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This year seems to be very rainy here too unfortunately. However, rainy is the norm here. The past few years were irregularly dry-ish. Watch our for your sensitive plants to avoid excess humidity.
Thanks for sharing photos of the show! My favorites were the pediocactus, the glandulicactus and that crazy ariocarpus cultivar in the last photo of part 1

Amazing plants! Thanks for the photos, I wish I could have been there.

spok wrote: ↑Sun Dec 16, 2018 12:42 pm Amazing plants! Thanks for the photos, I wish I could have been there.

Thank you spok! Indeed, the specimens were incredible, lots of rare and unusual cacti in cultivation as well as some awesome other succulents!

ElieEstephane wrote: ↑Sat Dec 15, 2018 6:21 pm This year seems to be very rainy here too unfortunately. However, rainy is the norm here. The past few years were irregularly dry-ish. Watch our for your sensitive plants to avoid excess humidity.
Thanks for sharing photos of the show! My favorites were the pediocactus, the glandulicactus and that crazy ariocarpus cultivar in the last photo of part 1

Thanks a lot Elie! Well, we are having some sunny days in a row, all the cacti are super happy I'm sure as I was enjoying the sight! Some succulents seemed a little stressed, so I watered very lightly the smaller ones, but the bigger pots are going to remain dry through the winter.
Some of my aloes flowered, my Adromischus is getting a flowering stem ready and some winter flowering Mamms also.

DesertSun wrote: ↑Fri Dec 14, 2018 7:57 pm

Pompom wrote: ↑Fri Dec 14, 2018 7:03 pm Just like Elie, I'm also jealous of your collection! I wasn't aware there's so many different feros!

You have really interesting species there, I especially like the one in pic DSCN9603 (1).jpg, may I ask what it is?

Thank you very much Pompom! There are so many species and I have grown incredibly fond of the genus, the more I study it the more I see and want to have! hehe, don't we all anyway? As SpikyLover identified it, (btw Hello Spiky!, how are you doing?) it is indeed an Eriosyke aurata, sorry I had been in a hurry and did not mention the species on each photograph. How are you and your beautiful cacti, is the winter giving you a hard time?

We're doing fine Thanks for asking. Winter has been mild here. My cacti went dormant by accident cause I didn't move them from windowsill early enough. So whole winter I've been unable to move them off cause I'm afraid they'll wake up. Under the window is this apartments main heaters and I've been unable to turn it on What wouldn't I do for my cacti Fortunately the winter has been mild and inside temperatures are not dropping too much. The weather will cool down a lot at some point and I have to turn on the heater. That might wake up the plants, but I'll hope it's bright enough outside by then. We'll see.

Hey Pompom! I'm glad you are doing so great and that your beloved plants have slept for the winter, makes things so much easier!
No, don't move them, since they won't get etiolated now, better wait till spring comes and they begin to show signs of them been woken up again. Perhaps move them in another windowsill, away from heat when turning on the heater is necessary. Wishing you the best for overwintering safely!

So, hello everybody! Me and my plants are doing great! We had some snow the previous week over here, a big wave of bad weather swept over the whole country, it snowed even in the southern parts of the country, islands, etc. Some of the plants we had outside, at our northern balcony were pretty stressed, but reviving, and only two were lost, but which are not difficult to replace. They were protected under tents, but the temperature got low enough to cause some damage.
My cacti and most of the other succulents we had to move inside the house, and those that were left outside on the stands I protected with antifreezing cloth/protective cloth and even some warm covers, to keep them from any harm. Some of my cacti would very easily withstand some snow, but better be safe than sorry, I don't want to take unnecessary risks when I still can. At some point damages are to be expected anyway, but I will always try to do the best I can to avoid big ones.
We even managed to close half of our balcony with transparent canopy, so no rain and hail can harm the cacti any more. Only the temperature will remain a concern, it's definitely and improvement in the right direction.

I have done my best to enhance my collection. Ordered some more ferocacti from abroad, since I cannot find many of the species I want in my collection here. I hope they arrive safe and well!

