New Member

Hi People, I am a new member but i have been growing cacti since I was 7 (my first ever purchase). Now you may think that this means that I am full of knowledge, but i am embarrassed to say that I know very little. I have a lovely big collection (20 + varieties I don't even know) but I just repot them every two years, water them when they seem to need it and sit them on my balconey where i love to sit and just be with them. I get very upset when they die, and sometimes they do die from mysterious causes.
Anyway I was very interested to find this place (I've never been to a forum before) because I know that i can do more for my plants than i do. And then i see how much there is to know... and I worry I've come to the wrong place... because i didn't know all the things that went on with cacti, but I would like to know more.
But where on earth should I start? Do I need to identify what I've got? Or fix their potting mix immediately? Or feed them something? Any suggestions?

Hey Emma and Welcome


You can start by showing us a picture of your plants, that way you can get feedback from other members and slowly but surely you will answer all of your questions above.


To answer one of them right now, yes you have come to the right place if you enjoy cacti, and after reading your initial post I know that you do.


HN

[img][/img]I've taken some photos but I can't work out how to put them in my post. I've read FAC but I don't understand it. Also, where about on the forum should i put my photos?

Welcome Emma!, hope your find a whole new family of friends to help you on your quest for cacti ultimata! it's a virus and if you dont have a full infection i found stabbing yourself with a big fat tricho spine works well..... then i dream about em for days..... hmmmm photo faq..... have fun with that, id love to help but i too found it frusturating to master hence i link mine through using photobucket. (it will give you the source code to paste in) just play around in the preview window im sure you'll nut it out eventually....sorry i cant be more help there.

Welcome once again
-A

welcome aboard emma dont worry i know verry little about cacti also but i am learning quickly... i only started collecting cacti last july but i wish i had been collecting them for much longer so that i had some decent sized plants

you will figure out the photo thing once you get a photobucket account and upload your photos there, then all you do is click the share button then the more tab and then copy and paste the image code into the box where you type your message then when you post the message it will be there.

have fun
Darren

No joking about spiking yourself A, I currently have a flipping infected finger two weeks after I went to the hospital to get the damn opuntia spine dug out.

Welcome Emma, my first piece of advice is do not put large heavy cactus is too small plastic pots lest the pot break when you move it and the cactus uses you as a safety net...
This is a great forum, I'm sure you'll have fun.

G'day Emma, and welcome aboard!

If you don't choose to get a photobucket account, you can upload pics directly to the forum. If you click on the "Host an image" link and follow through the prompts you'll find that it's a reasonably straightforward process.

I'll have one more try at hosting.

Well I can't see the picture can you?


Perhaps I could get a photobucket account. Where do I get one of those?

Oh and thanks for all your welcomes I do feel very welcome.

http://photobucket.com/

Google also has free Picassa web albums which I've been using to store my photos of flowers, you can upload them directly from Picassa if you're using it for photo editing

Here's the process for uploading images to the board.

1. Click on "Host an Image".

2. "Upload you image" should appear. Make sure "file" is selected and click "browse". You'll need to work through the directories until you find where your image is stored on your computer. Click "open" once you've selected your image.

3. Once that's done, click "Host it"... now, highlight and copy the bottom address that's provided. This is the url of your image. Click on the "Host an Image" button again to get rid of this dialog box.

4. Click on the box next to the marked "Image". Paste the address that you just copied into this box and click "Ok". This will drop some code into the window where you compose messages. This will appear in the final post as your image.

By following the above steps, I uploaded this:

https://i.servimg.com/u/f68/14/88/79/90/cacti_12.jpg That picture is a Classic. And so is the Dune cat/worm. But back to the job at hand.

Look I have an image!Oh

OK above is one of my many cacti. I do not know its name, and it has never flowered, I just love it for its spiky fleshy look. I have many different varieties that i could say the same thing about.

wow thats an awesome specimen!!! but looks to be a Euphorbia species which arent actaully cacti , but cool as tho! does it have white sap ?

It's a euphorbia auerignosa (If mine is marked correctly lol). I am growing a small one and I was excited when it started to offset, now I know what I have to look forward to. Yours is a beauty.
Technically euphorbias are succulents, but they still prick like a cacti
I have an especially angry old one outside who likes to sap me at repotting time, the sap is toxic, so be careful handling them.

That's quite a well-armed customer, Emma. How old is it?

Quote :

I have an especially angry old one outside who likes to sap me at repotting time, the sap is toxic, so be careful handling them.

It's funny to me that a plant that already looks like it eats babies is also highly poisonous. Definitely one plant that I would *not* like to pick a fight with.

I assume the one I have (an enopla I think) uses at as a defense mechanism, it actually oozes sap from the tips I think, I try to get him out and in a.s.a.p
Euphorbia spines are mostly quite thick, so at least you can tweeze them out..

Thank you! Yes it does have white sap. My mother (a super gardener) is right into euphorbias. So is this a forum for true cacti only? Makes sense.

This is another one of my babies that got so big it fell over. Again, don't know what its called, never seen it flower.

Ah I missed some questions - i'm not very used to forums.

I think i've had the euphorbia 4 or 5 years and it was in one of those little pots that cacti standardly come it - I'm too stingy to buy anything but the smallest size.


The one I just put up has been with me since 1995. it was a birthday present from my sister and came in a bigger pot one that i could not quite get my tiny hands around and about 7 centimetres high.


I'm not quite sure what to do with it next. However the land- lord has just approved my request to build a cactus garden in the backyard of my flats.
so probably i will move it there.

Wow that's a beautiful specimen, that Euphorbia! Emma you will find that cacti-lovers are generally thrilled when they see old, big specimens.

I have a special interest in E.enopla family <---- click here

That other one might be a Polaskia? Beautiful, put on more pictures of your plants and welcome to the forum...

Oh there's the Succulent forum to post on you euphorbias . But yeah, lots of them look alot like cacti..

This is my cactus of the day. These are small but I'm pretty sure they're meant to be, because I have had them quite a while.

I think those might me mamm gracilis Emma, do they ever flower?
I was reading up on them and supposedly they flower after three years but I haven't seen one flower yet

gees i didnt realise the sap was toxic!!! i tasted it when i did a cutting of one about 3 months ago... tasted like @#*$ and took about an hour to stop feeling like i was going to vomit i had a similar experience the other day when i took a bite out of what i thought might be a quondong (mind you i have never seen a quondong) after i bit it i instantly started vomiting

you would think i had learnt my lesson by now!!!

regards
Darren

Darren!

i know so far this cacti collecting could have killed me at least three times

i have heaps of that mammillaria gracillis from three different sources and they all vary slightly but i have not seen a flower as of yet.

regards
Darren