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!

Torturing cacti!

Good day to all of ya!

Here you are, on my blog and thinking: 'What the hell?! Torturing cacti?!'.

Yeah... Nothing will be always 100% like you would like it to be and this unfortunately also applies for cacti. This was hard year for me as cacti-breeder! Besides the damaged plants and a little boredom at work, life's very nice to me.

Now what do we have here...

Armored Scale-insects

Armored scale insects. Their name is cool, but they really suck, literally. These little, parasitic monsters also go by the name Diaspididae. They feed themselves on the sap that they suck out of plants and can do serious damage to their host.

Where the hell did they come from and why are they only attacking one plant? No idea, but they were spread all over my Weberbauerocereus johnsonii. I've tried to cut them out, but there were more than just a few. I could not even separate a decent cutting, so I've had to give up and trow the plant away.

Sun-burned cacti

Normally you can recognize it quite easy when your cactus (or other succulent) is getting burned. The plant will slowly start coloring red (keep in mind that some species are supposed to have that color!) and if you notice it on time, you should put it in the shade immediately. Mostly the plant will recover quickly without any damage, but sometimes you're too late.

As you can see, this Echinopsis subdenudata has some permanent damage. The plant won't die, but it ain't pretty either...

And then there is also another scenario...

I should have paid more attention to my balcony-greenhouse. During the summer it was opened day and night and when it got colder and the UV-index was below 4, I've kept it closed. I thought the summer had ended and autumn was on its way, but I was wrong... Two very pretty and sunny days melted a couple of my plants! Holy crap! Not entirely, but they do have some serious damage. Earlier this year I've had the same problem with a couple of my Saguaro seedlings:

Sun-burned Saguaro seedling

And here is the solution to this problem. As some of you know, I'm kind of addicted to IFTTT (pronounced like gift without the G) and I have already made a lot of recipes. Some (in my wife's opinion all!) of them are completely useless and others are quite handy. Check out this one:

The idea is to receive a warning when there is a possibility that my plants get burned. During the beginning of spring, for example, cacti are much more sensitive. After a long winter without much light, they suddenly get struck by stronger sun beams. Now I'll now it on time and will be able to provide some shade. Or it will warn me to open up the greenhouse again when I think summer is over and it's actually not...

I have another IFTT that warns me whenever the wind speed rises above what my green-house can handle, so that I'm on time to save my plants before some sort of storm starts raging on my balcony.

Beating up cacti

What?! No, it wasn't in purpose! Sometimes you accidentally hit or step on a cactus or let a pot fall on the floor and sometimes the guy that is supposed to replace the windows in your house brutally mutilates a Selenicereus hondurensis by closing a window! Arg! Okay, breath in, breath out. Shit happens and it's a plague anyway, but it still sucks monkey-balls when a plant gets damaged!

Smashed Selenicereus hondurensis

The End

That's about it for this blog. Let's wait and see if I can still turn them back into beautiful plants. The'll probably be alright and maybe even flower next year. In their natural habitat they're used to hard and brutal circumstances and are kind of famous for being tough bastards! Well... Next blog I'll blend in some pipes, whisky and bullshit stories again, because this blog is a little bit too serious. Of course this isn't a funny subject! Haven't you seen all the damage?! Pfffff.....

Another thing! I'm back playing Go again and I am slowly getting better and better (I can almost defeat the CPU on level 2... Damn bastard!). Of course this is the place where I'll try to convince you all to play Go and I'll probably bother some persons about my new hobby!

Check out these sites:

• App: Go Free
• Website: Fly or Die

And I wouldn't be Stan if I didn't add a real Go Board to my present-wishlist:

• Wishlist

Now go practice Go and till next Blog!

Balcony-greenhouse and more...

Hello readers of my random blog! How are you all doing?! I'm doing just fine. Actually I'm doing great and I hope you do too (depending on who you are and if I like you or not). Today was just one of those Saturdays that I've had nothing scheduled. Nothing wrong with that! I actually like it when there is finally a day in the week that I don't have to do anything. Well... That's not completely true, because these days I'm a family-man, as you might know, and there is always something I have to do. But I like it when I'm not obligated to do other things than being a family-man. I won't type down everything I have done today, because it's all quite simple and regular. It started with a cup of coffee and ended with a beer and a Country Gentleman filled with Black Vanilla.

