Cactus Blog 

Crassula nudicaulis var. platyphylla

Here is a beautiful tray of crassula just about to be broken apart and planted up for you. But I thought it was so nice and green and bloomful that I had to share.

This is from South Africa, so it probably has a South African common name, if I can find it. But alas, google has failed me. I will have to come up with my own common name for this lovely plant.

I shall call it the Fringleberry Jade. I’ll bet by tomorrow if you google for Fringleberry Jade, this post will come up.

I see my local fast food Chinese is serving aloe drinks.

Hi, I had questions several years ago about my Cereus Monstrose and you helped me then, so I hope you can help me now. My Cereus is quite large, over five feet. It has developed black spots on it which I am afraid are parasites of some kind. The first of these spots occurred last year and someone at the Jungle recommended putting Neem oil on them. This is not working. I cut a black spot out and the area turned black What should I do? I am very attached to this plant and I do not want to lose it. Do you make house calls?

Worried,
Jan

Jan,
It looks like the cactus has an infection, which is causing the rot spots. Probably viral which is difficult to treat. You treat with cleaning out the infected spots and sterilizing with hydrogen peroxide, and feeding the whole plant with kelp and neem.

We do housecalls, and if you would like we can come out and treat the plant for you. Please understand there is no guarantee we can stop the infection.
Peter

The Big Cactus comes to Boston.

I vote for “The Green Monster.”

Jason is now lying on the plants when we get that one or two hours of sun.

And Ian is becoming my go-to on in-house photography.

…Dallas Style.

Easy, step by step instructions, including:

1. Pick out your paddles…

2. With your knife, remove the spines…

3. Boiling water…

4. Drain excess water…

5. Grill the nopales.

Easy enough! And if you click through the link you can see all the rest of the information that goes with that list.

Here, have a picture.

Executive chef Amador Mora and Sarah Eveans
KYLE KEARBEY/Staff

While looking up my most popular blog entry yesterday, I also went ahead and looked up what plant on the Cactus Jungle site has the most hits.

It’s this one.

I wonder why?

LOLKittens comes to the cactus blog

A customer brought in her own handmade dolphin pot, and had us plant this Sedum kimnachii in it for her.

Nice!

Peter

Here are the three different types of plants my wife and I own. We are tryin to take care of them as besdt as possible, but were not sure exactly what to do. I know that one of them is an alo plant but i dont kno if its dying cause its starting to brown, and the one cactus is a mamillaria type cactus. do you have any tips or helpful instructions on how to take care of them?? we are trying to get help on identifying the flower shaped cactus.

Melanie

Melanie,
First, the pink succulent is an Echeveria “Metallica”. Second, It’s hard to tell from the photo if there is anything wrong with the Aloe.

For general advice, the Mammillaria wants a minimum of 4 hours of direct afternoon sun and should be watered about every 3 weeks – a little more when it is hot in the summer, and less in winter.

The Aloe would like about 2 to 4 hours of morning sun, and the Echeveria wants almost as much sun as the cactus. For the 2 succulents, you should water every 2 weeks, and again a little more when it’s hot in the summer and less in winter.

All 3 plants should be in a fast draining cactus soil, and from the photos it looks like there is too much forest product in your soil, so you may want to repot them into a better draining cactus soil.

When watering go ahead and drench the soil and let it drain away, never letting them sit in water.
Peter

Derby Street

Opuntia ficus-indica

And a closeup of the pretty yellow flowers…. (more…)

I was wondering what the most popular CactusBlog entry is. So I looked it up and it’s this one from 2008.

What’s sad about this is that isn’t even my photo. But apparently google loves it, so what can I do?

There are no cacti involved in this couch. Not even a succulent.

It’s a Space Invader Couch from Igor Chak, via Design Scene.

Mabel Street

It’s a yellow one, and quite prolific, so maybe it’s Anigozanthos Yellow Gem.

It appears there is a new French Cactus Forum.

And this is their logo:

That’s one hot and tired cactus. Must be in the South of France.

Sempervivum “Red Rubin” is the most popular new sempervivum introduction we’ve had since “Pluto” 2 years ago. Our first crop will be sold through by this weekend I’m sure. Hopefully we’ll have another crop ready this fall, but it takes a couple years to really build up our stocks.

It’s Plants are the Strangest People and fun with Photoshop.

Derby Street

Euphorbia myrsinites, also known as the Donkey-tail Spurge or I suppose the Myrtle Spurge. And a cat.

OMG! Cactus Robots!

We sell cactus and we sell robots, but nobody ever told us there could be cactus robots. Until now. @SFGardengirl has alerted me to this fine new development.

from Paradis Express, a French blog about all things cactus-robot. And probably other stuff too.

I forgot to blog this morning! We’re at the SF Gift Show, breaking for coffee. This fall we’re going to be all over unusual shaped terrariums.

It’s my latest instructional video, and it was windy out, so I had to shout. Tell all your friends and don’t forget to collect them all!

From a website featuring Antique Tiles I found this lovely leftover of the 60s; a statement in the lifestyle that made living in the postwar era the best of times for American suburban families worldwide. And it’s an American Olean design! I love misplaced exclamation points, don’t you?

It could also be a Reagan-era portrait of ET waving goodbye on his way home, but it’s not.

Some of the stories we publish here on the Cactus Blog have international import (not many, I didn’t say most, but some) and some stories are primarliy of local interest. Like when someone’s agave blooms and the local paper prints a whole article about it. I love those stories! This story is also of the somewhat local variety.

Geri Maitlen’s four-part entry took second place in the “large” category at the Rock Island County Fair.

Congratulations Geri.

I wonder where Rock Island County is? The paper is the Quad City Times. To the google! And the answer is…. (more…)

Ferocactus gracilis ssp. coloratus

They’re not the biggest red and orange striped flowers, but they do have to come poking out between all those spines, so give them a break.

OK, so I’m not a doctor. And therefore you should not take any medical advice from me.

In fact, I won’t give out any medical advice.

I’m just passing along this list of home remedies. For canker sores. Ouch!

Following home remedies for canker sore are considered useful and are mentioned below…
• Cactus Juice: Juice obtained from cactus helps in reducing canker sore. This juice must be kept in mouth for some 20 seconds. It exerts a drying effect on the ulcers by dehydrating them and shrinking them. Application of cactus juice on canker sores for 2-3 days aids in removing them.

I have not tried this home remedy, and I have no personal knowledge of anyone who has. They don’t tell you what type of cactus, or what type of juice. So in other words, this blog post is a complete waste of our time. damn.

Euphorbia flanaganii

This is a very difficult plant to photograph, since there is so much going on. So many colors, so many “things” hanging out in all directions. But this specimen is kind of unbelievable, so I have held it back. I don’t know when I want to put it out on the floor with the others, but if you want to see it in person just ask me at the store. It’s not too big, so not so expensive, just wild and untamed.