp/rainfall by month for most decent sized towns. It's great for US habitats, that are usually within 20 miles of a listed town, and decent elsewhere. It'll give you a good idea of what times of year rain falls, and get you close to how much (most C&S microclimates prob...

I tried the P. porterii from mesagarden, and found that it grew much slower than a generic pereskiopsis I got at a C&S club plant sale. It was also a near-dry twig 4" long when I got it.

Stenocereus marginatus, Eriocereus jusbertii, trichocereus tershekii, astrophytum (any), ferocactus latispinus, leuchenbergia principis, mammillaria longimamma. Opuntia compressa. All those have relatively large seed/seedlings, which mean they have enough water reserves to survive in a non-high humi...

I was thinking of taking tubercle grafts, but I have an uglier ario graft that I'd start with first: retusus 'furfuraceus' https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_l3TOSBMSyuY/TXXh-ed3B2I/AAAAAAAADLA/Sy47E0VjFE4/s512/IMGP5406.JPG I also got a shot of my proudest graft: Pelecyphora asseliformis crest - fro...

Here's rain data for bakersfield, which is similar to the 'winter rain' paradigm for most of CA. http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/fitness/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCA0062 Almost no rain from June-Sept, whereas the Ecac-poly habitat has no rain from April-June. Instead of summer-dry (since i...

They're in the transition zone from winter rain to summer rain. See: Las vegas http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/fitness/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USNV0049 Death valley (where my var polycephalus are from) http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/fitness/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCA0286 They ...

I've seen echinopsis multiplex that have sprawled over an area 6' in diameter, so your Ferocactus might have competition in 30 years.

I think the main thing is not to put two ferocacti closer than 3-4' from eachother, and fill in between with smaller guys (which most echinopsis are).

I've got two little pots with 10 seeds each of M. therasae and M. saboae that both had zero germination, they're 2 and 1 year old, respectively, and I re-wet them about once a month. I'll get some distilled water and give that a shot, if it makes those seeds germinate, that'd be iron-clad proof I th...

They seem to germinate fine, but don't survive well over the long term. The seedlings are quite large though, so I'd suggest grafting them ASAP on a long lived stock. I have one on pereskiopsis that's 2 years old and ping-pong ball sized. I have some over a year old on their own roots, but I've had ...