buying cacti in Spain

[TS Hakansson]

Malaga.
Anyone knows of cactus/succulent nurseries in the neighbourhood of Malaga? I know there are Botanical Gardens,but they don´t usually sell cacti so a nursery or a well stocked Garden Center would be nice. I and my better half are visiting a friend in Malaga for a week around the new year and since I always try to buy plants where ever I go, it would be nice to have something from mainland Spain. Hopefully someone knows what there is?

[Mal H]

.
http://www.cactus-sol.com/vivero.html

This nursery is 'up the road' in Almeria. Never been to the nursery, so can't comment on what it is like for a visit, but I have bought their plants at markets while in Spain and they produce some very well-grown plants and some less common things.

Maybe someone else on here has visited this nursery?

[RICHAUD]

You have these 2 growers but they are near Almeria
http://www.cactuspro.com/producteurs/kaktitos-joel-lode
http://www.cactuspro.com/producteurs/Ca ... ni-Brugger

[Bob Sobelman]

dont know where malaga is but near barcelona maybe 300 kilm.
is CACTUS LOFT
up it in the internet
young boy in his rwnties

[DaveW]

Malaga is on the Costa del Sol Bob.

Only found garden Centres selling cacti when I was there. I believe this botanical garden does sell a few if you have a car available and so can get away from the coast, probably worth a visit anyway. See map here:-

http://www.bcss.org.uk/foruma/viewtopic ... 1&t=160666

Not for plant sales, but if you get to the Belalmadena region just a few miles up the road from the coast is Paloma Park which has some good succulent plantings. Ask for Parque de la Paloma though as asking for Paloma Park does not always register with the locals:-

http://www.bcss.org.uk/foruma/viewtopic ... rk#p169864

[PerG]

I am just wondering (since I might go on a trip like that some time) - how do you best take plants home if you go by plane?
Is it too cold for them in the storage to be in the check-in luggage?
And is it ok if they're in a pot with soil?

[DaveW]

I brought a garden centre 12cm diameter Astrophytum ornatum (kept the receipt) wrapped in newspaper and then my towel back in my suitcase from Spain in the baggage hold, where it will obviously have been x-rayed with no problem whatsoever so the authorities knew it was there. However I left the pot and soil there and washed the roots off and allowed them to dry overnight before wrapping it up. Leaving pots and soil on could also push your baggage allowance over the limit, particularly if you are on Ryanair! I also brought a garden centre Denmoza back another year in the same manner

Even if the baggage hold was cold I doubt it would penetrate the luggage in the time the flight takes from Spain to the UK or probably even longer flights.

I gather many of the British ex-pats in Spain ferry some of their garden plants both ways by that method, or simply drive them across from the UK to Spain with no problems since all the EU is considered a single market or country for most plant movement. In any case from the point of exporting plants, you could obviously have simply just posted the plant back home to yourself from Spain since there is no problem ordering by post from EU nurseries, but that would cost extra.

Of course that is flights within the EU, obviously CITES problems would occur for trips outside the EU, particularly from countries where cacti are native.

[Ross M]

I've brought cacti home from holiday in the EU successfully, both within my hold and hand luggage. Like Dave, I remove the pots and compost, wash the roots and simply wrap in newspaper.

[DaveW]

Make sure if you intend bringing plants back by air your luggage is underweight going otherwise you may exceed your baggage allowance coming back with extra plants. I used the bathroom scales at the place in Spain to make sure I was still under the limit coming home since the discount airlines are very keen on charging considerably for overweight and may refuse overweight hand baggage altogether. Coming back I saw Ryanair weigh somebodies hand baggage because it looked heavy and they had to dump a lot of toiletries and probably duty free's in the litter bin near the boarding gate to be allowed to take it on board to come home.

Sometimes you can move items from check in luggage to hand baggage or vice versa to keep both forms of luggage within the weight limit, but don't just assume they will not notice if ones overweight.

[Ross M]

Good point Dave. I always carry one of those digital scales specifically made for weighing luggage. They cost less than £10 and are very accurate and reliable. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_ ... Caps%2C360