Hello cactophiles! How are you doing? I hope you are healthy, happy and the same for your beloved cacti and other succulents!
The weather has been difficult to cope with this winter, many days of rain and others with high humidity, but my cacti and other succulents are all in a good condition. Nothing lost, nothing damaged from my cacti. Let's hope it continues to be this way.
I have decided on the genera I want to collect, as I had already wrote on a previous post. It is the Genus Echinocactus and the Genus Ferocactus. That does not by any means suggest that I will not have any other cacti from other genera, it is just a general path I have decided to follow, based on my likings. I love plants that are not tiny, that are not of the ones mass produced, that have wild and fierce spination and that I enjoy looking at, and examining my behaviors towards specific genera, realized that I cannot live without echinocacti and ferocacti. I do keep others, but I am rather inclined into downsizing as I get more echinocacti and feros.
Let me show you how things are in my collection nowadays.

Hello cactophiles! How are you doing?
The weather keeps giving us a hard time, lots of rain and days without sun, but nevertheless my cacti are showing signs of them being awake. Mammillarias are flowering, some astrophytum are making buds, some Ferocacti also. I can't wait to see them opening their cute buds, can't wait!
So, I have been steadily following my schedule, haven't lost any cactus but a small Parodia mairanana, which is not a big deal really. This parodia was bought with its roots lost in the winter from the nursery and was trying to root it but it didn't make it. Not my favorite genus anyway. I am showing you some photos from my plants in March and April 2019. Hope you enjoy! Many have already woken up, some Mammillariae are either having buds or flowering already.

Hello Marina
The weather is also bad on this side of the mediterannean too! This is the first sunny week and then it's gonna be rainy next monday. This has been a colder than user before year. Last year i had my cacti out since early late february and early march. On the bright side, colder=more flowers than usual

And some of my beloved Ferocacti and some cacti from other genera, which I have been adding to my collection steadily. I have already replanted many of them. This year the replanting/replacement of soil in so many pots was quite a work, many days with many hours of each have gone into this. I keep learning and keeping gaining experience, following precious advice and trying my best to have happy, healthy plants in my collection. I have been careful with giving each genus the proper conditions and I can say I'm pleased with how things are right now.

ElieEstephane wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 9:50 am Hello Marina
The weather is also bad on this side of the mediterannean too! This is the first sunny week and then it's gonna be rainy next monday. This has been a colder than user before year. Last year i had my cacti out since early late february and early march. On the bright side, colder=more flowers than usual

Hello Elie! Oh, so its bad over there also! We are having the same lots of rain and only a few sunny days in between. Some cacti have been holding on their buds forever. Well, we shall see how things go. There's always a bright side, you are spot on! Thank you!

Hello dear cactophiles! My collection is growing nicely these days, although at a hiatus this moment due to various everyday life distractions. I have had numerous bloomings of my cacti, all of them giving me joy. Summer has been harsh with its heat, but we had a week or so of more windy days and lower temps which was quite something.
Showing you some of the bloomings, more to follow.

Hello dear cactophiles! I hope you are well, healthy and happy and that your plant collections are giving you great joy.
My collection has grown to a point where I had to move my biggest plants in the roof terrace, but I also did it for those particular plants, which need many hours of sunshine for the spines to develop in their full potential! Nowadays, all of my feros are on the terrace, protected from the rainy days, fortunately not many until now, but getting much winter sun. I have kept other succulents and smaller cacti on the balcony stands and have also transferred some common cacti, like opuntias and other succulents like agave, which are now very big, on the small yard garden. I have taken great care to protect all of them and I have lost almost no plants, except from the summer months, when some were hit by spidermites and those were not lost, but unfortunately scarred. I had treated and quarantined them, and decided never to buy Rebutias again as they are a spidermite magnet for sure. Those were the ones that started it. With the amount of plants I now have in my collection, spidermites cause a great risk, and I prefer to lose some minor interest plants like rebutias than others which I love and cherish the most. Not a cactus snob, just pragmatic. I have been collecting many Rhipsalis species, a genus I really love.
So, have a look into my plants as of now. Spring come, I intend to branch out to more Mammillarias, rare Echinocactus, more Feros, astrophytum and adromischus.

And some other succulents, Rhipsalis cassutha has flowered, also Rhipsalis microcarpa and waiting for the Mesebryanthemoides any day now and some others too. The beautiful Haworthia was a gift from a friend, love this one!

Wow, all gorgeous cacti and photography. The red on that cactus (DSCN1092.jpg) is eye catching. I've just gotten a look at the beginning of this thread and the oreocereus celsianus is also really interesting. Probably one of my favorites