Cactus Blog 

Bundled up for the coming storm.

Photo: Lepismium cruciforme in a potted design by R.C. Cohen of Newport Beach. Credit: Debra Lee Baldwin

Barfalicious sent us a link to this photo on the LATimes blogs, and it’s from an article by Debra Lee Baldwin, our favorite succulent container gardening author!

We’ve got 2 employees out sick with the flu. Oy.

We got a new shipment in of solar glass from Allsop. Nice!

How can a glass topped garden stake be solar, you ask? Come back after dark and I’ll show you…

A photo from Charlotte of her crested Euphorbia lactea that has lost leaves.

I see it still has 2 additional leaves. Yay! And updating the post below, she has drilled a hole in the bottom of the pot so that the plant is no longer sitting in soggy soil. Also a Yay!

Hi,
I hope you can help. I was given a Euphorbia Lactea Crested that has been grafted, for Valentine Day.

It was a stone container with no drainage holes, and I notice it was wet. I didn’t water until I though the soil was dry.

Then I start notice that the grafted part, the leaves were turning yellow and falling off. Help

First time owner
Charlotte

Charlotte,
Losing the leaves on the rootstock plant is not a big deal with these crests. They’re nice to have, but not necessary. However, a pot with drainage is necessary. I recommend watering very little until spring starts, whenever that may be for you, and then repotting into a pot with drainage, using a fast-draining cactus and succulent mix.
Enjoy, and send us a picture!
Peter

An older photo for a rainy day. This shot of Yucca elata blooms was taken in my front yard 6 years ago, on a sunnier day.

The plant outgrew it’s space, so we dug it up and divided it, and then it all sold. Our beautiful parent plant had taken up too much space, and was sent off to the potted backyards of the Bay Area.

Yucca elata

My twitter friend @kotemaro grows succulents in Hokkaido, and has some new seedlings growing on his website. No english, but lots of succulent pictures.

This is the caption below the photo of the seedlings:

花物メセンの実生
ちょっとー何これ♪　可愛いんですけどー！

So go check out the picture, and see if you can figure out what it is. Then come back here and let me know what you’ve come up with.

Its the Yucca gloriosa out my front window on an overcast day.

Q. I have a cold, dry apartment — 65 degrees when I’m there and awake in the winter, 55 otherwise. A few hours of sun a day. Jade plants, pencil cactus, Christmas cactus and such do well. I’d like to get some plants with more colorful foliage. Also, something that’s more vertical than most succulents — like the big thorny euphorbiaceous I used to see at the flower show, perhaps? Can I get something small locally and have it grow? Ed, Arlington.

A. Most houseplants require indoor temperatures between 65 and 70 degrees. Succulent plants, such as your pencil cactus and jade plant, will tolerate cooler conditions. Below, I recommend some succulent and tropical plants with colorful foliage and vertical statures that you can purchase locally and grow indoors….

read on…

Did I ever tell you that I went to college in Mass.? No? Well that’s good because I went to college in Michigan. I grew up in Massachusetts.

That’s not good.

…when JUN / LDK came and took pictures at the nursery, and posted them on flickr. I see there are also lots of pictures of food taken in Japan and Thailand mixed in with pictures from along the California Coast.

Those food pictures are making me hungry, especially the Black Tea and Apple Roll Cake in Tokyo.

Hi Peter
I bought the $125.00 bonzai succulent from u this morning!!!

This is my succulent I purchased from Target nursuery!!! Do u know what it is?

Regards
Ken

Ken,
What you have, is an Adenium obesum, a caudex-forming succulent from Northern Africa. It likes a lot of sunlight, but needs to be inside in the winter in the Bay Area, so a South or West facing window is best.

Water every 2 weeks, fertilize in spring, and you should should get some very impressive flowers. The flower color will be a surprise since they are hybridized for a whole range of colors.
Peter

The sea squill is blooming. The sea squill is blooming!

Hah, just kidding.

Urginea maritima

Yay! The new signage is here!

That’s Hap. Good thing he finished the new bamboo rows and sign last week, because this week he has the flu.

Hello-
I was just in Cabo San Lucas and saw these palms? everywhere, what are they and can they be grown here in the bay area?

Thanks!
Jen

Jen,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I have to admit, I sort of had a “blonde moment” and just couldn’t put a name to your plant for a bit… but it finally came to me and I sort of blurted it out at dinner last night… plant nerd alert.

It looks like it is a Ravenala madagascariensis or “Travelers Palm”, which is not a palm but is in the Streliziaceae family (Bird of paradise family). It is not really hardy enough to grow here… but if you have a protected spot you might be able to pull it off up against the house or in a courtyard. It can also be grown as house plant, but you sort of need a big space. I have seen it’s relative Strelitzia nicolai “Giant Bird of Paradise” which looks similar growing in Berkeley and SF.

Take care,

Hap

Oh yes, you read that right.

Biofuel cell inserted in a cactus and graph showing the course of electrical current as a function of illumination of the cactus (black: glucose, red: O₂).

The picture is not big enough to be able to tell what species that is, but I’m guessing a cereus of some type.

With this advance, you could attach a wire to a cactus and you can power a fan  to cool yourself off in the desert. (Well, that’s my interpretation. Your mileage may vary.)

Science!

Coreopsis gigantea

Cotyledon ladismithensis

In Houston

I don’t have a lot to say today, having spent the morning with a plumber in the house trying to fix the hot water heater.

Here’s an old photo.

Astrophytum capricorne

Chanel wins hound group at Westminster. She beat out a greyhound named Erasmus. Apparently the last time a whippet won grand champ at Westminster was 1964. This year a scottish terrier seems to have won. Ridiculous!

Photo: Ch. Starline’s Chanel. Credit: Henny Ray Abrams / Associated Press

That is one gorgeous bitch. She seems to be looking right at me in that photo.

The one thing Benjamin just can’t seem to manage is getting those ears flat back like that. He has very expressive ears.

Yes, I know, aloe week was last week. And yet the aloes keep blooming. What am I supposed to do, ignore them?

This Aloe humilis isn’t even blooming yet, but look at that crazy stalk. And if you look deep into the rosette, you’ll see another one coming.

Aloe striata is one of the most popular aloes worldwide.

I don’t actually know that. In fact I just made it up on the spot. I blame Joe Biden.

Tylecodon wallichii parent plant is growing back nicely after cuts last year. We should have a couple of those babies available this spring, but not too many, considering how dangerous it is.

Citibank sucks.

That’s enough, because if you get me started on their latest scam, I’ll plotz.

The aloe blooms keep coming! And so do the hummingbirds.

Aloe “Yellow Torch” is an A. arborescens hybrid and quite stunning to boot.

Following up from an earlier post.

Hi Hap and the great crew at CactusJungle.
I hope you’re all doing well…

I have noticed one my Ferox’s leaves is turning brown and mushy. The plant has been under Neem/alcohol treatment for 3 weeks now. Should I just cut off the leaf close to the stem and dab on some 3% hydrogen peroxide? or should I leave it alone and continue with the Neem/alcohol regimen?

By the way, since the solution has alcohol portion (1/4 cup alcohol in 4 cups water); should I rinse off with water after each treatment?

As far as undiluted 3% hydrogen peroxide, can I just spray the undiluted solution on leaves with fungus infected spots/patches? Thanks

Best, Faraz

Faraz,

I would cut the leaf edge about a half inch cut as close to the stalk as possible and then yank it off. The leaf should just peel off at the stem cleanly. Then spray/splash anything that is left with the peroxide.

You don’t need to rinse off after each treatment, and you can spray directly on the leaves!

Hap

Euphorbia wulfenii blooms