Mine has opened today as well, only took the fleece off the plants two days ago so an especially welcome sight.

Your results mirror mine perfectly TomInTucson, I have found quality coir works well as a growing medium for most plants, especially if you are prepared to experiment a little with the compost mix for various plant groups and species, mesembs especially seem to really thrive in it, or to be more exa...

Hello Eric, I always buy in brick or more often bale form , one bale makes about 70 litres of compost once rehydrated. The bales or bricks are easily stored too and will last forever until reconstituted. Use hot water to hydrate them and I use a full strength plant food mixed in with the water to en...

An interesting topic, I purchased a cultivar, seedling, cutting from a Garden center about five weeks or so ago called Chocolate Soldier , its leaves are covered in brown hairs not just the edges and is quite distinctive. I was in the same garden center today and noticed some plants with just the le...

I've been using coir in my potting mixes for thirty plus years, both cacti and succulents do well. I mix by 'eye' and 'feel' but as a starting point about 33% very sharp sand with some gritty bvits in it, about 33% grit which is usually about 5mm down in size and about 33% good quality coir that is ...

After seeing this called in my local GC and found a very nice Aloe haworthioidies for the same price, no label and mixed up with the haworthioides hybrid 'pepe' so easily overlooked. Couple of months ago found a nice, quite large Aloe arborescens for £3 in the same GC. Thanks for posting, got a barg...

These are both Bee moths (Aphomia sociella) a female in the first image and a male in the second, they are sexually dimorphic. They pose no threat to your plants as the larvae feed in the nests of bees and wasps finding a dark place near the nest to pupate, often communually. There was probably a ne...