What I'm planning to sow in 2016

Festive greetings to all the readers of this Blog! This post is about what I'm planning to sow in 2016 and about some cuttings that I'm after.

Yesterday I've placed my one and only order at Succulenta, the Dutch-Belgian Society of Cactus- and Succulent Amateurs which I'm a member since January this year. They have an impressive list with a lot of interesting species.

I've ordered the following:

• Acanthocalycium glaucum, a greyish/blue plant with yellow flowers.
• Astrophytum asterias, a spineless plant, also known under the name 'Sand Dollar Cactus'.
• Hildewintera colademononis. Just check out the pics.
• Lophophora williamsii, the Peyote cactus, one of my favorite species that, if available, I always add to my seed order.
• Mammillaria plumosa, a white and hairy Mammillaria. This is the first time that I'm about to sow a species from this family.
• Titanopsis hugo-schlechteri. I have no idea what it does and how to cultivate it. I've ordered this one because of its interesting and extraordinary look.
• Lithops, a family of little rock-like plants in many different colors and types. I've ordered 10 random species, so I have no idea of what to expect!

Then I'm also looking for some Euphorbia platyclada and Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis cuttings. E. platyclada is a succulent plant that looks kind of zombified: you would expect it to be dead, but it's not. B. brasiliensis is (duh) an Opuntia species from Brazil. It's one of the highest cacti in the world (maybe it is the highest!) and grows a wooden trunk after a couple of years.

That's all for right now folks! My next post will probably be about some new EDC gear that I've purchased or found underneath the x-mas tree during the last month and there might even be a small review on some Leatherman products.

Right now it's time to pour me a nice dram and watch 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' together with my lovely wife. We always watch Harry potter during these festive days at the end of the year. Some people might find these movies/books childish, but I believe that they contain a certain amount of wisdom, and above all: fun!

Now it's time to leave you alone with David Bowie and his weird song 'Blackstar'. Have a nice day and till next post!

Rhipsalis elliptica cuttings

Hello you world wide web wanderers! Here's another blog post about jungle cacti. Rhipsalis pachyptera to be more specific. 

Rhipsalis elliptica

 In my previous blog post I've made a promise to show you more photos of my Rhipsalis-plants while they were flowering, but I decided not to, because when more flowers appeared, others disappeared.

This week I was looking at the plants, this species in particular, and I saw a lot of ugly, damaged parts on them. So today I've decided to make some cuttings and plant them. This way I keep the existing plants pretty and meanwhile create some clones. I hope to see some new growth in the upcoming spring.

Rhipsalis elliptica

 Aren't they ugly?! They won't be that bad with some extra leafs/particles on them. I find this an easy-to-grow plant that flowers without much afford.

Rhipsalis elliptica

And what will I do with all these extra plants that won't survive outside in my greenhouse? Exactly! I'll give them away! Some weeks ago, my sister told me that she has thrown her Selenicereus in the trashcan after being "attacked" by it... That hurts, RIGHT?! Well, here's a cactus that won't hurt you and also, like Selenicereus, will dominate your windowsill. Enough kidding: this is a really fine and pretty species that doesn't need much care and flowers easily.

Check out this photo from my previous blog post:

Rhipsalis elliptica
 flowering

And here's a link to that post.

Have a nice day and see you next time!

Rhipsalis elliptica flowering

Rhipsalis elliptica flower

Hello and welcome back! This is just a short photo-post about my Rhipsalis elliptica, which is starting to flower. It has flowered before, but this year there are buds everywhere! Later this week or in the beginning of next week, I'll post more photos, because today only 3 buds opened up.

Rhipsalis elliptica flower

Below you can see more of the plant itself.

Rhipsalis elliptica

In their natural habitatm they grow on trees and hang a couple of metre down. Let me show you a photo that I've made of a nice piece of Brazilian jungle in the Southern state Paraná!

Rhipsalis elliptica in its natural habitat

True, not an amazing quality photo, but it definitely shows you what I mean.

Rhipsalis elliptica flower

Rhipsalis elliptica flower

Balcony-cacti!

Balcony-cacti

Right! The Opuntia that you're probably missing (yeah, sure ;-) ) is replaced by a Cylindropuntia imbicrata, the Cholla. This is a very frost resisting species with large, annoying spines that reach up to two metre in height and forms a shrub when older.

Cylindropuntia imbricata

And below you can see my Maihueniopsis darwinii, which is still present and slowly increasing in size. It seems to take forever, but this sturdy, little fellow is still out there in the rain, snow and cold for years now!