Why writing another article for your blog when there is nothing really different to mention? Well... I have no idea! Here is a video of my Balcony-greenhouse:

Why should we always do something "special" and "different" and why do we always want others to know about it? Probably we human beings do that because it's in our nature to be accepted by the rest of the herd. Everyone wants to be different and that is what makes us all the same. Kind of ironic, ah? Why not just be happy and satisfied with the regular things we do and appreciate the simplicity? Don't get me wrong! I believe that it's useful and enriching to think outside the box and do stuff we normally don't, but what is it worth and where is our identity when we're only focusing on being different and forget to stand still and appreciate the little things? I'm dreaming away here on a philosophical wave again... You don't have to agree with me and we can still be friends! I'm just writing down  my thoughts...

Ah! Back to cacti! Here are my 2014 seedlings that I've sown in April this year:

Seedlings 2014

If you want to know what these green blobs will become, you should check THIS article. This year I'm keeping them in an aquarium, so that our dear friend Wonnebald can't pulverize my plants while stepping and jumping on them. I'll take some better photos when they're bigger and really look like cacti.

Here is a photo taken in my living room:

Cacti-bowl

This bowl looks interesting, right?! It's kind of growing out of hand! Now what do we have here? The thin, columnar cactus is a Cylindropuntia imbricata (the famous Cholla), the spineless one is my first Lophophora williamsii (Peyote), the one on the right is the famous Carnegiea gigantea (Saguaro) and the one that grows everywhere where it shouldn't grow is a Selenicereus grandiflora (Queen of the night). Now that is a handsome bowl, right?~!

And now we're going back to the balcony-greenhouse, a couple of weeks earlier:

A flowering Gymnocalycium saglionis

And that's about it for today. Take care and for the metal heads: I'm going to see Obituary tomorrow! HAH! \m/

Selenicereus (again) and Echinopsis subdenudata flowering (also again)

Hi! Welcome (back)! Another blog about cacti. This time about Selenicereus (I've written about them before. Check THIS LINK to see the article). Do you remember that small part of cactus that I've borrowed from some public place? Well... It has grown to what you can see here below!

Selenicereus pteranthus

The borrowed part was about 25 cm long and if you look well, you can see it laying there inside the container. Within 2 years a 1.15 m branch has grown on it. Strong growth for a cactus if you ask me! Earlier this week, to my surprise, I've spotted something on top of it...

Selenicereus, branching

Believe it or not, but when this branch had just appeared, I hoped it would turn out to be a flower (as you might know, selenicereus species have one of the most pretty flowers of them all!). 2 days later it appeared to be another branch... This thing just won't stop growing!

Talking about growing, here are the babies! I've sown them on April the first, 2011 (last year).

Selenicereus Grandiflorus in the front and S. Hondurensis in the back

 I've given about 10 of them away to friends and family and just look at what I still have. Because of their horizontally growth they use much more space than other cacti. That's why I can say that I have way too many of them. If you're interested, don't hesitate to contact me. I would love to send you some!

Selenicereus Hondurensis on the left and S. Grandiflorus on the right

These last 2 photos look a bit vague, but if you click on them to enlarge them, you'll see a bit more details.

That's all for now about Selenicereus. Next time I hope to show you some nice photos of one flowering!

Echinopsis subdenudate flowering, again...

The bad thing about this plant is that it flowers at night and you need be very lucky to spot them flowering in the morning after. Besides that it's a very cool and easy flowering cactus.

Wonnebald!

No Blog without Wonnie anymore! Nope! We're all very crazy about this latest family member. Between the regular meals we feed him raw flesh like chicken parts and he's growing like a Selenicereus! He'll be a tough guy in the future.

Nothing more to mention! LATER!

A short photo-shoot of 2012's seedlings

Hello again! Here's a short photo-shoot of last year's seedlings, taken with our new camera; a Nikon D5100. This is the first time that I'm working with such an advanced (yeah I know, there are much more complicated ones around) camera, so I'm still learning. One day I'll buy myself a macro lens to make even better close-ups!

