Cactus Freak» Cacti of the week

test 3

s.lodwig@comcast.net — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:11:33 +0000

another bunch of gorgeous flowers

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test 2

s.lodwig@comcast.net — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:48:22 +0000

the latest cactus pics

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test

s.lodwig@comcast.net — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:03:11 +0000

Here are the latest photos

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Mar. 11, 2011

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:52:03 +0000

Here are the latest photos…

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Xmas cactus

s.lodwig@comcast.net — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:22:17 +0000

The beginning of flowering in my greenhouse is much retarded, maybe because of the tremendous outside cold we’ve experienced (Two nights in a row of -15 F (-26 C)) My heaters kept the greenhouse at its usual nighttime temperature of 40, but the daytime temperature, caused by natural heating, has been low. We barely got above 10 F outside on one of the days. The greenhouse was below 50. There are a few things blooming, and almost blooming.

This plant is inside the house in a south-facing bump-out window. It’s not supposed to be blooming, but there is always some volunteer in any population that marches to a different drummer.

mesemb seedlings

admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:53:48 +0000

I’m growing about 90 varieties of cold-hardy mesembs. All of them, cold-hardy or not, need very cool temperatures for germination, less than 70 F (21 C). They germinate in two to four days at these low temperatures. They all look alike at this stage (a month old). The little touches of orange you see in between these cotyledon leaves are the first true leaves emerging. They will now begin to differentiate and after another couple of months they’ll look different.

Hamatocactus setispinus

admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:41:56 +0000

I’m so hard-up for pictures that I’m taking shots of fruit. This is a nice x-mas type shot, with the red and green. This plant is 35 years old. The fruits can last almost to May.

Glottophyllum herrei

admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:33:07 +0000

This is one of those mesembryanthemums (“mid-day flowers”) that Steve Brack of Mesa Garden in his germination instructions identifies as an opportunistic grower/bloomer in fall/winter/spring if kept watered. This year I have so few things flowering that I paid attention, watering and fertilizing constantly, and I’ve been rewarded by a continuous crop of flowers on my two plants.