Anyone still browsing this forum?

It's been quiet here since the alternate Aus Cactus Forum came and went.
There must still be interest in cacti in Aus as new vendors still keep popping up e.g.

https://www.choicecactus.com.au/

(no connection with them other than as a customer)

Perhaps Facebook (which I don't use) has become the 'go to' place for cacti enthusiasts?

Hi Eck,

Yeah think its gasping for air at best that's for sure. Have seen a few of the usernames from here on the US and UK forums. Its a shame as I'd really like to have a local discussion of relevant things like where to get rare seeds and plants especially with customs appearing to be more arbitrary in their treatment of packages (of seeds) every year.

Seeds are a real problem as more O/S suppliers are refusing to take Australian orders.  There's basically only two local Ebay sellers importing a variety of seeds and they're away half the time.  Lack of local demand perhaps.  Agree on the need for local discussion and advice - especially for perennial newbies such as myself LOL.

Yeah I've only managed to get one delivery through from MesaGardens, another just disappeared, it left LA but no tracking after that so assume customs got it. Was annoyed as it had some Epithelantha greggii among others that I can't get now. I did get one lot of M. Theresae (20 seeds) from the UK last year which I was happy about as they are hard to find. Got 3 to germinate and two still going after 12 months will re-plant the rest this year and see if i can get a few more.

How about you Eck?

I'd expect customs would send a letter if an item was seized.  My problem germinating seeds has been humidity and fungus gnats.  Put them in an enclosure to keep out the gnats and the humidity gets them; take them out and the gnats get them!  Those that survived last summer but still tiny are in a vented mini-hothouse in a light box running 15-20C during the day.  So far they're holding up.

Yeah I've had a few fungus nats from potting mix. Must be eggs in there that have not been killed, I've had more issues with the house plants as they are always moist. Give em a good blast with a rose gun type mix or pre-soak the seedling soil before planting with a mix containing imidacloprid should break the cycle. Its systemic and they use it to kill termites so you can get it in high concentration and dilute and then soak whole pots in spring economically. I find it effective on the mealybugs in particular , in winter I just do surface sprays when I spot mealybugs, nats etc

I've let all but my smallest seeds cool and harden off now, I just give enough moisture to keep them going but thats about all.

My light box is tied up with seedlings so I'll be trying out a smaller germinating setup for winter.  Bought a small reptile heat mat which I'll stick under a Decor plastic container filled with some grit.  Will see how that goes.

I've got two heatmats and my seed list for sowing in the next month or two, the last 4 i'm a little dubious about. They come from unusualseeds, Serbia and I'll be surprised if anything germinates, the seeds don't look great and a lot of refuse in there as well. will definitely sow them separately to everything else just in case. Also hope I can get an order from adblps-graines-cactus.com, they have an extensive list but nevr used before so will have to see.

How about you, anything interesting to go onto the pot this year Eck?

Epithelantha Micromeris
Eriosyce occulta
Eriosyce senilis
Mammillaria slevinii (albicans)
Mammillaria boolii
Mammillaria magallanii
Mammillaria slevinii (albicans)
Mammillaria blossfeldian
Mammillaria uncinata
Mammillaria theresae
Ferocactus lindsayi
Turbinicarpus laui
Turbinicarpus valdezianus
Turbinicarpus valdezianus v. albiflorus
Turbinicarpus pseudopectinatus
Turbinicarpus roseiflorus
Rebutia krainziana var. albiflora
Astrophytum asterias cv. HANAZONO
Astrophytum asterias "AKABANA"
Astrophytum asterias 'overhead'
Copiapoa laui

Your list is quite exotic compared to what I've tried.  Need to sort out my tech before attempting anything too serious.  From last summer I have very juvenile:

A.asterias|nudum|hybrid
E.texensis
Echinopsis coloured mix
F.gracilis
G.saglionis
G.spegazzini
G.vatteri
Melocactus
M.madisonorium
N.roseluteous

basically anything interesting that pops up on Ebay locally.

Noticed the following story on ABC News.  Rare to see anything about cacti in the media; and when one does it's usually for all the wrong reasons

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-18/rare-cacti-found-in-italy-returned-to-chile/100228140

Nice little lot you have there. Hopefully I'll get enough up of each, although its often that first year or two thats the hardest to keep some of the little buggers alive. I've go some wintering now that I have to use the 8x zoom on my phone to pick them out of the pebbles in the pot.

Interesting article, good to see some poachers getting a kicking. Other than for specific conservation I don't think any should be removed from the wild these days but I know its a prolific industry. What I find annoying is that it often makes getting seed to grow some of these species harder which increases the demand from impatient people as there are no plants available.