Spring has sprung!

Greetings folks,
It has been quiet a while since I've posted.
Work has been hectic and with the miserable winter we've had there really hasn't been much to report cactus wise.

But in the last few weeks melbourne has been warming up and my cacti have all come out of their winter residence and have since had 2 drinks, one initiated by myself and the other by Mother Nature when we had torrential rain and they got a major soak! I was worried that the rain might cause some issues with them having only been a few days in between drinks but it does not seem to have affected them adversely.
Quiet a few of my cacti, mamms especially are flowering but I am not overly excited by cacti flowers as strange as that may seem. I'm happy with how they look without flowers. What is more exciting for me anyways is to see the new spines forming which a lot are doing and I'm expecting a great year of growth if what I have seen so far is any indication of what's to come.

My seedlings are chugging along nicely and I have begun to slowly acclimate the earlier plantings by punching holes in the cling wrap.
There is one in particular which I am thrilled with and that is the pachycereus pringlei which for a slow growing cacti is growing very quickly.
The Astro seeds I planted some from HN and some Japanese imports are looking nice and I can finally see an indication of what they will look like as adult plants, I am also quiet confident that one seedling from HN is a crest as it has grow horizontally and not upright it also appears to be more of a blob which I am pretty sure means it will be a crest, I've pretty much ignored it up until now as I presumed it was just growing funny but it's remained like that for months now.

Over winter I purchased quiet a few more cacti of various sorts and I have now filled the area where I keep them and in turn the cacti have begun to spread out to different areas of the yard.
All of my Astros have been moved to under the decking which is bright and receives only a few hours direct sun in the afternoon, I did this because they were starting to develop pink and red coloration which I presumed was from sunburn.

After my failed attempt at grafting I have no immediate plans to try again but am still growing some Peres and will propagate as many tips as possible just in case the urge strikes again.

I'm looking forward to the growing season and watching my collection grow.

Excuse the novel but I haven't posted in a while and so had quiet a bit of news to share.

Thank you for you update.
Certainly is a time of expectation after a cold winter here in Geelong.

Great to sense spring again as we can all get busy and pamper the darlings into optimum productive growth. Why everyone say "you should sell some" just because I have a few more than a dozen.... grrrr .... My babies!

A lot of sweeties went pink with the cold and winter conditions, my guess it's like a crying babe.... 'I want warmer less sun winters', sookie little darlings that's just what you shall have next year then
Mostly epiphylums and zygotes

I hate to tell but my 3yr old babe decided to have closer inspection of the Astro seedlings from Hellonasty.. They were looking happy then unceremoniously lifted from their substrata so I considered grafts but they were too small ( if anyone has suggestion as to how to maintain adequate pressure to allow graft to set, please tell) so I Clonexed and put in jiffy pots as a half experiment.... [I pray for them but non-religious me is optimistic anyway...] )

I'm obviously just adding a chapter to your novel Walker87 hahahahaha Great to see the end of hibernation

Walker87 wrote:

But in the last few weeks melbourne has been warming up and my cacti have all come out of their winter residence...

And a surprise the warm was too though the cold has returned somewhat. I have O.ficus-indica which has begun to offset which seems very early.

Quote :

There is one in particular which I am thrilled with and that is the pachycereus pringlei which for a slow growing cacti is growing very quickly.

I have one of these courtesy of a member. It put on some good weight last year. Can't wait to see how it grows this summer along with my larger plants. Whoever said bigger wasn't better never owned cacti

Great to see everyone back on the forum!! This should be a good season, I have a heap of projects going I just need to pull my finger out and get moving.

supergirl wrote:

I hate to tell but my 3yr old babe decided to have closer inspection of the Astro seedlings from Hellonasty.. They were looking happy then unceremoniously lifted from their substrata so I considered grafts but they were too small ( if anyone has suggestion as to how to maintain adequate pressure to allow graft to set, please tell) so I Clonexed and put in jiffy pots as a half experiment.... [I pray for them but non-religious me is optimistic anyway...] )

Depending on what grafting stock your using, cling wrap can be used to maintain pressure on grafts. If your using Peres just use a clothes peg to keep it taught but if your using something thicker then use tape around the stock, have seen that method used on various videos and "how to's"

I dropped my tray of pachycereus and was devastated but I've propped them back up and they don't seeem to be harmed by it at all.
Will be making a YouTube video of my seedlings soon as a lot will be getting uncovered in the next few weeks and I will actually be able to photograph them properly after all these months!
I have a few videos of my collection up already if you search  87walker