Back to cacti! So... What have I sown last year? Well, I'm about to show that to you right now! First I'll add an index about last year's sowing:

INDEX

1.  The beginning, sown at 1-4-2012 and one week later.
2. 15-4-2012, 2 weeks old.
3. 22-4-2012, 3 weeks old.
4. 29-4-2012, quite the same.
5. 20-5-2012, 7 weeks old.
6. 17-6-2012, 11 weeks old.
7. 20-5-2013, more than 1 year old.

And here are the pics:

Lophophora williamsii caespitosa

Epithelantha bokei

Frailea asterioides 'castanea'

Browningia candelaris

Pachycereus pringlei

Pilosocereus gounellei

Echinopsis candicans

Selenicereus grandiflorus

Selenicereus hondurensis

I´m planning to keep at least two of each, so I've already started to give away some of them. Especially the two Selenicereus species... I need to get rid of them! Check them out, each branch can reach a couple of meters in length. Wish me good luck (as I´ll wish you when I give you one!)!

Wonnebald (Wonnie!)

And how can I not post a photo of our latest family member, Wonnebald?! He's doing fine and he's liking it over here. Much better than on the street, where they've found him all alone while it was almost freezing...

See ya next time and hopefully with some more (and better taken!) photos!

New stuff!

Right now it's two o'clock in the night and I was just thinking; lets write a short Blog! I have just finished a fine bowl of tobacco using one of my favourite pipes, a handmade Winsløw, enjoying a cup of coffee with a small Irish liqueur next to it, followed by a bottle of beer. All very satisfying as you can imagine, but right now I am done. For today I mean. Time to clear my head a bit... Some calm music usually helps me doing that, so right now I am not listening to brutal death metal, but to Pink Floyd. Animals!

Let me see... Ah! Yesterday I have bought my wife some flowers and... Coincidentally I've also bought myself a cactus. Seriously, why do I always get fanatic with hobbies? I have always been like this! I just can't do something 50%, always exaggerating. But who cares! Owww.. My wife... Yeah.... Sometimes I see that pretty face thinking about throwing all my cacti and pipes out of the window. She even joked about it! Aajjjjj... But I know she likes to see me happy and I think that if I won't exaggerate too much, she'll let me keep my stuff. Structure and organization are the key-words here.

Gymnocalycium tilcarense (?), Gymnocalycium stenopleurum and Oreocereus trollii

Ow! True! Some weeks ago I have also bought two other cacti. Above here, I was talking about the larger one on the left side; Gymnocalycium tilcarense. The two smaller cacti I have bought a couple of weeks ago for € 2 each. The roots of all three had to be cleaned, undoing them of peat. Peat is just terrible! Arg... It would make us cacti-growers so much more easy if they would sell plants in the 'right' substrate. I guess that would make it too expensive for them or... Maybe they are just lazy.

I've changed my soil-mixture a bit again after reading this page on Kadasgarden.com.

This is what I use now:

• 40% Coir
• 20% Seramis (Turface)
• 20% Grit (2mm - 6mm)
• 20% Coarse sand 

Gymnocalycium tilcarense (?), Gymnocalycium stenopleurum, Oreocereus trollii, Selenicereus pteranthus (back) and Brighamia insignis.

That was it for tonight. Time to go to bed! Good night!

Selenicereus, a beautiful plague

Today I'm going to write about the Selenicereus cactus, a species named after Selene, the Greek Goddess of the moon. This sprawling cactus can be found in parts of the Caribbean and Central America in it's 'junglish' type of habitat. In cultivation, this family can be kept much more moist than 'normal' cacti and there's another thing; they can't stand cold and like to grow in half-shadowed places.

The Selenicereus family is really huge! I'm not sure about the exact number, but I guess there are around thirty subspecies (without counting all the varieties). And don't worry. I won't name them all here, but if you would like to have an impression, check THIS page on Cactiguide.com. I'll just write a little bit about the following subspecies; S. grandiflorus, S. pteranthus and S. hondurensis. All three of them are close related but the equality of S. grandiflorus and S. pteranthus is bigger.

When flowering, all the members have large white flowers that only open in the late evening, just for a couple of hours, close around midnight and die-off in the morning. They'll leave a strong odour that smells more or less like vanilla. A couple of them are named 'Queen of the night' because of this, but the most famous member is Selenicereus grandiflorus.

