greenknight wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 9:16 am You should give them all the insecticidal soap treatment whether you can see mealies or not - the mealybug nymphs are just specks.

Oh for sure. That's what I was doing with every plant in my main collection, and it made sense to do the same thing with the seedlings.

Root mealies - yikes! Definitely need to kill off those. Otherwise, looks good. Plenty clean enough, retained lots of roots - in fact, I think you need to trim some of the really long roots. The ones that are struggling may perk up when you get them in a better medium, wish you luck. :cheers: Thank...

Hello everyone! I'm gonna be sowing a ton of seeds this year... after I finish re-potting my seedlings from last year and am able to get them outside to free up space under my grow light. Before I did I wanted to put my plan out there and see if anyone had any comments or advice. I don't want to mes...

Well I started the unpotting. Considering that they're the ones actively dropping like flies I started with my Mammillaria tetrancistra and Echnocactus polycephalus. Yesterday I soaked the containers in water with a few drops of dish soap until they looked as saturated as I could get them, then left...

Coltont1988 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2024 10:43 pm I haven't found them to to be to picky, cooler temps and I don't cover the seeds. Seems to be working, but I'm no expert and I'm learning along the way.

Thanks man. These will be the first time I've tried to grow anything from S. America at all.

Btw... That Creeping Devil!

Looking good!

I'm about to try growing Copiapoa for the first time this year. Cinerea and dealbata. Got a preferred substrate mix that you've found works for them?

Yes, you should get them out of that stuff. When it's warm enough for them to take water (might be now where you are), I would soak them in warm water a few hours or even overnight to soften up that mix. A bit of soap in the water as a wetting agent could help.Then you should be able to separate th...

Thanks for the reply. I think I will see if I can help the bottom one a bit. I didn't realize that these two are among the harder kinds to grow! I went on Mesa Garden and picked species that had been collected in Arizona, since that's where I am located and am interested in growing local-ish cacti....

Well, I sliced off the errant offset this afternoon. It was held onto the main plant by a wispy little stalk that was probably only about 2mm wide. Dusted with sulfur. It's such a small little wound. I've got no worries about it healing over nicely. Here's the funny news... the offset already has ro...

Hello all! I have a batch of several species that are a few weeks over 1 year old. They're growing well, but the problem is that in my inexperience at the time I potted them in 50% sphagnum peet moss (remaining volume is 25% pumice, 25% Turface), and the substrate has become so hydrophobic that gett...

If it's not caked with fines I just shake them off over a fine screen to just get the dust off. If it is really dirty I wash them and let them dry before using, but that's way too much work to do with ALL your substrate every time.

OH NO! That sounds like a nightmare! I'm dealing with a mild root mealy outbreak amongst my collection at the moment and even that's a PITA.

Thanks everyone. I'll cut it off and let it root. I've got another cutting I'm waiting to callous at the moment, so that won't be too much trouble. It's held on to the main body by a really thin attachment point, so the wounds on the plant and offset should heal without too much trouble. I've got su...

Steve Johnson wrote: ↑Fri Mar 08, 2024 1:57 am Yes, but an offset growing upside down? That's a new one.

I know, right?! It's growing straight downward. I wonder what the odds are that it'll right itself. I don't want it to just continue to grow down into the substrate, sucking away resources from the main plant.

So I was unpotting my Gymnocalasium horstii and underneath the soil line was this BIZARRE growth. The thing is growing off an an areole and has areoles itself. It was growing straight downward from the main plant's body. It's firm and looks just like the body of the plant—down to it having 5 ribs ju...