I would not advise eating fruits from plants in your collection if you use systemic insecticides and also contact ones if they get sprayed on the fruits. The type of fruit tends to depend on how its seeds are spread. If through birds etc that eat them they tend to be fleshy, whereas if seed are spre...

I had just posted above and got around to my emails to find one of my branch members had sent me this translation of an excellent article originally in German of Acharagma. https://cdn.fbsbx.com/v/t59.2708-21/441428165_395777396775627_1449805364199008593_n.pdf/Escobaria_2023_EN.pdf?_nc_cat=107&c...

No I think these talks are usually live and only a few recorded or if so the recording is only available for a few days afterwards. Some of the lecturers want to use those talks again to give to other societies or branches and if permanently available on the Web few would want to hear them at a club...

Yes anttisep I I believe Wigginsia is the valid name over Malacocarpus but can't find the article by Porter explaining why, but they are both names for the same genus. Malacocarpus/Wigginsia's are close to Notocactus with similar flowers but usually have more pronounced ribs. As is usual sometimes w...

Sort of a midway species between Notocactus and Malacocarpus. But placed in Notocactus rather than Malacocarpus. However if you are a "Lumper" both genera are now in Parodia.

BCSS Zoom talk tonight 9th April. Talk is live not recorded so you need to Google for a time converter fto your local time. Not sure the time quoted is correct as Britain is now on British Summer Time = BST, one hour earlier than Greenwich Mean Time = GMT? https://mailchi.mp/95a610799f6c/bcss-zoom-t...

Just looked up FO numbers in Ralph Martin's database. FO = Felipe Otero a Mexican cactus collector and the entry for FO 229 is:- Field number: FO 229 Collector: Felipe Otero Species: Mammillaria elegans v. Locality: Conpuerta, Sierra Mixteca, border Oaxaca-Pueblo, Mexico Altitude: Date: 14-May-88 No...

Or possibly a close relation of Mammillaria tlalocii = Mammillaria huitzilopotchlii since the central spines are usually produced on older plants, often intermittently or not at all.

Must have been about 30 to 40 years old as my plants don't grow very quickly. Alas it decided it had lived long enough and with no discernible change in growing conditions died two years ago. A species that does not show much visible signs if rotting since it does not go soft but you find out it is ...

I'm only a carpenter and amateur cactus grower not a chemist, but one of the best videos on "Cactus Anatomy" I came across was by Jackson Burkholder. It is in 6 parts but if you hang on as one part ends the other starts shortly afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKunfoYDHLI

I have used limestone chips, about quarter inch in size as a top dressing in the past, when I did not want to include them in the potting soil. These were obtained cheaply from a local builders merchant in the UK for spreading on bitumen felted roofs to keep the sun off and render them more fireproo...

Excellent researched post on the subject Oneday. =D> Inermis means unarmed or spineless, therefore subinermis means almost spineless or less spiny? Of course botanical names do not have to be appropriate and later often aren't, but usually are when the species was described. Britton and Rose picture...

Our plants have a tendency to spiral and all areoles are arranged in a spiral pattern. Seemingly the degree of stem spiralling depends on the concentration of auxins at the growing point. "So how do plants produce organs at regular intervals? Biologists knew the answer involved cells in the gro...

Pruning, akin to a near death experience, prompts plants to grow, flower and set seed in order to pass their genes on before they die! Pruning of most plants promotes new growth.

David Quail, a grower in cold old UK, raised dozens of these supposed slow growing cacti from seed and regularly sold them. You should even manage the very slow growing Aztekium ritteri and flower it by the time you are 60! He has just moved house and stopped selling I believe, but detailed his meth...