Hi everyone, wasn't sure I was going to be able to do this swap. Have been sick but am much better. Add my name to the list. Haves: white and purple bleeding heart vine, hidden ginger, white butterfly ginger, pine cone ginger, unknown variegated ginger, bengal tiger canna, yellow/orange canna, black eyed susie vine, red spider lilies, red and yellow crown of thorns cuttings, red/coral shrimp plant, yellow shrimp plant, prayer plant, swiss cheese plant, green and white wandering jew, kitten ear jew, purple and gray jew, green wandering jew, swedish ivy, goldfish plant, night blooming cactus, rick rack cactus, mother of thousands, hen and chicks green, pony tail palm, texas star hibiscus, luna blush hibiscus, aloe vera, tricolor sedum, mother in law tongue, mexican petunia, red candy apple iceplant, elephant sedum, coral reef sedum, pink pursalane, double yellow/pink pursalane, spiral staircase sedum, variegated tropical hibiscus, kerria japonica rose double yellow, red/coral honeysuckle cuttings, silver squill, cast iron plant, drummonds pink phlox, christmas cheer sedum, pink abelia cuttings, curly leaf begonia, different unnamed begonias, blue hydrangea, old cactus (makes yellow flower), unnamed sedum and succelents, red hot poker lily Wants: yellow spider lily, variegated candy apple ice plant, cajun hibiscus, mosquito plant, variegated mosquito plant, mandarin plant, pink lily of the valley, walking iris, pineapple lily other that white, desert rose, yellow butterfly bush, sedums and succelents I don't have, blood lily, hoyas, variegated lipstick plant, begonias I don't have

burnttree I only started last year, so I can only tell you what I did. First of all, I bought a proper lighted propagator (costing about 70 GBP), and a timer, and a heating mat. So a fairly expensive outlay, but provided constant conditions. I tried growing cactus from seed very many years ago on a window sill, but it wasn't very successful (an English climate). Second, I bought vermiculite (which absorbs water) & perlite (which doesn't so much), quite cheap and easily available online, and some Vitax cactus feed. I soaked the vermiculite & perlite separately in the dissolved feed for 24 hours. I filled pots with layers of wet perlite and vermiculite, drilled slight holes in the top vermiculite and deposited a seed is each hole (using a moistened toothpick), but didn't cover the holes. The seeds need to be exposed to light. I then sealed the containers to prevent disease. So they were germinating in a very damp sterile environment. Here's what happened (but I sowed the seeds far too close together, as I discovered later to my cost)

Good morning, day or evening. My name is Brad Eadie and I am a cacti & succulent lover & experienced metal artist. I have been bitten by the cacti & succulent bug & am looking to grow my own. I am ordering a green house & will be using the green house to grow my cacti & succulents to their full & happy glory as well as use it as a drawing art studio & open it up to the public for education & live plant drawing studies. I've started some propagation but would like to do more. I am an active member in the New Bedford & surround townships art community & believe in proper education (both of plant keeping and "lower" animal keeping, I've recently started a program with hermit crab education, these little guys are sold with as much misinformation as cacti with the same tragic results). I will also be incorporating some into pieces of my art work (again the health & well being of the plant is number one & these pieces will help promote proper cacti care). I am a redsmith with some blacksmithing skills. Attached you will find pictures of my work. The reason for this post is to see if anyone would be interested in a trade of copper work for cacti cuttings, seeds or succulent leaves. Seeing how the green house is costing me a bit of money I wont be able to get the pots and the plants I need to get my idea into fruition. I do how ever have copper in my shop with few current orders and some extra time on my hands. I am a resourceful man & will be upcycling many items I have around the shop & that friends are donating into pots (only using materials safe for plants to grow in) as well s making the pots myself of extremely ornate art pieces. I am open to all trades but a few ones i would like are monkey tail cacti, rat tail cacti, cereus peruvianus, golden barrel, cholla, dragon fruit, el pedro, stapelia gigantea, mini or full saguaro and the ever delightful ming thing. That's just to name a few. If you have any other offers I'd be more then happy to trade, just naming a few I've become interested in. Chart below gives you a ball park of what I'm offering for in trade (all open to negotiations & we'd either pay for our own shipment costs or I'll split the difference on large shipments) small cuttings/ few succulent leaves/ non-rare seeds- brooch medium cuttings/ medium amount of succulent leaves/ rare seeds- 2 brooches/ custom brooch/ small wallmount large cuttings/ large amount of succulent leaves/ large amount of seeds- medium wall mount/ custom small wallmount/ 3 brooches large amount of rooted plants (any type)/large mix of marked seeds/ large amount of cuttings of large size- could range from large wallmount/ custom wallmount/ or even a weathervane (depending on the amount of which and size) obviously these trades can be mixed & matched aswell as worked with to make both parties happy These pieces retail starting at $35 and range up to $1,000+. If you or anyone you know is interested please let them know and contact me at weathervanest@gmail.com . Offers will be of a first come first serve nature. As you can see by the samples I do mainly do nautical themed pieces but I would happily make any sort of design. Looking forward to hearing from all you lovely, helpful & awesome people. -Brad Eadie Sampling of brooches Sampling of wallmounts: Sampling of weathervanes

Christopher, Dar, Becks, SLD, Phil (UK), Cheryl (Australia) ... How do you get your cacti to flower? Just full on sun? My potted babies are pampered and spend their day on the porch with direct morning sun only, then shaded sun the rest of the day. They were raised on a NYC windowsill until 10 mos ago. Is it time for me to inch them out into the scorching sun of the equator? I wonder if any of these will burn. I do know that the echinopsis was originally outside in a rock garden bed and they all died. The ones I do have are from one baby I took home to NY. Even some giant Cereus cacti died out in that sun...perhaps because of neglect. Still, I want mine to flower. Pls advise. Cheryl, I think we have the same echinopsis.