Maihueniopsis darwinii

Balcony-greenhouse

Balcony-greenhouse

Yesterday I've installed the heating system with automatic time-switch, because the temperature dropped below 2 degrees Celsius outside. Of course I was warned by my special made IFTTT recipe. ;-)

The End

I just wanted to show you the pics without much blabla, so I'll keep my mouth shut and just wish you all a very nice day! Till next time!

P.S. I don't know what to think about the video below... I couldn't turn it off and the music is kind of cool. Just see for yourself. The entire album seems to be about aliens attacking the world to steal all our coffee. EPIC!

Pay-back time!

Hello, you! Today's the day that I've cleansed my karma, sort of. Maybe you don't remember, but maybe you do. Back 2011 I've "lent" a piece of a plant and today it's the day to give it back!

In another post (CHECK IT OUT), somewhere in 2012, I've mentioned that I've taken a piece of cactus from a small cacti-garden located in a zoo. In this post, I've made a promise... Let me just tell you the story short: I went to the zoo, saw a cool, sprawling Selenicereus on the floor with one spare part ready to bring home. You should've seen the amount of plant laying there! Anyway, in 2012 I've promised in this post that I would bring a cutting of this plant back to the zoo and drop it on the same spot where I took the other part.

A promise is a promise!

And so I did! Honest for once and for all. Or, am I?!

Check out this pretty little Opuntia tree from the Caribbean:

An Opuntia from the Caribbean

Just like my Selenicereus, this Opuntia's natural habitat lays on the Caribbean. I don't know the name of this species yet, but this plant fascinates me (Déjà vu alert!)...

Opuntia cutting

I can't help it, it was laying loose on the floor and I swear on the life of my cat that it was calling out my name! Uhhmm... I'll bring back another cutting in 2018. See ya next time!

Flowering orchid

Brazilian Orchid

Good day! As promised in my previous post: 'flowers!', the first ones this year. Ow wait, I'm lying. Some rock plant on my balcony already has had some flowers earlier this year, but they were nothing compared to this beautiful Orchid from the south of Brazil.

Rhipsalis elliptica, another Rhipsalis species and an orchid, all from the south of Brazil.

All three were a gift from a dear friend and I would like to thank him again! The Rhipsalis elliptica has flowered every year since I've received it as a cutting. If she'll flower again this year, I'll take some photos and write another post. The smaller Rhipsalis also came in as a cutting and is growing really well, but hasn't flower yet...

Brazilian Orchid

Brazilian Orchid

And that's it. Mostly my posts are a bit longer, but this one isn't about me giving you a long lecture on plants. It's about the flowers. Have a nice day!

Cacti-update & some random stuff

Maihueniopsis darwinii

Ahoy! It has been three months since my last post and I can't say nothing blogworthy has happened. Especially my personal life is going like a roller-coaster (in a highly positive way!), but that's not what this blog post is about. Today's post is about a couple plants (randomly chosen) of my collection and some other stuff.

Echinopsis subdenudata

I haven't seen any flowers yet, but check out these buds on two of my Echinopsis subdenudata:

Echinopsis subdenutata

I've bought this E. subdenudata back in 2009 on the flower market in Amsterdam. Since 2011, it's flowering each year. Mostly it has one or two buds on it, but this year I count five!

Echinopsis subdenutata

This tiny E. subdenudata was a gift from someone of the Cactiguide.com forum and was sown in September 2010. Normally, this species has huge flowers, so I'm wondering what will become of this little fellow!

Brazilian Orchid

Orchid (Brazil)

The small Orchid in the back was a gift from a dear friend in Brazil. It was flowering the day I've received it and then didn't flower for over two years. Very soon these buds will turn into beautiful, little yellow flowers.

Some random chosen plants

Trichocereus terscheckii

I've sown this T. terscheckii back in 2011 and although it doesn't look that big in this photo, it's kind of huge comparing to the other seedlings that I've sown back in that year. I've given away a couple of them, but if I compare those to this monster... It is supposed to grow a lot quicker than a Saguaro, but the first few years feel like ages.

Maihueniopsis darwinii

This is the biggest bastard of my collection! I'm not talking about the size of the plant. It's the razor-sharp spines which makes this guy a real son-of-a-bitch. They'll pierce right through your fingernail if you don take caution. This Argentinian mountain cactus is actually outside on my balcony for a couple of years now. It seems to survive pretty well. Even a wet and cold winter couldn't kill this plant and It has been covered in snow too a couple of times.

EDC

Keychain with emergency whistle, NiteCore Tube & Leatherman Brewzer Prybar and an Opinel No. 10.