 

Selenicereus grandiflorus

Famous as she is, she's also kind of rare in cultivation. There are a lot of hybrids and wrong identified species sold under this name. I do hope to possess the true S. Grandiflorus, but who knows?! 

S. grandiflorus can be described as a sprawling and climbing plant with a diameter of +/- 3 centimetre and soft/hairy spines with the size of 1 to 4 millimetre. The flowers can reach a size of 25 cm and when opened entirely, up to 30cm in width.

Another short note; the flowers and younger parts were once used as a medicine because they're supposed to contain cardiac glycosides, which may be in a treatment of congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia.

Selenicereus grandiflorus, taken from the WWW



What more to say about this 'Queen of the night'? She's sprawling and Climbing. Her branches can reach a length of +/- 5 metre and she really goes everywhere where you don't want her to go! It's hard to keep her under control, but who am I to tell you to keep this plant only in a greenhouse and not in your living room?! She needs space... A lot of space! And slowly (relatively, but comparing to other cacti you can call it quick!) she'll turn your place into a jungle. Another interesting thing to tell you is that this plant has aerial roots all over which will turn into normal roots at the moment they find a place to root.

Now let me show you today's state of my S. grandiflorus seedlings.

Selenicereus grandiflorus, 3 months old

I've sown them at April the 1st, this year, which means that on the photo above, they have an age of 3 months. If you're interested in their entire progress from seed till what they're right now, you can visit their album over HERE.

Selenicereus pteranthus

Now I have another story for you. I'm not sure if I should be proud or ashamed of it (those damn moral dilemmas! Different in every culture and even for every single person, religious or not. Shut up! No philosophy right now.).

One day... I was at a 'place' where they had a desert-garden inside. Very nice and a lot of cacti around. So there was this huge sprawling Selenicereus pteranthus on the floor, which looked like a real plague. I was kind of fascinated by it and not planning to do anything, but then I saw one little piece laying broken-off on the floor and thought... Hmm...  That looks like a ready-to-go cutting! Should it be a problem if I? Uhhmmmm....

Selenicereus pteranthus

So this is the cutting I've 'lent'. Don't worry. I won't steal your furniture when you invite me to your birthday party! Please continue reading this article and you'll start to think of me as a nice guy again. I'll make this moral issue straight at the end of this article.

I've just checked the day when I've s... burrowed this cutting and found out that it was less than a year ago. After being potted, this cutting first developed its aerial roots into normal roots, a process that took a couple of months. Than it started to grow and... grow and grow!

Selenicereus pteranthus, Echinopsis subdenudata and Weberbauerocereus johnsonii.

 The photo above was taken in may 2012, so not that long ago. Now look at what it has turned into!

Selenicereus pteranthus

 Keep in mind that on this last photo, the huge branch on top has a length of 55cm and an average diameter of 1,5cm. By the way, this photo was taken today, July the 7th, 2012, which means that this plant has grown almost 30cm in less than two months. Ouch! The parts of this plant will become 3 to 5 centimetre in diameter, will have around 5 ribs and spines that are more conical with an average length of 3 to 4 millimetre.

A lot of people only grow this specie to graft on it. (Cactiguide's article on grafting, for those who don't have a clue of what grafting is) I understand why... It's thin, comparing to other cacti and it's a quick grower, so it will have a nice effect on the cactus you're grafting on top of it. Who knows I'll try it out one day, but the main reason why I grow this plant is because I think it's pretty and funny at the same time. Also chaotic. Yeah, Chaotic! That's a great word for this plant. Chaos can be beautiful (in my opinion) and to be honest (and I suggest you to do the same), who are we to decide what chaos is? Just because we don't understand something doesn't mean that it doesn't contain a plan and isn't organized. Anyway, this plant might give the impression of chaos and it will be chaotic for you! Another train of thoughts here...

 Selenicereus hondurensis

A little similar in its way of growing, but with a different appearance. This cousin of the ones I've named above has a more hairy look. I couldn't find much information about this one and the only description I can give is based on one photo in black and white and that's it:

Selenicereus hondurensis, image-link from desert-tropicals.com

I can't tell much more about S. hondurensis than you can see here. I guess it has more ribs than the ones I've named above and have a more hairy appearance. More about it later, because guess what? I'm growing this one!

