Thanks for the replies folks. Well it is still growing and so I might leave it a bit and see how it progresses. It wont fit through a standard doorway now. If it does come down to removing it then I think I would go with Iann's suggestion of cutting it. As to the flowers, well its actually been prod...

I got this plant back around April time when it had a single vertical shoot with a bud at the top. Over the following weeks it has grown and grown and grown. Its still expanding now. Its actually getting a little unwieldy and so I'm wondering what is the best course of action. Will it simply die off...

I've noticed that I'm not getting any email notifications for a subscribed thread... and judging by the number of single posts from new members (who never return to acknowledge replies) I wondered if this could be a board issue. I'm subscribed to all my threads, they show in my user control panel, a...

Next one I see and I will :) (try and make it jump that is) You may well be right actually, and the chap at the RES said They possess furcae underneath which allow them to jump/spring. The pot that got me wondering in the first place was damp (its an experimental cutting of the top of an echinopsis ...

A bit more info. I got curious and tried to ID this thing on-line but drew a blank. An on-line page of the Royal Entomological Society had a link to ID any such critters and so I sent the image to them at 8:00 this morning. By 9:15 I had my answer. Its a springtail or collembolan and apparently harm...

Thanks Iann. Good to hear that it doesn't immediately ring any alarm bells.

I've spotted these (in single numbers) over the last week or so. Typically they always seem to be under the pot and they are very very tiny... less than the size of a full stop on a newspaper page. They can also move very quickly indeed. Initially these were observed on one plant that lives in a roo...

Thanks very much for the ID, appreciate it. I would probably say the growths are dead flowers rather than buds, they look dry and shrivelled. That's great though, you've given me something to look up and research.

Rescued from a high street 'Poundland', this was looking a bit sorry for itself in a tiny pot with rock solid peat compost. I'm not sure what it is though, the growth (the 'arms', shoots'... what do you call them ?) seem quite soft/flexible and fleshy. Looked at in daylight and there is a purple tin...

Well its had pretty much a full day in the sun today. The weather is set fair to warm up too, at least until weekend, and so this might be the last really warm and sunny spell they all get this year.

Thanks Iann, I'll give that a go.

That's great, many thanks for that Will. Yes, I'll certainly be careful with the watering, in fact it was last watered on the 17th August... hmm 3 weeks. I'll perhaps hold out for a little while longer. I did repot it pretty much as soon as I got it as it was in one of those tiny tiny pots that are ...

I rescued this from a local hardware store less than three months ago, where it was in the dark and absolutely saturated through. I do realise its probably a really common variety... but which ? The spines are a very attractive coppery bronze colour when viewed at a distance. After repotting pretty ...

Thanks for confirming my thoughts on that. For now I shall leave it out of the strongest sun then (when we do actually get some). I would never have dreamt our northern latitude sun would have been to much for a cactus. I think you are spot on over the pampered dim lighting scenario as I know the ga...

The plot thickens. I think I have a cactus that doesn't like to much sun because I've noticed the same pattern of wrinkling and also definite softening again after it has spent a day in the sunshine. Today has been blue skies (cool air temp of 16C or so at the most), very much like when I first post...