Those for whom the bell tolls

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cruaux
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Location: Corvallis, Oregon
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Those for whom the bell tolls

Post by cruaux »

I'm noticing a lot of memorial threads after the winter that was (or shall we call it the winter that shall go down in infamy...)

Spring comes a bit later up here, and I am only just now starting to see how badly things went for me.

Anyway, losses in the last few months:

Definitely dead:
1 X Astrophytum asterias
1 X Turbincarpus pseudomacrochele var minima
1 X Pachypodium brevicaule
1 X Larryleachia picta
Many Uebellmannia seedlings
2 X Aeonium percarneum
Many Mammillaria blossfeldiana seedlings (with the last one on the way out)
3 X Astrophytum caputmedusae seedlings (all my stock)
2 X Aeonium 'Cyclops'
3 X Eriosyce sandillon seedlings
1 X Obregonia denegri (Vale my Avatar...)
4 X Crassula portulacea minima (all in the one container)
3 X Echeveria laui
1 X Mammillaria hernandezi
1 X Dudlyea brittoni
1 X Euphorbia bupleurifolia
3 X Dorstenia foetida
1 X Agave montana

Look like they are done for:
1 x Chamaecereus 'Fire Chief'
1 x Gymnocalycium bayrianum

Lost roots but making cuttings:
1 x Monadenium ritchei ssp ritchei has now become 4 :)


Got boiled in midsummer, but I had been blotting out the memory
Every single Lithops I own. :shock:

The good news is my local nursery just got in stock from a local specialty grower, so I have some shopping to do...
Last edited by cruaux on Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Peterthecactusguy
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Post by Peterthecactusguy »

sorry to hear that.
:(
Here's to you, all you insidious creatures of green..er I mean cacti.
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king_hedes
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Post by king_hedes »

that always sucks to looses plants :?
plant zone 9a
Matt Ivy
peterb
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Post by peterb »

I don't mean to be morbid, but I'm interested in details. How did they variously meet their fate?

I always learn from the plants I kill and I often learn from the plants that die on other people.

peterb
Zone 9
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*Barracuda_52*
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

:( Ouchy that really sucks, i think just about every grower has lost some plants here or there.
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cruaux
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Post by cruaux »

peterb wrote:I don't mean to be morbid, but I'm interested in details. How did they variously meet their fate?

peterb
In a word (or two), El Nino.

Most of the losses are from excessive moisture in combination with frigid COLD. Many of them were in a cold frame that went down to 16F one night, then it rained for 7 days straight, then temperatures hit 98 inside the cold frame the day after the rain stopped (recorded on a temperature sensor I have built into the cold frame, and for the record, OUCH, I didn't anticipate that sort of solar heating), sadly while I was away from home and could not do anything.

The E. bupleurifolia, Larryleachia and Pachy. brevicaule dried out and shrivelled under lights and on a heating mat (didn't water them enough :!: :oops: )

The Monadenium didn't have enough time to dry out from the last watering of the Autumn, and rotted the roots in mid-winter. It had 5 branches, and 4 of the 5 have survived to reroot.

The seedlings succumbed over time to the various disasters that can befall seedlings trying to transition to a more independent, less frequently watered existence.

The lithops didn't get hardened off, then I went and put them in full sun next to a reflective wall. Oops, won't be doing that again soon. #-o

On the upside, I ordered some ridiculously fragile plants from Miles Anderson today, to make myself feel a bit better...

(How hard can Pseudolithos cubiformis really be... =P~ )
peterb
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Post by peterb »

thanks for those details! send pics of that pseudolithos, I remember seeing the babies at Miles' nursery a couple years ago.

peterb
Zone 9
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