CactiGuide.com

By the way, I got 1 plant for free. Someone gave it to me and said they don't know what it was, they got it from some bulk collection. Any first wild guesses ? The roots remind me of Tylecodon singularis, but then brown, instead of green/grey.

@jangaudi
I also went today (between 13:00 and 16:00) and will post pictures of my purchases later. I was happy to see there was a good amount of people, but not too much. Had some nice conversations with some of the attendees.

@ jangaudi:
I see you purchased a Tylecodon Bochulzianus. It's a very nice plant, but slow growing. Around this time of year mine always gets this strange small green leaves.

My purchases:
(The Kalanchoe is in bad shape and will probably need to be treated as a cutting.)

ohugal wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:23 pm I see you purchased a Tylecodon Bochulzianus. It's a very nice plant, but slow growing. Around this time of year mine always gets this strange small green leaves.

Yes ! It was on my wishlist for a while ! I just got a small pot for only 5 €. And I also got a clavarioides in there
By the way, that last plant is a Kalanchoe rhombopilosa right ? Looks nice !

The Maihueniopsis clavaroides and Pterocactus australis are very etiolated, were they grown under his greenhouse bench? The M. clavaroides should look like the more compact part where the two long stems spring from.

See:-

http://tephro.com/%22index.php?option=c ... id=101\%22

Not sure the Pterocactus is P. australis since all the ones I have seen look similar to fig 2 in the link below. P australis is allso the slowest growing.

http://tephro.com/%22index.php?option=c ... id=101\%22

Its hard to tell at the moment, but your "Pterocactus australis" may prove to be another species:-

http://tephro.com/%22index.php?option=c ... id=101\%22

If not gown in full light Pterocactus can etiolate considerably, but not to worry since the top growth is often lost in habitat in the dry season and regenerates from the tuberous root. Therefore you may get more normal stems from the tuber next year and can always clip off the long stems and use them for propagation for a few swaps. Pterocactus are pretty hardy plants coming from Patagonia and will go down to freezing in winter with me if dry.

P. tuberosus is notorious for dropping a lot of its top growth in winter. Some Pterocactus can loose much of their top growth in the dry season in habitat and regenerate new stems next year. Often flowering with little top growth as with my plant below where the tuber is as big as a billiard ball but shed much of its top growth the previous year. In fact with P. tuberosus pruning some top growth often encourages it to flower the following year. Any Pterocactus shed top growth can also be used for propagation, but often "stands still" above ground for a year or so until it forms its tuberous root before growing significantly again.

Hi dave, thanks for the info! Already suspected the labelling was off regarding the pterocactus. I also think its a tuberosus. I already have one actually. the mahueniopsis i mistook for a pterocactus because they were all very packed together on the stand (astrokaktus is the seller). Took it anyway! I will give it a spot close to the window, because i really like the flattened stems.
I also hope i can reroot the fuzzy kalanchoe with autumn coming up.
Also the echinofossulocactus is labeled incorrectly i think. I didn’t ask why the plants are etiolated. The seller is from slovenia.

Jangaudi wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:04 pm

ohugal wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:23 pm I see you purchased a Tylecodon Bochulzianus. It's a very nice plant, but slow growing. Around this time of year mine always gets this strange small green leaves.

Yes ! It was on my wishlist for a while ! I just got a small pot for only 5 €. And I also got a clavarioides in there
By the way, that last plant is a Kalanchoe rhombopilosa right ? Looks nice !

Congratulations then!
The M. clavarioides I bought from a Slovenian seller (Astrokaktus). As DaveW noticed, it is indeed etiolated. I originally mistook it for a Pterocactus. Do you have any tips on it's cultivation? I'm planning on potting it in an all mineral soil (20% bims, 20% lava, 20% sand and 40% grit).
The last plant is indeed a Kalanchoe rhombopilosa. Do you have one (or several) as well? I'm planning on focusing on Kalanchoes a bit more. A small leaf broke off during cleaning of the plants. Can I use it to propagate it you think? A friend of mine really likes it.
What's that plant you have in your overview picture in the middle row all to the left?

ohugal wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:50 pm Do you have any tips on it's cultivation? I'm planning on potting it in an all mineral soil (20% bims, 20% lava, 20% sand and 40% grit).