The two new additions to my EDC are the Leatherman Brewzer and the Opinel No. 10. I already wanted a mini pry bar for a long time! I immediately hear you thinking: "What the @#$% do you need a mini pry bar for?!". Well, it's to save all the other stuff that you're using to pry with. Think about a knife-tip, key, bankcard, fingernail or whatever you would use to open, loosen, detach, reach, etc. This thing is so small that I don't even notice it in my pocket, but it's there when I need it and... It has a bottle opener on it! (it also has a hex bit holder, box opening notch, flat screwdriver and an oxygen tank wrench on it).

The famous Opinel knife. I've seen this knife everywhere they sell knives and always thought it couldn't be that great, because of the low price. I also thought that this knife wouldn't lock. Well, I was wrong. It does lock and it's an amazing knife for the price you're paying! This French product came on the market in 1890 and has never left since. It was originally designed for farmers, so that they could have a decent knife for a decent price. The locking-ring (Opinel Virobloc) was invented in the 50s and although it's not as strong as the back-lock on my Buck, it provides all the safety an experienced knife owner needs. The blade on this No. 10 (10 also stands for 10 cm blade length) is made out of high carbon XC90 steel. It will rust, but if you take good care, it will show a nice, black patina over the years. Another nice thing about carbon steel is that it's easy to sharpen. For me this is the ideal knife to carry around in my EDC pouch. I won't use it daily, but it comes in handy while working with my plants, smoking a rope-tobacco or outside in the woods on a camping trip. I'm só positive about this blade that I've bought the smaller No. 8 (which is actually Opinel's most famous model) for my dad. He likes it a lot too and carries it around in his pocket.

The End

That's it for today. I hope to give you an update on my plants soon with some nice shots of flowering species.

What else can I write? My family and me went on a trip to Austria and it was amazing there! We went to a historical place called Bad Ischl, a quiet little place in the mountains. I won't bother you with a full travel journal, but I can tell you this: nothing beats traveling around with your wife and kid! Some people swear that your life ends the moment you start a family, but I strongly disagree. Everything I do and witness is one million times more intense. The smile on my son's face when he's happy is something I can't describe with words. Life's great!

Some short notes about Bad Ischl: fresh and blue water, beautiful mountains, Jä­ger­tee, nice and polite people, lots of hunting trophies, WWI was signed there and on the highest mountain in the neighborhood I've ate the best Goulash of my entire life! Auf Wiedersehen!

My son and me in Austria

Peyote news, April 2015

Lophophora williamsii collection, ready for a new home!

Hello to all of you loyal blog readers! Yes, you're right. That's my entire Peyote collection laying naked on a wooden plate. I wanted to organize them a little better, because they were all standing in different pots, looking a bit chaotic... Let me re-introduce you to my Peyote tribe:

Lophophora williamsii, purchased during a trip to Amsterdam back in 2009.

My first Peyote. When I've bought this plant, I didn't even know that it was a cactus. Shame on me! But this squeezable, succulent plant is the reason I started to sow cacti. Not long after buying this plant and finding out about its fascinating history, I decided to buy myself a Peyote-growkit (I've written one of my first articles about it).

As you can see, the roots still contain a little bit of commercial mix (probably peat) that I just couldn't get off.

2011's seedlings

I'll let the following photos speak for themselves. One thing I would like to add is that you can really see the difference between the root-system of my seedlings and a L. williamsii grown in a peat based soil mix. I use a mineral soil mix that contains 70% fine grit and 30% cat litter. As mentioned in my previous article, you should only use cat litter if it doesn't turn in to pulp after standing a couple of days in water. I also recommend you to wash the litter a couple of times to get rid of the added odors.

Lophophora williamsii, 4 years old.

Lophophora williamsii, La Popa, Nuevo Leon, 4 years old.

Lophophora williamsii, Nuevo Yucatan, 4 years old.

2012's seedlings

Lophophora williamsii var. caespitosa is actually the same species as the normal L. williamsii, but is a hybrid, cultivated by selecting plants with many offsets. A normal L. williamsii can have the same appearance, but it's not guaranteed.

Lophophora williamsii var. Caespitosa, La Perdida, 3 years old.

Purchased in the end of 2014

Lophophora williamsii var. caespitosa, purchased last year.

As mentioned in the caption: the plant above is a L. williamsii var. caespitosa that I've bought last year. I just had to possess some older plants. More will be added to my collection soon (after the upcoming cacti show).

Re-potted

I was having doubts about what kind of pots I should use to re-pot them. I've decided to place them all in these two containers, because I think I'm using less space this way. I also think that it looks more organized.

