Snowcat's dark window cacti collection

[Snowcat]

kpj35, can you show what places you are fitting your plants in?

You an be sure I'll keep you updated with my situation with lights...

[sabotenmen]

[quote="kpj35"]Great plants, and you'll have to update about how your lighting situation is working. I also have limited natural light, but have found some interesting ways to make it work. And somehow I seem to keep finding new places to put plants, all in my tiny bedroom. Believe me, when properly motivated you'd be amazed at how many plants you will end up fitting into a small space

KPJ, the problem is, that plants grow! In a couple years, you will be amazed to find that you need twice as much space for the same number of plants. I hate getting rid of plants that have grown too big, I try to take their expected size over the years into account when I buy plants.

[kpj35]

kpj35, can you show what places you are fitting your plants in?

You an be sure I'll keep you updated with my situation with lights...

Sure thing, I'll post some tomorrow

[kpj35]

Great plants, and you'll have to update about how your lighting situation is working. I also have limited natural light, but have found some interesting ways to make it work. And somehow I seem to keep finding new places to put plants, all in my tiny bedroom. Believe me, when properly motivated you'd be amazed at how many plants you will end up fitting into a small space

KPJ, the problem is, that plants grow! In a couple years, you will be amazed to find that you need twice as much space for the same number of plants. I hate getting rid of plants that have grown too big, I try to take their expected size over the years into account when I buy plants.

Very true. I have a lot of haworthias which should stay fairly small and a few species of euphorbia which also stay small. My cacti are doing well, but here in the northeast I certainly don't get the kind of growth that people in more sunny southern locations get, so I have a bit of time before I have to worry about them outgrowing their current accommodations; and ultimately, this is not my permanent living situation so I will hopefully have more room for expansion in the future

[kpj35]

Here are some pics of my setup. I will add some comments later because I need to go now - favorite TV show is on! First are my new shelves with lots of empty space now. Next is my new propagator which is almost finished - just adding the bottom heat. And my desk setup.

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Tiny propagator with bottom heat. Can't wait until the new one is all finished!

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My tillandsia tree project.

[Snowcat]

kpj35, thanks for sharing! Your shelves look really nice! But are you sure there will be enough light on them?

[kpj35]

For cacti, probably not. My epis all seem to like them though! They were actually looking stressed when under my desk light setup (I am running 6 two foot 17 watt bulbs under there). So I'll probably use the East facing window for some more epis and use the top shelf of the south window for expanding my haworthia collection. The tillandsia tree will have its own light supplied by two 40 watt compact fluorescents hung overhead (will add more if necessary). I love cacti, but unfortunately I would need a miniature indoor sun to grow any more of them in my current situation, which is why I only have a few. Fortunately, I do love my haworthias and they grow very well around here

[kpj35]

Oh, and I should probably add that I did research the highest angle of the sun in my location, and then did the math to determine how high the second shelf should be so that it does not block any light that otherwise would have reached the plants on the bottom shelf. Luckily, when I factored in a 3 inch gap between the window pane and the shelf, it ended up being a reasonable height - I love math, it's so useful .

[hoteidoc]

Snowcat - this is for you! Was giving a light H20ing to my Melo. matanzanus when I discovered FB's pushing out! We haven't had ANY warm-up yet, so downstairs ranges between 13 - 16C! Last Summer was much cooler (but not really cool) than previous 2, so nowhere near the blossom activity in cephalium. Nonetheless, I was amazed to see these guys -- could be another banner year!

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And here's the new Melo. concinnus I got from Miles'2Go -- definitely was not expecting with cephalium!

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Then there's Daniel's Melo. azureus seedlings waiting to get their own potting. And the Melo. caesius seeds I got from (a member of) another forum have germinated! Of course, 1st thing I saw tracking down this thread was James' Monster Melo. of 25 yrs in his front yard. This might not be Rio or Tucson, but if you can do it in Moscow or Upstate NY... This is exciting!

[Snowcat]

Hoteidoc, I see you turning into a melo fan also

Nice plants you have! I wonder how long can a melo preserve soon-to-be-fruits inside it's cephalium? They even keep coming if the dry flowers were removed. My Curvispinus keeps giving me fruits out of nowhere, perhpas from the flowers that were removed from it back in the shop some months ago.

BTW my small matanzanus is flowering again, but this times it gives rather small flowers, they are barely visible inside the cephalium. I guess it does not like Moscow early spring after all... But still it is definitely not impossible to grow them even in cold climate if you take proper care fo them.

[Snowcat]

Here come more flowers. Two Astorphytums just bloomed on my windowsill. Beautiful flowers!

[K.W.]

Two Astorphytums just bloomed on my windowsill. Beautiful flowers!

Yes, very beautiful!!!


Greetings

K.W.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

That first Astrophytum is just a beautiful plant , and that flower is the Christm cracker going bang on top.

The Asterias isn't too bad either.

.

=^~^= ?

=^-^=

I have a feeling that the Hendry Terok mystery Melo may well be M. Concinnus you know. I remember him putting a pic up. And the last BCSS ( bromley ) meeting I went to , I saw some during the lecture.

[Snowcat]

Unfortunately I've never seen the Capricorne flower opened myself... When I go to work in the morning it is closed YET and when I come back it is closed AREADY... It bloomed only 2 days - monday and tuesday and I had to ask my wife to take the pictures.

Asterias however stays opened for much longer time, it closes only near midnight so I was able to see it personally

[adetheproducer]

Very nice, love the astro flowers.