Show us your cacti

Michael that is one great variegated echinopsis.............yep I'm jealous lol

The astro is another great one, did you take pics when it flowered..........if so would love to see them.

As for going to CC you will get there one day...........just like me One Day

parrotsheaven wrote:

Michael that is one great variegated echinopsis.............yep I'm jealous lol

The astro is another great one, did you take pics when it flowered..........if so would love to see them.

As for going to CC you will get there one day...........just like me One Day

Hmmmmm, i could be persuaded to let go of one of my lil variegated echinopsis, the persuasion would most likely come in the form of a 4 ribbed Gymnocalycium hahahahahahahahaha. Sorry Betty, couldnt help myself

CC, man im bustin to get back there, soooooo many bargains. I think we should organise a meet of some sort down that way, would be a bugger to organise but well worth it for a bunch of cactophiles like us

PD wrote:

Hmmmmm, i could be persuaded to let go of one of my lil variegated echinopsis, the persuasion would most likely come in the form of a 4 ribbed Gymnocalycium hahahahahahahahaha. Sorry Betty, couldnt help myself

CC, man im bustin to get back there, soooooo many bargains. I think we should organise a meet of some sort down that way, would be a bugger to organise but well worth it for a bunch of cactophiles like us

PD I nearly fell out the chair laughing........................no need to be sorry I can take it as well as give it hahahahahahaha

Would be great to meet down that way some day. Wait till my house is sold (grrrrrrrrr no offers yet) and will take you up on it

Wait your jealous? Its nothing compared to all your plants ive seen Betty, Im pretty sure you would have one aswell. I think 4 Astro sp's for my Echinopsis Variegated would be a fair trade... hahahaha.
Sadly Betty, they never opened 8| I think the buds are still on it all this time.. cant remember lol.
Yeh CC, one day.....

Id goto a meet there, but almost certainly wouldnt be able to make it, and i dont like starting fights over things, leave them Astro's:P Hahaha.

Also Betty, why are you selling up! Theres an awsome houseful/garden of amazeing cacti so close, and you wanna move!

Yeah haha

I must sell the house as I want to move down Geelong way and the ex lives too close lol

There will be other gardens I can drool on down that way too

Damn, even you get to move close to CC. Im moveing to my mums!
Haha make him move, your much more important.

There will be alot of gardens

Too true and just think I will be able to go to C&S meetings too

Yeh i want to goto them aswell. Your so mean Betty

Oh Michael I am sorry................. but you are young and have all your life to go to them

Me I am getting closer to my use by date all the time lol

Yes thats very true.

Nah your not, still plenty of time for you

You guys will get there one day!! hopefully one day when i am also there lol.

Hakuun aborted buds? perhaps you didn't water enough. the small buds on your plant now will remain that size in a sort of suspended animation until spring arrives at which point they will do one of two things. a) flower or b) abort. both are likely. good thing about Astros is they flower almost continuously once they get going, all the way from srping through to autumn.


here ya go Betty. found these in my photobucket archive:

I looked at it this morning, and the buds arent on it, so they aborted. I dont think it was that i didnt water it enough, i think it was that i repotted it.

When i 1st got it, i got 1 flower from it, but it closed up before i thought to take a photo.
Nice one Lewis, Swap ya hahahha:P

Some happy snaps from my little hothouse:









Can you tell these cacti really really really need some water? It's been about 4 months (give or take) since these guys have been watered, damn winter. Not long now fellas!!!

Amazing cv. Hakuun btw lewis. You lucky devil

Hey Trig looking great

Not sure I could let them go for so long without a drink......mine have been watered a couple of times during winter and will get another in the morning as we are getting some nice weather at long last and we only get a tank fill at the end of the month. Not on town water so its fill the tank and water at the same time

All the ones in pots outside have had any rain that we have had and some have even been growing during winter especially the columnars. Such a strange winter it did not get really cold till late July. Friends of mine has cliestocactus and pilosocereus flowering in July and August

4 months??? geeez.
i started re-watering last week. heaps of stuff is starting to pump and grow.
over winter i water everything (incl. mexican minis) occasionally very lightly to just moisten the top cm or so of soil. stops the roots dying back quite so bad. also seems to keep the plants in good cond while they are sleeping. and i mist spray regularly to keep spider mites down and i'm sure it has some benefit to the plant (if only to remove dust to they can photosynthesize better lol!).

i grow alot of stuff that is fairly forgiving of over-watering. eg melos (slightly moist constantly) and gymnos ( my new obsessession.. come from a similar climate to our own and don't mind cold or moist at all) and 1x uebelmannia pectinifera v. multicostata (don't grow that like a cactus!). water it regularly all year round, just lighter in winter. its growing in pure scoria so its kinda hard to overdo it. seems to really hate dry spells.

speaking of the Gymnos:
the most alarming thing is i only just started collecting them
group shots:






^^a pair of G.horstii and G.denudatum.(often confused but the latter is a much nicer plant IMO)


^crested (or cresting) G.baldianum.


