
..i'm botanically challenged. A cactus and a couple of spider plants are about all i can keep alive...
I give other plants to ma Meré, she's got not much else to do... apart from golf, bridge, walking, holidays... Damn she's busy!
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Sun 20 Jul 2008, 16:29,
archived)
I give other plants to ma Meré, she's got not much else to do... apart from golf, bridge, walking, holidays... Damn she's busy!

Some friends of mine gave me a cactus as a housewarming present many years ago. Cute little thing in a pot about 4" cube. No one had ever told me about how to grow cactii so I figured hey, they grow in the desert so don't need water, right? So I never watered it. It got to about a foot high then sort of tapered off; about 1" diameter at the main part and a tapering tip like a condom.
A couple of years later I move back in with the folks (as you do when your visa card spirals out of control) and mum takes a look at this cactus of mine and asks "haven't you been watering that?" "No, I says. it's a cactus!" "uh... " she groaned and took it off me. She then repotted it in a large pot and gave it a little water every now and then. Now the damn thing is 3 feet tall, is about 1" diameter for a foot, then tapers to 1/2" for about 1" height then blows out to about 2" diameter and has grown another 2 feet! Strangest looking cactus you've ever seen. Needs to be staked up of course since it's so top heavy :)
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Sun 20 Jul 2008, 16:40,
archived)
A couple of years later I move back in with the folks (as you do when your visa card spirals out of control) and mum takes a look at this cactus of mine and asks "haven't you been watering that?" "No, I says. it's a cactus!" "uh... " she groaned and took it off me. She then repotted it in a large pot and gave it a little water every now and then. Now the damn thing is 3 feet tall, is about 1" diameter for a foot, then tapers to 1/2" for about 1" height then blows out to about 2" diameter and has grown another 2 feet! Strangest looking cactus you've ever seen. Needs to be staked up of course since it's so top heavy :)