New South Wales Cacti & Succulent Spring Show

Could be...just wait till I start chucking microdasys pads over the fence for good measure.

You know, I was grafting onto a pad of that in an experiment 2 weeks ago, and managed to tip one of the spares off the edge of the table. Well, I reflexively caught it, and then in pain dropped it, so it went down the front of my shirt, bounced off my shorts and landed on my feet, which were in thongs. This is 2 weeks later, and not only am I still picking the odd spine out here and there, but my cloths were ruined, even after going through the wash twice. The only thing that did was ruin other cloths too!

**Opuntia - A Weapon of Mass Destruction**

They are indeed unforgiving! I've found that out the hard way with a faceful of glochnids after covering my mouth/nose to supress a sneeze while still wearing gloves full of the stuff!
Winced the last time I bought a red spined microdasys from a nursery, teenager behind the counter commented on how cute it looked and grabbed one of the pads to have a closer look. Bet she walked away with a handful of little friends after that encounter!

Ahhhh yeah. I would have to say that despite all the warnings you hear about Pereskiopsis, and despite the fact that I have handled thousands of Pereskiopsis just this year alone, I have been far more injured, many more times just with the few Opuntia that I have worked with.

IXOXI wrote:

That is a wonderful Mamm bocasana. I really like how prolific the flowers are on those when they are kept well, like yours. Did you know that you can sometimes get a fair guess at their age by counting the rows of previous fruit rings on them? You can also see each year how much they have grown too. My old collection which was destroyed, had a 3 meter trich in a pot inside my offices. It grew until it started pushing the ceiling panels out, and we had to trim it.

My current collection grows on a weekly basis and all I can say is that I am glad that my wife loves cacti as much as I do. In fact she buys more cacti then I do, as I grow a lot of what I have from seed.

That is interesting about the fruit rings. I am unsure about the age of it I bought it for my youngest daughter when we went to Mikes garden about four years ago ( sadly Mike has passed away now ) .
Mike grew them prity hard so when we got it and potted it up and gave it a feed it took off. It has settled into its pot now and is flowering like mad at the moment. I have been trying to get some photos of it but the flowers are always closed when I am at home.
You are lucky to have a wife that shares your passion for cacti I am afraid mine is not keen on them. I have only been allocated a couple of little bits of the yard and a small part of the shed to keep my cacti the rest is a cacti fee zone

Cheers
Midlife

All on her own, my wife has gone and bought hundreds of cacti & succulents (with a real leaning towards Lithops and other mesembs). She's also bought at least a dozen variegated Astro myrios over the last couple of years too. It's kind of funny, but I keep telling her, oh, don't get any more cacti! I like to collect them for rarity and such, but she gets some for their flowers. Doesn't bother her that 360+ days of the year they look ordinary.