New greenhouse

Hello again! Holy crap, another blog?! Yeah, you have to keep yourself busy to make the time go by during this semi-lockdown.

My new greenhouse

We're still doing fine here, although I did almost decapitated my right-hand today while doing the dishes. A plate broke in half and made a deep cut in my thumb. Nothing scary, but I had to go to the hospital and that's not the place to be during this pandemic! Luckily everything was well organized there and there weren't many people in the first aid waiting-room. Fifteen minutes, one stitch and three "stitching bandages". Not too bad!

Time to show off my new purchase. In my previous blog, I've already written about it; I've bought myself a new greenhouse! It's not a huge one, but even with my entire collection in it, I still have plenty of room for more. Why I've bought a new one? Check out the following photo of my old one:

RIP old greenhouse

I've had this one for a long time. For six years it has resisted wind, frost and the sun, and till last year it was still going strong. UV-radiation will cause a chemical reaction in plastic surfaces after a while and the storms earlier this year have blown off the roof and opened up the sides. I had to use garbage-bags to keep my plants dry! Not a pretty sight, as you can see.

My new greenhouse

New greenhouse

Not as high, but almost twice as wide; enough space for the following years. I'm still trying to organize my cacti a bit more. Not sure yet if I'll sort them by species, region, form or size, but I'm already quite happy with the overall look.

Greenhouse, layer 1

Greenhouse, layer 2

Greenhouse, layer 3

That's it for this post. My next one will probably be about sowing the seeds I've bought. Take care and see you soon!

Balcony-Greenhouse and some other stuff...

Reading my Blog again?! Ok... It's your time! =)

Last week I was looking at my cacti-collection and thinking; 'My preciousssss!!! Cool stuff I have over here. Lots of Peyote, some others that won't get too big and then I have this one that will get huge and... Oewww.... That one will be a problem too and those three will also be at least three metres in height! Hmmm....'.

And then my wife came in and started to talk about that exact same room where I have a large number of plants waiting to grow up. 'Honey? This is actually a big room, ah? It will be an awesome room for a kid to grow up in!' And she's right and we both really would love to have children one day.... Ahhhh... God dammit! Screw it! Of course I'll have to make place for that! And when I start to think about our own little creation that contains a part Stan and a part of my lovely wife.... Well.. That makes me happy!

But still I had that huge dilemma; 'Where?!'. And then, brilliant as I am (puke!), I've found this temporary solution:

Tiny greenhouse for my balcony

I have two well sized balconies and won't this make a nice little place to for little Stan Jr.? It won't be too cold in the winter and this way, I can keep the room for my cacti and everyone will be happy!

Of course I'm talking crap again... I'll use this in combination with this:

A heating cable

For all the cacti that won't be in the living room. Enough place for the upcoming years, till I have my own greenhouse. And to be honest... I realize that I should stop sowing giant species and should focus more on the smaller ones. Right now I'm planning grow more of the Lophophora (Peyote) family. You know, for that great Peyote-party when I turn 80! Blablabla....

Ah! Another thing! Last week I've received a little present from ADBLPS. I've send them an email, saying that me and a friend of mine were looking for some seeds of the Machaerocereus eruca for a long time, but that we couldn't find it nowhere. Then the kind man of ADBLPS told me that he had 10 seeds left from last year and that he could send them if I wanted. For free! Now that's nice! So not long ago I've received a letter from France, containing the following:

Machaerocereus eruca seeds

Now what can I say about this cactus? In their habitat they're called 'Creeping Devil'!  Enough reason to grow some! Cool name, ah?!

Machaerocereus eruca

This is a crawling cactus, well, it's not actually crawling, but because of the roots that die off at one side and the new born roots on the other side, this specie seems to be moving. And why is it called Devil? I'll just guess and say that some farmers stepped on it with their bare feet and cursed it to hell! In my opinion this is a very beautiful specie that deserves a place in my collection. My own little Satan!

I've already written above that I'm planning to sow smaller plants in the future. The following species are on my 'Wanted-list':

• Aztekium hintonii;
• Eriosyce occulta;
• Lophophora williamsii v Cedral SLP;
• Lophophora alberto-vojtechii SLP;
• Lophophora fricii, El Amparo.

 More about this later! Got to go! BYE!