Selenicereus hondurensis, 3 months old

Have a nice day!

And then I have a message for those who are close to me. Be prepared, because one day you'll receive one as a present!

Ow! I've promised to tell about how I'm going to make things straight with the garden where I've burrowed a broken-off part Selenicereus pteranthus... Well... My S. pteranthus will grow really big within some years. Next time when I go there, I'll bring a cutting of this plant and drop it at the same spot where I've taken my cutting. My soul will be cleansed!

Have a nice day and don't forget to come back here once in a while!

11 weeks old

Hello again! Another cacti-article over here. I'm getting kind of bored, writing about seedlings. Yeah, yeah... They're having more spines... Blablabla....

INDEX

1.  The beginning, sown at 1-4-2012 and one week later.
2. 15-4-2012, 2 weeks old.
3. 22-4-2012, 3 weeks old.
4. 29-4-2012, quite the same.
5. 20-5-2012, 7 weeks old.
6. 17-6-2012, 11 weeks old.
7. 20-6-2013, more than 1 year old.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still crazy about cacti, but it's just that there is not much to write about them anymore. Sure... They're doing all fine and if you look well, you can see that they're becoming bigger, having more spines and stuff like that, but besides posting some photos to show their progress, there's not much to talk about.

 

Of course I'll keep you guys updated if something 'amazing' happens! (like T. articulatus making some moves) Don't you worry! =P It's just that my blog was starting to look a bit too serious and that's just not my thing. Life should be fun for most of the time and so should my blog be. Now what the hell should I write about now?! Well, I'll just show you a photo of some wildlife I've created on my balcony:

Wild-life! Well...

 It was my meaning to create something that doesn't look 'organized'. Just some nice colours together and see what happens. Because of all the plants (there's a lot more), a lot of bumblebees and other insects are invading our balcony at the moment.

Time to wake up my very pretty wife and have some breakfast with her. =) Yeah, I can say that I'm a very happy man. I have everything I want right now and we'll see what the future brings.

7 weeks old

Whatup! It's 3 weeks later now, so let's check out if we can see any difference this time!

INDEX

1.  The beginning, sown at 1-4-2012 and one week later.
2. 15-4-2012, 2 weeks old.
3. 22-4-2012, 3 weeks old.
4. 29-4-2012, quite the same.
5. 20-5-2012, 7 weeks old.
6. 17-6-2012, 11 weeks old.
7. 20-5-2013, more than 1 year old.

But first of all, I would like to share a drawing, that I've made when I was a little kid with you. I've seen it after many years when I was visiting my parents and thought it cool enough to post over here.

Drawing

Now I don't know what that big blue thing in the air is, but check out those Saguaros! Ok... I wasn't an artist over there, but even then it's cool to see that I was already interested in cacti. All the other drawings in that book are kind of Satanic and have scared out some people, but don't worry! I guess I turned up to be a nice guy after all. =}

Let's check out the seedlings!

Blossfeldia liliputana and Aztekium ritteri

Frailea asterioides 'castanea' and Epithelantha bokei

Echinopsis candicans

Pachycereus pringlei

Lophophora williamsii - v caespitosa, La Perdida

Selenicereus hondurensis

Selenicereus grandiflorus

Pilosocereus gounellei

Browningia candelaris

 As you can see they're all doing well. Nothing has died out yet and they're getting more spines. The Tephrocactus articulatus still aren't germinating yet. Next week I'll take them out and dry them... Again... It's a little frustrating, but I have patience, DAMMIT!

Ah! I would like to show you another cactus that's acting kind of weird. Let me first introduce it how it looked like when I've s.... Uhhmm... How it was when it first came in my possession:

Selenicereus pteranthus

  Yeah... It looks weird, I know. Anyway... Right now it looks like this:

Selenicereus pteranthus

And this is only the beginning... It will get huge and difficult to control. The only thing that I CAN do is break off parts and give them away to friends! You're welcome. ;-)

And yes (for if you've paid attention), this one is of the same family as S. hondurensis and S. grandiflorus, which means that I have about 45 annoying plants waiting to grow up. Hmfff... Wait! That means a lot of presents for my friends and family!

See ya soon!