TimN Photo Topic

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:54 am

I don't use fert every water, probably one in three. Still use vinegar but I think it's causing more of the water hardness to make a crust on some of the pots and plants. I think the only answer is to come up with a way to take the hardness out for cheap...

That sneedii did go weedii! I'm afraid to do anything to it. It's still in the pot I bought it in. I've heard they can be difficult and I'd hate to kill this one.

Dalesmicro · Post by **Dalesmicro** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 4:29 am

Great plants and pictures. How much water do you use, and how do you use it (in a hose? in a watering can?, in a sprayer?)

The clasic water softeners used zeolites or ion exchange resins to replace the calcium and magnesium (the elements that cause hardness) with sodium, but there are many things that can percipitate calcium and magnesium. The real trick is to determine how much to add. We used tinctured green soap to check the hardness of the water comming out of the water softener in a plant where I worked. It could be bought in a pharmacy and was very easy to use: add the soap to the water and shake, if the bubbles stayed for a minute or more, the water was soft.

I haven't measured the hardness, but I think the water here in Toluca is pretty hard so I use rain water whenever I can.

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 4:10 pm

I water 2-3 times per week and use a little more than 15 gallons of water each time. I have a few different plastic containers that I use to mix up with water and vinegar.

I wish I could use rainwater but we haven't had any in 7 months! I'm all set up with a gutter to catch water off the roof, all I'm missing is the rain!

I've been looking for a deal on a Reverse Osmosis system but no luck so far.

masscactus · Post by **masscactus** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 4:31 pm

Awesome Gymnos! Fantastic all around, great looking plants and shots!

Saguaro123 · Post by **Saguaro123** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 2:37 am

Nice pics! Glad to see flowers and new growth.

Dalesmicro · Post by **Dalesmicro** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:13 am

TimN wrote:I water 2-3 times per week and use a little more than 15 gallons of water each time....
I've been looking for a deal on a Reverse Osmosis system but no luck so far.

You have sort of an awkward quantity of water to treat, not enough to set up a system, but too much to handle easily. Reverse Osmosis would be good in that it adds nothing to the water, but in my expierience the membrains are delicate and easily clogged or ruptured. The easiest thing to do would be to add sodium carbonate (Washing Soda)dirrectly to the water and stir. This would add sodium but the hardness elements would precipitate out as calcium and magnesium carbonates which would settle to the bottom of the container.
Another choice would be to add a soap like Ivory Liquid to take out the hardness elements. In this case the hardness elements would combine with the soap forming a scum (sort of like "bath tub ring") which would probably collect on the surfaces of your mixing buckets. In either case, the quantity of washing soda or soap to add could be determined by adding measured quantities of washing soda or soap to a known volume of the water (say a liter or a quart) until long lasting bubbles remain and using slightly less than this value per liter or quart for the total number of liters or quarts.

When I have time, I will play around with the Toluca water and see how these methods work.

Good luck, Dale

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:52 am

TimN wrote:I water 2-3 times per week and use a little more than 15 gallons of water each time...
I've been looking for a deal on a Reverse Osmosis system but no luck so far.

Tim, great plants...love that weedii

I'm not sure what you consider a "deal," but you should be able to get a good R/O system for around $150. I use one for my reef tanks...mandatory and not optional for them!

-R

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:35 am

Tim, the Escobaria sneedii seems fairly easy here for me as long as it gets a good cold dry winter rest. It also far prefers a mix with no peat. It's a Chihuahuan plant so doesn't get much winter moisture and it grows where it goes to freezing or below regularly. The long stretch of very hot nights here is the antithesis of conditions in habitat but as long as it gets good dry down time in winter it seems to pull through our peak summer just fine.

If there's any way to get it even more sun, that might be good, especially as Escos continue growing here for another 6 weeks or so and the sun heads farther south. As much light as you can get it is best until it goes dormant.

Great looking plants! Those Peniocereus greggii in the set of pictures from before are outrageous!

peterb

CelticRose · Post by **CelticRose** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:37 pm

Nice plants and flowers!

iann · Post by **iann** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:03 pm

Standard sodium water softeners are not good for creating water for your plants. The standard ion exchange softeners react the hard water with something like sodium chloride to produce water containing sodium carbonate (or sodium bicarbonate depending on the exact conditions) instead of calcium and magnesium (bi)carbonate. The water is then considered less hard and won't put fur in your pipes, but it can be both more alkaline (higher pH) and more toxic to plants. You will generally see warnings with these systems that unsoftened water outlets are left available both for irrigating the garden (also partly because of cost) and for drinking water (because the extra sodium is nearly as bad for people as it is for plants).

Adding sodium carbonate to hard water doesn't actually do much to the hardness, but when a detergent or soap is used the calcium and magnesium carbonates are less able to react with the detergent and so it cleans better. Washing soda is also mildly caustic because of its high pH and can be used as a cleaning agent on its own.

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:55 pm

Some pictures after a long dry spell. Enjoy...

Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus - the first two are one plant, the last is a small plant I got from Miles last spring.

Mammillaria albicoma - a tiny plant from Mesa Gardens, pretty little white flowers.

Mammillaria coahuilense - big flower on a small plant.

Mammillaria decipiens ssp. camptotricha

Mammillaria guelzowiana looking poofy...

Mammillaria hahniana - I bought this plant 2-3 years ago in a 2" pot. It's coming along nicely...

Mammillaria schiediana - these two are making some fall flowers. The one on the right is offsetting like mad.

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:06 am

looking great Tim! It was a rough summer here on my plants, just too hot. I guess they say it was the hottest July on record. I lost a bunch of ones that like cooler nights.

Is the Mam guelzowiana maybe really bocasana?

peterb

John C · Post by **John C** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:15 am

Nice ones! Especially the arios!

CelticRose · Post by **CelticRose** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:44 am

Nice plants and flowers.

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 7:10 pm

It was definitely a toasty summer. I didn't lose too many plants to the heat. All the watering became tiresome...

I bought the M. guelzowiana labeled as such from Arizona Cactus Sales. It has huge pink/purple flowers so I've always thought it a good ID. It got severely sunburned a couple of years ago which is what caused the clumping.