On this bristly cold mornin a howdy from a new member

[ilovecactus]

Hi everyone,

Just joined and thought Id say a big hello to everyone.

I love plants but even more so cacti for reasons I have never been able to put my finger on. Im not a prickly person - maybe its came from my spikey hair as a teenager, I do not know, but I am drawn to them. Im based in Southampton but lived in the High Desert, CA in my teens too where my best friend Joshua (tree) wasn't just our neighbour but lived in my aunts yard. Other than Joshua tree forests, Saguaro forests are one of the most amazing things to ever see, although these are further east towards Arizona.

Anyway enough of my childish humour, if your'e used to putting up with pricks hopefully you'll put up with me!

J

[McFarland]

Welcome! I'm of the theory that cactus+succulent interest always starts with getting 'bitten by the bug' somehow and then it's all down-hill from there Got any pics of plants to share with us?

[ilovecactus]

Thankyou Mr McFarland - I certainly have been bitten by the bug this year, vine weevil to be precise (and red spider mite but thats a different story). I almost feel palpitations coming on even thinking about the bloody things.

When you develop a collection, and live in a smallish house and am still a student, you find plants popping up everywhere, even ones you forgot you acquired - in the loo, on top of kitchen cupboards, waking up to find them on the pillow next to you... anyway I digress, so I decided to put the succulents and some cacti outside for the summer. No problems whatsoever, they did fantastically, blooming marvellously, especially the many succulents that quite enjoy british summers and grow in the cooler seasons - I enclose photos. I thought my collection of pots was hot hot hot...

In the depths of darkest december, I noticed my echeverias (now clogging up the throughfares and arteries of the house) were dangling out of their pots loose - too little water I asked? So I checked, no, leaves were firm to the touch, crassulae were plump and green. So I kept questioning, and kept digging deep in search for answers... only to find vine weevils had bloody gone through the lot of them (bar one Cante). My first thought was where's the gin. My second thought was what the hell do I do now. Emptying and checking each and every pot to check almost took me to GP, plants getting bruised and battered, sap and powder rubbing off, etc...

Anyway heres some photos of my display last summer - if as i collect more they go out this summer (and its hard to argue with cacti and succulents they need to stay out the sun because of UV damage) its only on the proviso they protect themselves with Provado. I can't be doing with vine weevil again. I'll leave spider mites for another time...

IMG_0402.jpg (145.63 KiB) Viewed 3263 times

IMG_0401.jpg (150.08 KiB) Viewed 3263 times

Its enough to make you weep when some of these are just a heap of cuttings - still 10x the plants that I had last summer from those cuttings.

IMG_0387.jpg (132.38 KiB) Viewed 3263 times

[Morgans Beauty]

welcome aboard J.!

[McFarland]

Your plants are looking pretty good there! One thing I learned from the summer just past that plants kept indoors love love love having a good spell outside in the sun. All of my collection rocketed away growing when I took it all outdoors .

Currently I've got alot of plants on a desk about 1ft away from my bed, multiple times I've jumped out of bed and knocked a cactus flying, soil everywhere at 6am. My first thought then is about a big glass of whisky great minds think alike!

[Carl]

Welcome aboard from another Newbie J.

Those grey colored Echeveria's really work with that Bougainvillea as well

[ilovecactus]

Welcome to you too Carl - I love the colour range in aeoniums, i dont like varigated plants though some actually make me a wee bit nauseous (except agave americana types maybe as an exception).

Ive noticed the aloe, crassula, aeoniums, greenovia etc but not so much cacti seem to enjoy our summers - many euphorbia (obviously not the ponsettia type - what a useless plant) im guessing would be similar its just the frost they moan about. Many are cool season growers, meaning here they do bugger all in the winter (just like me) but enjoy summer time. Mr Agave seems somewhere inbetween - cope with the winters but nowhere near as fast as the other sexy succulents.

Just for a bit of humour and use art therapy to cope with my bereavement heres what I did instead of 100 words of my essay:

Vine Weevils.jpg (100.08 KiB) Viewed 3235 times

[Thord]

very welcome, even though i can´t see any cacti in your pics.

[ilovecactus]

Hi Thord Im not so keen on putting cacti outside for a couple of reasons. Last summer all houseplants went out in the summer except orchids - well most except cymbidiums - a chamaedorea that came back in because of sunburn and an anthurium. All the others, bromeliads, monstera, alocasia, palms, cycas everything went out. The yard was a just concrete one day and the next morning it was a concrete jungle. My neighbour was scratching his head wondering had global warming come over night or was it a flashback to his LSD use in the 60's.

I then realised my house was bare not a plant in site, so I had to replace the emptiness with something so the cactus came back. Another big thing was the dog - a long haired lhasa apso puppy - everytime he brushed past a spiky plant, in it came with him. I dont think they hurt him, Ive seen him sit on a wreath of holly leaves that would make the pain of most haemorrhoid sufferers blush in comparison but he didnt even notice.

Opuntia - the bigger and rounder the better are my favourites - I may sound common but robusta eat my heart out - though I still havent got one yet. Cereus types are my favourite - anything candelabra or columnar, it doesnt have to be brandched although I like branched. Saguaro I love but at 26 its already out of the question. I like to whomp my cactus into the biggest pot available stick it in a south facing window and allow it to take over the place. Not exactly so fast I like - echinocactus, echinocereus, notocactus and ferocactus. I like green and blue (azurocereus etc) and long viscious spines that could rip your heart out (echinocactus and ferocactus) - I dont like small spines that obscure the colour and form of the cactus underneath. Im going to take a break now for air, too much over excitement...

heres some photos to illustrate the situation:-

Me and dog

me and dog.jpg (51.75 KiB) Viewed 3210 times

IMG_0399.jpg (102.18 KiB) Viewed 3210 times

IMG_0384.jpg (107.46 KiB) Viewed 3210 times

IMG_0383.jpg (118.3 KiB) Viewed 3210 times

IMG_0398.jpg (108.55 KiB) Viewed 3210 times

[Jude]

I love your take on '|The Scream' - really made me laugh. How about doing a picture for mealy bug? I spent a happy (?) time recently, hunting and squashing, after finding a couple on my Echeverias.