I've used it in various combinations Ian. Very few plants are now in pure cat litter. Most have some grit added and maybe a little humus in the form of a bark based compost. It depends on the plants. Pure cat litter needs you to really keep on top of the feeding and nutrient balance. Also my wife ex...

I used to grow barklyi and it seeded everywhere but have since lost it. Now it is incrassatum that seeds everywhere!

The biggest problem I found with barklyi was it seemed very prone to botrytis.

I would not prick out tiny cactus seedlings (smaller than 3mm say) direct into pumice - it dries out too quickly. Ones in a "standard mix" grow much more quickly. I'd transfer them to pumice once they have a good root system. This is good advice and I found it applies to a lesser degree t...

Very sorry to hear this. John was the source of my first cacti - a random selection of Sulcorebutia he kindly put together for me when I was starting out around 25 years ago.

Only three weeks ago I bought a copy of his Opuntias book with Mike Partridge.

Which would be even better

Interesting topic. I also have a fruit on humifusa after crossing it with arenaria in 2022. It has taken a full year to appear to be ripe : it is still fleshy but now reddish rather than green. May harvest it soon.

Thank you Mike and Ralph. As an aside - the very floriferous A.europea that I posted a couple of years ago has not repeated that performance, but both subsequent years has developed seed horns from the shrivelled flower remains from that flowering. But the seeds have never been viable despite lookin...

A couple from here this morning. Cynanchum marnierianum and Apteranthes burchardii. The Apteranthes came from a seller in the EU pre-Brexit and the stems have always had this grey/purple colouring. Another plant allegedly of the same species (no flowers yet) that I bought at a UK mart last year is u...

Apicra wrote: ↑Sun Sep 03, 2023 5:41 pm You'll find P. appendiculatum takes a lot of water when it is growing. I think it will be happier in a plastic pot unless you can keep it moist.

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble

Can vouch for this. Mine often has dried out leaf tips if it gets too dry.

I've seen this done at international alpine plant conferences here in the UK, but not for a while. The inspectors were on site for the last day and able to issue phytos on the spot. Unfortunately for many overseas visitors they were not allowed to have a trace of soil on the roots even with a phyto....