Nick's Collection

[AusNick89]

I thought I'd start a thread with photo of my current collection. Its still quite small but I've added a fair few new plants recently...My wife thinks I'm addicted

[hegar]

Hello Nick,
your collection may still be small, but your plants do look healthy and you already do have a few choice specimens, e.g. Astrophytum asterias.
Is the image right below - the cactus with the heavy thorns - a Gymnocalycium sp.? How big is that plant?


Harald

P.S.: I hope, that your wife can accept your addictive hobby, because you are on the way and may already be beyond the point of no return.
My wife does not like cacti at all and will not allow me to bring them inside the house. That did, however, not keep me from following my obsession, becasue, fortunately, I can grow them outside in the ground. I do have plants in both my front and back yard.

[AusNick89]

Thanks Harald, its a Gymnocalycium Monvillei, although I think my original photo made it look bigger than it actually is! I've attached another photo next to my hand below.

I do think I'm past the point of no return though...I bought 3 more yesterday that caught my eye

[ElieEstephane]

Very beautiful collection you got there nick!

[hegar]

Hello Nick,

I too do like your new acquisitions, especially that Ferocactus latispinus. I used to have a large plant, which I could barely cover with a 5-gallon nursery pot. That plant was beautiful, especially after a rainfall, when the broad, curved central spines really became colorful!
Unfortunately, after having had this plant for about six years, it developed a rot. Now I do have a seedling plant and hope, that some day it will flower like the big cactus did.
I was able to only take images of that plant in bloom perhaps two out of those 6+ years I had it. The reason is, that it tried to flower starting in late November - mostly though in December and January - and I was not able to prevent the flower buds from being dropped most of those years, because it did get pretty cold during the night time. The color of the blossoms is a very deep pink. It does look more like purple. I am not sure, if there are other cacti around that do have that "red cabbage" flower coloration. Well, with or without flowers, this plant is just beautiful.

Harald

[AusNick89]

Thanks Elie, I'm slowly growing it !

I really like the F.Latispinus too, they had two small ones there and I'm kicking myself for not buying the other one now haha. I'm not sure how I'd handle losing one to rot after 6 years though, I hope your new one grows well though!

[Pompom]

Hello Nick!

It's nice to see your collection grow! I especially like your g. monvillei and n. ottonis. The noto is adorable!
I too hope your wife accepts your hobby soon! It took a while my husband accepted my collection... Now he says it's ok for me to have as many cacti as I want, they just have to be out of his way!

[AusNick89]

I love the N. Ottonis too, it just split open a seed pod today too, so I'm very happy with it!

Its weird as we had a very hot day yesterday, around 36-39c with low humidity and today a thunderstorm with relatively high temperatures but very high humidity and two of my plants with seedpods just split right up the middle to show their seeds. I didn't even think they were anywhere near ripe too .

[AusNick89]

Got some new additions for my collection this week:

[AusNick89]

I seriously need to take a photo of the Rebutia I have. I re-potted it after taking the earlier photo and now it has just over taken its new pot too...Insane how fast they grow!

I'm currently loving grafting, so I haven't really bought any new plants apart from some cheap Astrophytum Ornatum I saw for $2.99 each.

I also got some Adenium seed sent to me and bought some others not expecting much...But ended up with 72 plants, which wasn't expected at all, so I repotted all of them the other day before it gets too cold here.

[AusNick89]

My Adenium seedlings...Not a clue what to do with them all!

[Cactifan800]

I'm not having much luck with my desert rose, they grow and produce flower buds, then fall off when they are just about to flower.

[AusNick89]

I'm not having much luck with my desert rose, they grow and produce flower buds, then fall off when they are just about to flower.

Yeah they seem really hard to please! I've killed a fair few in the past and I checked on my seedlings today after repotting and they don't seem to happy either.

Could be under or over watering or maybe need more fertilizer for the flower buds, but I'm not too sure!

[mmcavall]

Hello Nick, very nice collection, congrats.
What is the plant in the 7th picture of the first post of this thread (just below the asterias)? Do you know how old is it? How did you get so many flowers?

[AusNick89]

Hello Nick, very nice collection, congrats.
What is the plant in the 7th picture of the first post of this thread (just below the asterias)? Do you know how old is it? How did you get so many flowers?

Hi mate, I believe its Mammillaria Karwinskiana but possible hybrid as it seems to have longer spines than the forms I've seen. Not sure on age but I don't think its too old. I kept it in full sun here in WA which is very strong in UV rays, so I'm not sure if that contributed. When I got it, the body of the cacti was green but as summer went on, it went a deep bronze red and it started throwing out hundreds of flowers non-stop for about a month and it has just started again now as it has gone into Autumn. I also use a fertilizer called Ozi Magic Monsta Bud and I have observed the flowers grow a lot faster after its application.