I'm having very bad luck with growing melocactus matanzanus from seeds. First two batches had terribly low germination rates for the size of their container that i had to ditch them. This is the third one (with terrible germination too) and i just noticed seedlings are dying from mold. I picked bad...

Most cacti seed will keep viability for at least two to three years, some rather longer, but there are some exceptions. The best guideline is to sow as soon as possible after harvesting, and definitely so for some groups that are known to lose viability quickly (e.g. Mediolobivias). I also suggest y...

I built one using reptile heating pads, and I rather keep my containers individually sealed in zip bags, so that pathogens are at least contained if or when they occur. Counting in the temperature controller and heating pads, I think it worked out to about $30 (converted from ZAR).

Hi Licespray, sowing the way you do in open containers will probably result in lower initial germination rates, but the seedlings that do make it, will be tougher and you will not have the problem of "sudden death" many of us experience when removing seedlings from an enclosed container (e...

Wow, sie sind ganz wunderbar, Ruth! Ich wünsche, dass sie meine wären.

Can't be the worst job in the world you're doing! What other types of plants are you growing that are really interesting to you personally, apart from carnivores and cacti?

Collecting is a pathology, ranging from quite mild to very severe, that scientists (other than psychologists) can't be bothered with. Names have a different meaning for scientists than they have for plant collectors. For a scientist, a name (taxon) is not an end in itself, but the by-product of an u...

Hi Brontosaurus, I am not really an expert at Flytraps, but what works for me is to stand them in a tray during summer, and make sure that they get plenty of light, but with excellent ventilation. The leaves start to go off in autumn, and when the first ones start to turn fully black, the pots must ...

I think you are doing remarkably well, considering that mesembs are almost entirely absent from those parts of the country with a climate similar to yours. I do not dwell on things that don't adapt to my local climate, but you seem to have much more persistence than I do. The one piece of advice I c...

I live in South Africa, and we have many of the typical stapeliads in our gardens. The species from the eastern coastal regions and Lowveld will survive down to around 5 °C (41 °F) without issues. Those from the Highveld and Drakensberg regions can survive frost down to -3 °C or so. But it is necess...