Lophophora williamsii var. Caespitosa on the left and the normal Lophophora williamsii on the right.

Lophophora williamsii Nuevo Yucatan on the left and  Lophophora williamsii La Popa, Nuevo Leon on the right.

The End

A short update on what I've sown this year: 40/40 Astrophytum caput-medusae up and the Sulcorebutia germination of this year sucks! (the rest is going average)

That's it for now. Have a nice day and till next time!

Sowing time!

Hello to all of you! What a nice day to sow! Not on April the first, as I normally do, but on April the fifth. I just had to wait for some true spring weather before I could start putting seeds into the soil. A nice and sunny Easter it is and after spending some time with my wife and kid (searching eggs and stuff), it's time to sow!

This is the day that I'm the only one that is allowed in the kitchen. My wife hates it! All that mess: seeds, soil and gravel all over... Well, everywhere! And it takes hours!

Preparations

It's always good to have everything ready before you start. It's just not cool if you have to search for stuff when you're busy. I like to work organized and structured.

The seeds

Let me just name everything I'm going to sow again. This time with two new additions to my plan (of course...):

Cacti:

• Astrophytum caput-medusae (40 seeds)
• Sulcorebutia arenacea (100 seeds)
• Sulcorebutia azurduyensis (20 seeds)
• Sulcorebutia canigueralii (15 seeds)
• Sulcorebutia pasopayana (20 seeds)
• Sulcorebutia rauschii (20 seeds)
• Trichocereus pachanoi (100 seeds)
• Echinocactus texensis
• Ariocarpus agavoides

Other succulents:

• Agave parryi (20 seeds)
• Stapelia grandiflora

E. texensis and A. agavoides are added as you can see if you compare this article with the previous one. E. texensis is also known as the Horse-crippler because of its strong and "mean" spines which are known to puncture everyone that steps on it. I just love the name! This and of course a pretty appearance convinced me to buy the seeds. A. agavoides came along with the rest of my order from Mr. Gerardo. A very nice thing to do and highly appreciated!

Ingredients

Soil ingredients

• 20% Fine gravel
• 30% Cat litter
• 50% Sowing soil

If you're planning to use these ingredients for your soil mixture: please take care to wash the gravel and especially the cat litter very well! Keep in mind that not all cat litters are good to use in your mixture. An easy way to test this is to put a couple of spoons of cat litter in a glass of water and then leave it alone for some days. If the litter hasn't turn into pulp, it's probably usable.

Also handy

Just some pots, plastic to cover them up, rubber bands and my temporary pocket knife.

The soil

The soil is already mixed here and the two small bowls contain sowing soil and fine gravel (I'll explain you later what I'll do with it)

Sterilization in the oven 

45 minutes in the oven to sterilize the soil. This is to assure that there won't be anything alive inside the pots besides the seeds!

Ready to sow!

As you can see in the photo up here, I'm ready to sow! I'm putting a thin layer of normal sowing soil on top of the mixture, then I add the seeds, then another thin layer of sowing soil and then a little bit of fine gravel. My theory is that the soaking and muddy sowing soil will increase the germination chance, that the mixture beneath it will guarantee a healthy and "dry" growth for the roots and that the fine gravel on top of it all will help the small seedlings to stand up right and strong and will prevent rot at the lower parts of the plants. I'm still experimenting and I hope to find a successful way for me to use in the future. Let's see what happens!

The seeds

I think it's amazing to see all the different forms and sizes of plants that belong to the same family. Very fascinating, don't you think?!

Sulcorebutia arenacea seeds

Sulcorebutia pasopayana seeds

Sulcorebutia canigueralii seeds

Sulcorebutia rauschii seeds

Sulcorebutia azurduyensis seeds

Ariocarpus agavoides seeds

Astrophytum caput-medusae seeds

Echinocactus texensis seeds

Agave parryi seeds

Stapelia grandiflora seeds

Trichocereus pachanoi seeds

Covered with fine gravel

Done!

Ready to germinate

If you look well, you can see a small bottom-heater under the aquarium to keep the temperature up. It has to be around 25 degrees Celsius and I'm living in the Netherlands, so I need some extra heat.

Done!

Now all that I can do is wait. I'll bring you a full report about the germination rate when the time is right. Now it's time to finish my pipe and spend some time with my family, which is actually the most important thing in life for me. Hobbies are great and I really enjoy them, but I would give up everything for my sweet wife and wonderful son! Time passes so quickly and Arthur is already running around and trying to get his hands on everything he can reach... Life's great! Till next time!