That's a cool mix, I like the contrasting colorful flowers against the chunkiness of the leaves

Yeah Ireland is pretty humid.. They are under lights now and they seem thirsty so I will water sparingly through winter.

Pleiospilos require more water than most mesembs to keep them happy other wise they get flaccid I water them all year long Thanks for your input I noticed you refered to Pleiospilos as a whole. Does the same apply to P simulans? I think they are from the same general region of all year round rains ...

Hi all, just going to drop a few pictures of my newly acquired P nelii Royal Flush, which may be of interest. The reason being that these mesembs are generally considered 'slow' - which they are in the sense that when they hibernate they don't seem to do anything and may look identical to what they ...

Well, since you asked... :P ---Warning - relatively long post for anyone interested in a follow up on a 9 year old P nelii.--- The original photos are gone from this post, but I managed to find one for reference. 2014.JPG And today a little more than 9 years later, I am sad to report that despite my...

Ok... I'm ready to accept it's a C. rossiana. Thank you all for your input and if new opinions should arise, don't be shy!

I managed to find a copy of Michael Kiessling's 'Tephrocactus and other pricky pears' which was referenced in other conversations and funny enough he actually has a plant called Austrocylindropuntia atroviridis listed there, which I didn't expect. He also has Cumulopuntia rossiana and subterranea in...

I have purchased this cactus on ebay last year where it was sold as Tephrocactus atroviridis. I only bought it based on it's compact appearance and then I decided to google it to learn more about it and surprise... the species may or may not be valid. I say this because while I do see similar lookin...

Hi guys, All the pictures shared here show Pachys planted in deep, large pots. Has this choice been deliberate to get a specific reaction from your plant? I have read a few articles/ references of people saying the deeper the pot the more branches/ foliage you will get and the smaller the pot the th...

Well, 1/2 is good enough, thanks. Maybe the first one needs to do some growing first and then perhaps it will be more revealing.

So first there's this guy that I thought looks just like a Cereus pecten-aboriginum, but it has just 8 ribs instead of 10+. Also, the shape doesn't quite fit. It was much straighter last autumn and winter, but it really bulged up after I started watering this spring. Rock solid, strong spines. Bough...

It's true, I just grabbed the meanest looking knife I could find in the kitchen, and it was one that I hadn't used for millenia. I thought the cactus was going to have a woody core, but surprisingly, it was cucumber like. The second time I used a recently cleaned knife, but still no alcohol for that...

Yesterday I noticed some moldy patches around the inner ring so I had to cut off another slice. Luckily it#s quite a big specimen and I'm not too worried of running out of slices to cut off, for now. This time, though, I used rooting powder and hopefully the anti fungal properties will help. Not sur...

I recently received a cactus with a damaged lower trunk so I decided to cut it off and start fresh. The cutting area was bright green, no brown spot of any sort, no rotten/damaged part on it. After a day or so the cutting started to turn visibly black, starting from the exterior and working it's way...

This shows you really must pay attention to where you get your info from. I once read some advice on re potting Lithops from a guy who said he always clips the tip of the root off, leaving an inch or so, because it's easier to plant and it grows back anyway. Oh yeah, he also said that if you leave t...