Thanks for the prompt reply A_G_R! Finally I can put the name tag for it. Apart from cacti I am also very fond of succulent especially the slower growing smaller sized ones. A genus in particular I love is Adromischus and yesterday I got in a new parcel with new plants! they are just stunning. The p...

Winter does not seem to want to come in Malta, we still have very warm days with temps in the greenhouse reaching close to 40 Celsius daily with the door open. The plants seem to love it as it is the perfect growing temperature for them. I'm hoping that most of the cacti will be going to sleep soon ...

Unfortunately Malta is unbearably hot in summer, with the greenhouse door fully open I get about 45 Celsius in summer. As of next year I might try to add a ventilator to reduce the temps a bit more. I once this summer forgot to open my greenhouse door, as soon as I returned in the evening I realized...

Yesterday we had a good downpour here, it rained steadily for a good few hours. The drain system of the greenhouse worked as there is hardly any water on top of the roof. After the good clean the roof got, I will be now collecting the water and storing it in drums/bottles in anticipation of next sea...

So after 5 months of absence, I have finally returned to the forum with updates on the greenhouse and some plants. The greenhouse is "finished" and has been up and running for a few months now. It's still has old bed sheets for shading which are unsightly but budget was tight so I had to m...

Hi ElieEstephane, a lot more wood has been added to the structure to make it stronger. The roof will have spots where the water will drain in to drums for harvesting. Furthermore the shelving inside has been connected to the greenhouse and with those in place the sides have become rock solid. The ma...

I have been very busy lately with work and a new project. I decided to build a main walk in greenhouse finally. The dimensions are 2x3 meters floor space and 2 meters in height. I am in still in the process of reinforcing it but plan to have it close and everything by this weekend. The main frame is...

So it has been almost I month since I updated something here. Spring here has set in well and a lot of plants are flowering and all of the summer growing species are growing well. Put up the shade cloth today on the greenhouse. I did not cover it completely to allow some direct sunlight at a certain...

Very windy day in Malta today, We had strong gale force winds these past 2 weeks which put the newly restructured greenhouses to the test. They did well and no damage was sustained. Plants are all waking up and last weekend I watered lightly the whole collection and some responded well by pushing ne...

The propagator light box is working well. I have seedlings of Trichocereus pachanoi and Echinocereus viereckii sprouting and growing well. Only 2 seedlings of T.Pach have come up while all of the seedlings of the Echino sprouted. Yesterday I sowed some Turbinicarpus and plan to sow more seeds this w...

Spectacular plants and care as always Frank.

Today it got 33 degrees in the greenhouse, so spring is around the corner. I lost one Astrophytum myriostigma to rot today but all others are doing fine. The propagator is working s the pereskiopsis cuttings have woken up well and one ferocactus and one trichocereus have sprouted. I am also to build...

It's still pretty cold here in Malta, this night we had 8 degrees Celsius in the greenhouse. Plants are slowly waking up but it is still not ideal to start seeds. I have built the propagator below (still a draft version) so that I can start my seeds now and give them a month head start before I take...

Excellent thread! Are the light just normal fluorescents used in households?

I have friends that grow seedlings in sifted compost or compost intended for seedlings. I have other friends that grow in pure pumice. Both do well, so I would just try something and see how it goes. Maybe you could try to mix 50:50 with compost and crushed pumice.

Goodluck!