I would expect to have at least one species of Turbinicarpus in flower pretty much 12 months of the year.

No, it's been kept above freezing all winter though in the past it's survived temperatures as low as -6C. Nor can I see any sciara fly maggots though I haven't delved too deeply.

Someone has offered to take it off me and try to save it so that's nice. They like odd shaped tubers.

Shout if you want one of your spares back, they've just started growing. Thanks for the offer Mike but I've found one in a box under our bed. It's where I overwinter some plants, my wife's not impressed. I've also got some self sown seedlings growing in the greenhouse floor, the seeds get everywher...

I was having a close look at my Kedrostis africana this afternoon wondering why it hadn't shown any signs of growth yet when I caught a whiff of that unmistakeable cucumber smell of rotting cucurbit. I was amazed, I really thought it was indestructible. It was a self sown seedling that I dug up out ...

If Silverhill Seeds are still trading it would be nice to support them after the recent tragic events.

£2.25 a packet or £10 a hundred.

I grow all my cacti in pure cat litter, it doesn't go slimy.

I boil all my used cat litter for ten minutes to sterilise it before I re use it, it doesn't go slimy.

I have been doing this for many years now, it doesn't go slimy.

el48tel wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 3:56 pm Clay (cat litter) goes slimy;

You must be using the wrong stuff.

1\ 'Chit' seeds of caudiciform plants. (Adenia, Pachypodium, Adenium, Dioscorea, cucurbits etc) between sheets of damp kitchen towel in a clean, sealed, microwaveable take away container (yes, those again ) placed somewhere warm. Check daily and carefully pot up the individual seeds as they sprout. ...

OK I'll start.

Microwaveable take away containers, 3/4 filled with compost and lid tightly on, are excellent for cactus seed raising.

I can't think of a book that deals with cultivation in any detail. Water them when they show signs of growth and stop when the leaves start to yellow. Keep the Madagascan species warm, give smaller plants a little water whilst dormant and that's about it. They don't in my experience respond well to ...