|
greenladel

Registered: 05/27/20
Posts: 636
Last seen: 5 months, 22 hours
|
starting my cacti collection
#26701132 - 05/28/20 07:29 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Hi everybody I am about to start my cacti collection and thought i would join here to get some advice from people with more experience than me. i also plan to grow some psilocybe and sclerotium soon and this is the place to be for information about that 
i plan to buy a small cutting of san pedro and a small cutting of bridgesii later from avalon magic plants. what are peoples experiences with this store? also, i have read a lot saying both those cacti can survive a long time during shipping, but will they survive long enough to survive covid shipping times?
okay now the fun stuff. i live in UK and plan to grow them outside in the spring/summer (taking them inside at night and during rainfall) and inside in the autumn/winter. does that sound okay for them? and would they survive outside all year around if they are in a plastic sheet greenhouse? i am thinking of doing that when they are much bigger, maybe when they are about 3-4 feet tall. i have also read conflicting information about how much sun to give them in the summer. some people say all day and some people say morning sun and shade in the evening is best. what is your opinion on this?
just one more question for now, an odd one, more of a curiosity. i have read that they grow faster when they are bigger. does cutting them slow down the growth rate of the rooted part?
TLDR: 1- what are your experiences with avalon magic plants? 2- are san pedro and bridgesii likely to survive shipping NL to UK during covid? 3- is it safe to grow them outside in warm months and inside in cold months in UK? 4- how much sun should they get in sunny periods? 5- as far as i understand, they grow faster when they are bigger. does the growth rate drop on the rooted part if you cut it?
thank you all for your help. i look forward to a long life with my new cacti family members
|
Pandemoon
Ἧeẍeᾐmeḭsṫeŗ ͛


Registered: 01/28/14
Posts: 5,845
Loc: Europe
Last seen: 23 hours, 35 minutes
|
Re: starting my cacti collection [Re: greenladel]
#26701195 - 05/28/20 08:05 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
The shop is good. I ordered cacti and mushroom growboxes from them like 25 times, and everything went well all the time. A week after payment the package arrives. I live in germany.
The small cuttings are really small. Might take a while to grow roots. I'd order normal cuttings of 30cm, these are fatter and grow faster. A small cutting might take two years or longer to reach the size of a normal cutting. Put them into dry soil and don't water them for several weeks. Water them only after the first roots appear. This takes anywhere from several weeks to several months. Might take the whole season, so it will be ready to water normally by next year. Only water during summer, not in winter.
If you cut, the rooted stump will sprout new pups within a couple of weeks /months. Might take a full season, though. These pups will continue to grow into new branches /colums.
The user Mostly_Harmless also lives in the UK and has some cacti outside all the time. Maybe he can give you some advice. I put my cacti inside in october, and outside again in april.
Full sun at noon is not good for cacti, trichos like the shade. Put them to the west or east side of the house, so that they get sun in the morning or evening, but not at high noon.
-
|
greenladel

Registered: 05/27/20
Posts: 636
Last seen: 5 months, 22 hours
|
Re: starting my cacti collection [Re: Pandemoon]
#26701244 - 05/28/20 08:39 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
thank you for the response.
great to hear the shop is good. i have very limited funds at the moment. maybe i could just buy a bridgesii but get a bigger one and look at getting a san pedro at a later date. what are the growing speeds like compared to each other? i was under the impression that san pedro grows faster?
when i pot the cutting should i use soil to prop it up or is it better to just use a couple of sticks for it to rest against?
i have a wall in my garden that i can put them on the east side of so they get sun in the morning but not in the evening.
hopefully mostly_harmless sees this thread and want to weight in. i dont want to PM them and bother them. that can be annoying for long time users of forums 
thank you very much for the help <3
|
greenladel

Registered: 05/27/20
Posts: 636
Last seen: 5 months, 22 hours
|
Re: starting my cacti collection [Re: greenladel]
#26703994 - 05/29/20 09:23 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
i found the sponsors section of the forum and found zamnesia. they have better prices and cheaper shipping and i received a 10% off coupon to sign up to the newsletter, which i would have done anyway 
i am thinking about adding a peyote to my collection too, just for decorative purposes (san pedro and bridge also double up for that) along with my opuntia monacantha and echinocactus grusonii.
i also noticed their "cactus nutrition". how much will something like that help?
sorry for all the questions at once.
thank you.
|
Mostly_Harmless
wyrd bið ful aræd



Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 5,043
Loc: Perfidious Albion
|
Re: starting my cacti collection [Re: greenladel]
#26708472 - 05/31/20 05:04 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
greenladel said: hopefully mostly_harmless sees this thread and want to weight in. i dont want to PM them and bother them. that can be annoying for long time users of forums 
No bother! PM me if you like. Happy to help 
Like Pandemoon, I put trichs out on the patio april/may and put back into an unheated greenhouse sept/oct for winter rest. Established plants or seedlings, they don't mind a cold winter, so long as dry at the root. Sheets of newspaper or a polystyrene cup over tips can help avoid frost damage in the greenhouse if winter is particularly bad.
A few are kept out all year round. Trichocereus terscheckii, which don't seem to mind being rained or snowed on through winter, and a 10 ft tall trich too large to go back into a greenhouse. With that one I wrap the pot with plastic to minimise rain getting the soil wet and it copes with winters just fine. This is in a south facing garden, against a wall, so adds a bit of warmth in the depths of winter and a bit of protection from those brisk north winds.
No need to bring them in each night when they are actively growing, to do so might even be to their detriment. Cacti do like the temperature drop overnight and the corresponding increase in relative humidity, when it becomes safe to open their stomata with minimal water loss. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crassulacean_acid_metabolism
Through winter, keep them somewhere that doesn't often go over 10C/50f, to encourage dormancy. If they get too warm they try to grow, and in weak winter light any growth will also be weak, more prone to sunburn and damage come spring, and can lead to thin growth which won't ever fully thicken to match the rest of the column. A shed, a garage, an unheated greenhouse, a cold room, anywhere cool/chilly. No water is needed, or light, once they are cold enough to sleep. Come springtime they may need acclimating again to the sun or risk sunburn. Once they are settled, full UK sun is fine.
Sometimes you might need to prop up a freshly potted trich until it gets settled. Might be able to secure with a gravel layer on top of the soil. Best in the long run for them to stand on their own though.
For cactus nutrients, I use Chempak Cactus and Succulent Fertiliser (8/34/32 and trace micronutrients). That chempak one is good for the globular and slower cacti. They also do one @ 10/25/25.
Trichs will like a higher nitrogen count. They won't mind a few times a year!
|
greenladel

Registered: 05/27/20
Posts: 636
Last seen: 5 months, 22 hours
|
|
thanks mostly_harmless! <3 i will try not to PM you every 5 minutes though 
i had no idea they would be safe outside in the warm season in UK! if they are outside in the summer and it rains are they safe to stay in the rain? or should i cover them or bring them in? i have a small greenhouse, the plastic cover kind, not glass. would they be safe in there in winter if i make a newspaper barrier around them? do you know if it is the same for lophophora? i impulse bought a 2-3cm button with my order hahaha
how often and how much fertiliser do you use? and again, do you know if it is safe to use the same for loph?
thanks for all the info! <3 i am starting to feel a little more relaxed now thanks to the folks around this place  just need to figure out how much soil amendment to use for the loph. i am already getting help in another thread for the trichs. i think i will just use the same amount for both if i cant find out, or maybe slightly less to keep a mineral rich soil.
thank you everybody for the help <3
|
Mostly_Harmless
wyrd bið ful aræd



Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 5,043
Loc: Perfidious Albion
|
Re: starting my cacti collection [Re: greenladel]
#26709138 - 05/31/20 01:24 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
The trichs I put outside stay out in whatever rain comes there way, it is only at the end of the season I get concerned if it is being too wet, then they go into a greenhouse earlier to have time to dry out before the cold hits. I keep some pots of lophs outside for the summer and only put them under cover if the rain has gone on for over 2 days, but they are kept in a mix with no soil at all and do dry out fast, just granite/quartz/moler/tufa. It will depend on your own areas climate though, I am in one of the lower rainfall areas of the country, at 2/3rds of the national average.
The only thing the lophs have suffered outside was a bit of slug damage once and a pigeon had a peck a few times 

after some rain

scarred pigeon peck

All my lophs and trichs spend winter in unheated greenhouses, never getting more protection than newspaper during very cold winters. Only notable loss was a bridgesii tip damaged this winter, on a 3 foot column, planted in ground inside a greenhouse, but that might have been a combo of dampness and then typical trich black rot, owing to the odd winter and spring we have had. In a smaller greenhouse, humidity and lack of air flow might be an issue, more than the cold. The main thing though is keeping the soil dry through winter. They could probably survive under any shelter so long as the soil keeps dry. Again that may depend on the temperatures your region sees. It can be quite daunting that first winter they are left out!
This is the nutrients I use for my lophs, at half strength, a few times a year if I remember to do so 
|
greenladel

Registered: 05/27/20
Posts: 636
Last seen: 5 months, 22 hours
|
|
thank you so much for all the detailed help! <3
i am feeling much more comfortable now  i have spent the day sourcing things and i have all the components i need for my soils and nutrients on their way, hopefully quicker than the cacti. i will be going out shopping for pots tomorrow. if i cant find deep pots i will order them online tomorrow. the trich pots should be easy. and i am now armed with much more information then i got from around the web thanks to you and the other folks on this site <3 after that i can sit back and relax while i wait for my new babies to arrive 
thank you all so much for the help <3
|
|