^Gymno cardenasianum...best spination of all and one of the slowest growing of all cacti.


^mated pair of gymno ragonesei


... and their offspring in my prop. (8 months? old) perfect replicas of parents now. these lil bubs arent all of em either.


^rather large G. quehlianum

any more names for the ones in the group shot can be glady provided.

oops forgot the extremely eriosyce-looking Gymnocalycium gibbosum v. nigrum:

(Not an Eriosyce!!)

Yeah I water most of my cacti (or let the rain do it), just mainly the ones in the pics that don't get watered, the penis plants have been water a few times over winter. There is mainly Astros, Arios, Turbinis, Lophs and some Copiapoas and Eriosyce on that shelf and they haven't had water.

Yeah I agree about the roots dying back etc. though they are looking pretty healthy really and I still get, often heavy condensation in my hothouse at times so the epidermis of the cacti get moist, I can only assume that the droplets would trickle down into the pot?

My main interest is Mexicans cacti and so amny of them are very unforgiving of overwatering, I have lost a few Astros before so am careful, too careful. Plus I get absolutely no sun in hte winter months so am not prepared to push my luck with the rarer more expensive cacti, when I move I will be much more prepared to water year round as there will be sun in the winter, I will make sure of that.

Actually most of my Trichos, Echinopsis, Gymnos and other more forgiving plants haven't truly drid out all winter and are coming back into growth now as the weather warms up again. Bloody winter!

Next season I may try a few with very light waterings, it must be remembered that I have only had a large collection for about a year and am still learning and trying new things. Been growing cacti for about 7 years though, just not seriously.

Nice G. cardenasianum, I have one of those, they seem quite hard to get, took me a few years to find just one specimen.

The synonym, for those who didn't know is Gymnocalycium spegazzinii var. cardenasianum.

You have some nice Gymnos lewis, wish I could come across more, I never see them that often.

trigonus wrote:

Plus I get absolutely no sun in the winter months so am not prepared to push my luck with the rarer more expensive cacti

ah.. yeah i see the problem mate. i too would be very hesitant to water most my plants in mid-winter if there was no sun available and it was cold at the same time, that seems to be just asking for trouble. even now where i have my plants, in a pretty sunny spot, i only water lightly in the morning of a fine winter's day, so the soil can dry out a little (for more sensitive stuff that is). you don't want to over do it. it's the universal rule of cactus cultivation: if unsure err on the side of underwatering.

trigonus wrote:

Nice G. cardenasianum, I have one of those, they seem quite hard to get, took me a few years to find just one specimen.

The synonym, for those who didn't know is Gymnocalycium spegazzinii var. cardenasianum.

yeah..Its a really cool plant, one of my fav gymnos.i love the spines. it is extremely slow growing and quite rare though.
re: Gymnocalycium spegazzinii v. cardenasianum. yeah i im pretty sure that is its' current name. should have stated that... but as with most things cactus-taxonomy-related i prefer the older names... don't know why i just do.

Great lot you have for someone who has only just begun collecting them, the cardenasianum is great

What are the three on the right hand side of the top photo?

parrotsheaven wrote:

What are the three on the right hand side of the top photo?

2x G. pflanzii and 1 x saglione (furthest right) (now you know what i mean about them being very similar. apart from the heavier spination and more pronounced tubercles/bump ribs on the saglione and the fact it turns red when watered and the pflanzii's don't are the only differences i see). there is a bigger pflanzii to the left of them.. it flowers white with a red centre, with is typical for this species.

I asked as they reminded me of a couple of Denmoza's I have. Strange thing is the spines go red on these too when wet.............

parrotsheaven wrote:

I asked as they reminded me of a couple of Denmoza's I have. Strange thing is the spines go red on these too when wet.............

ah cacti are so confusing!