Greetings from Croatia

[Nino_G]

Hello everyone!
My name is Nino and I live in Zagreb, Croatia.
I've been growing cacti for more than 35 years. Due to certain circumstances in the past i had to greatly reduce my collection and I preserved only the small number of most valuable specimens, but in the recent years I got more involved in the hobby again. I'm in the process of rebuilding and upgrading my collection, mostly from seed. Also, I should mention that I live in apartment and keep my entire collection on the balcony, so I have very limited space for the plants. Hence, I'm focused mostly on miniatures.
I'm very glad that I have found this forum which appears to be quite active. It seems that most of the people in the hobby "migrated" to the various social networks which I don't use.
I'm looking forward to participate in the work of this forum, share experiences, and, of course learn new things.
Best regards,
Nino

[jerrytheplater]

Welcome Nino. Steve Johnson also grows his 68 plants on a balcony in California. What are your winter temperatures like?

[zpeckler]

Welcome, Nino!

[gemhunter178]

Welcome!!

[anttisepp]

Hello Nino, nice to see here new experienced member, welcome!

[Nino_G]

Thank you all for a warm welcome.

What are your winter temperatures like?

Compared to your area we have relatively mild winters. Temperatures rarely drop below -5C (23F), and if they do, they never go below -10C (14F). Also, my balcony is south-oriented so the temperatures remain higher, even during the night. I have to transfer my collection inside the apartment only for a week or two each winter, during the most extreme weather. Otherwise, plants are exposed to the unfiltered natural sunlight and fresh air all year around.

[zpeckler]

What kind of plants do you like to grow?

[Nino_G]

What kind of plants do you like to grow?

I'm mostly focused on genera from north mexico (Aztekium, Turbinicarpus, Pelecyphora, Strombocactus, Geohintonia, etc.) and some central mexican species (Ortegocactus, several Mammillarias). I also have some cold hardy americans like Echinocereus reichenbachii v. minor, E. adustus, E. dasyacanthus v. ctenoides, E. rigidissimus, E. x roetterii, Pediocactus knowltonii and Navajoa (or Pediocactus) peeblesiana f. menzelii. Only several south american species (several varieties of Rebutia (ex. Aylostera) heliosa, some Sulcorebutias, Lobivia famatimensis, Weingartia neumanniana, ...).

[jerrytheplater]

Thank you all for a warm welcome.

What are your winter temperatures like?

Compared to your area we have relatively mild winters. Temperatures rarely drop below -5C (23F), and if they do, they never go below -10C (14F). Also, my balcony is south-oriented so the temperatures remain higher, even during the night. I have to transfer my collection inside the apartment only for a week or two each winter, during the most extreme weather. Otherwise, plants are exposed to the unfiltered natural sunlight and fresh air all year around.

Nice! And, thanks for the list of what you are growing. Any photos?

[Nino_G]

Sure, here are some pictures:

[Nino_G]

And some more...

[jerrytheplater]

Very beautiful. Some really nice plants there. You said you were increasing your collection mostly via seed. Have you grown most of the plants you showed via seed? If so, my hat is off to you.

[MrXeric]

Welcome! Very nice Sclerocactus (Toumeya) papyracanthus!

[Tom in Tucson]

Nicely grown and well photographed. I particularly like both species of Aztekium,
Pelecyphora aselliformis, Mammillaria egregia, and the small Toumeya papyracantha.

Welcome.

[nachtkrabb]

Welcome, Nino. Your plants for sure look nice, and you have planted them in a nice way, too.
Gosh, you have those Azteciums I am loning for, but somehow don't dare to bring home (if available). Are they hard to keep?
If you are interested in further plants, you will find a lot of people here in the forum giving away seeds and / or cutlings.
Hope you like it here,
Nachtkrabb