Don't think it has special requirements, except for deep pots because of its taproot. They can also take -5 frost.

ohugal wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:50 pm The last plant is indeed a Kalanchoe rhombopilosa. Do you have one (or several) as well? I'm planning on focusing on Kalanchoes a bit more. A small leaf broke off during cleaning of the plants. Can I use it to propagate it you think? A friend of mine really likes it.

Nope, I haven't got it, just got humilis and marmorata. I think it's possible to root a kalanchoe leaf, but not sure if all of them do it.

ohugal wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:50 pm What's that plant you have in your overview picture in the middle row all to the left?

It's an Echidnopsis, from Got Choba Marsabit / Kenya, but no species name given. Guess I can figure it out when it blooms.

Jangaudi wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:35 pm It's an Echidnopsis, from Got Choba Marsabit / Kenya, but no species name given. Guess I can figure it out when it blooms.

PRO Bally collected two species of Echidnopsis from Gof or Got Choba or Chopa, a volcanic crater in Marsabit. If you put these co-ordinates in Google Maps it should show it. 2.4121832019722538 N, 38.04668782580337 E

Echidnopsis mariae, which POWO says is Echidnopsis scutellata subsp. australis. B[ally] 12565 9/3/1968

Echidnopsis dammanniana B[ally] 12399

Williams Cactus, Mbuyu and Giromagi have an Echidnopsis dammanniana from "Gof Coba", "Gof Choba" or "Golf Coba". RM 1096, which was presumably collected by Rainer Martin. This seems the most likely one to be sold at ELK.

One Windowsill wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:43 pm
PRO Bally collected two species of Echidnopsis from Gof or Got Choba or Chopa, a volcanic crater in Marsabit. If you put these co-ordinates in Google Maps it should show it. 2.4121832019722538 N, 38.04668782580337 E

Echidnopsis mariae, which POWO says is Echidnopsis scutellata subsp. australis. B[ally] 12565 9/3/1968

Echidnopsis dammanniana B[ally] 12399

Williams Cactus, Mbuyu and Giromagi have an Echidnopsis dammanniana from "Gof Coba", "Gof Choba" or "Golf Coba". RM 1096, which was presumably collected by Rainer Martin. This seems the most likely one to be sold at ELK.

Wow, that is some useful information ! Thanks for that ! The echidnopsis was bought from a German seller, who also gave me that free unknown caudiciform (was not Mbuyu, he was at the other end of the tent). I will wait till it blooms, and then I'll be sure.

Who's going to the ELK this year?
If there are not Covid restrictions again this year, I will very likely be going again. It has been three years for me!

I don't think the Brits who usually go to ELK know what the regulations are regarding bringing back plants and seeds since we have left the EU. I have heard the new British import regulations for both plants and animals, supposed to come in this year 2022, have been postponed to end of 2023? So some claim the regulations are presently the same as still being in the EU, but everything is confused and even the authorities don't seem to know.

Somebody I knew brought in some cactus seed from habitat and decided to be lawful and declared them at the border to Customs.

The Customs said "what are these?"
Reply "cactus seeds",
Customs "what do you do with them?"
Reply "set them".
Customs "what am I supposed to do with them?"
Reply "I don't know",
Customs "if you don't know and I don't know keep walking!".

Therefore he just walked through with them with the Border Controls blessing!

"After two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, we hope to be able to organise a "normal" ELK again this year"
Eveything will be pretty normal, except for the fact there's gonna be an entrance fee of 5€, to help pay for the new tent they bought. Those who were there last year remember that the tent type used, was really blocking a lot of natural light, leaving visitors using their mobile phone torch, to have a better look at some plants
So they have changed to a new type of tent, a 'frame tent'.
"Unfortunately, the price of a frame tent is much higher than that of a pole tent. To be able to pay for this, a moderate entrance fee of € 5.00 will be charged from this year for visitors who do not stay in Duinse Polders"
The ticket will be valid through the weekend, though admission on sunday morning will remain free, that's what it says. Probably it's cause sunday is a day many tourist plant lovers visit ELK, and this might give a boost to the sunday quota, a good reason for some plant dealers 'not to' leave already on saturday evening.

Just three more days (for me then, I will visit it on Saturday)...!
Fun to be there after three years.

And indeed it was fun! Busy, but not too busy. The big tent is a huge improvement, bigger and very bright. And a bit more room to walk around in some of the aisles.

I came home with mainly Lobivias and Gymnocalyciums.