I am very amazed at just how fast these plants grow! Below are the pictures comparing  January to March and the growth in just 2 months!


January 2012

Would that burlap material work over treated wood?

I've been contemplating using treated posts but then nail rough ceder over it. Termites are ruthless. Dont get me started. I even had them set up on a wooden shelf I built ont eh patio, and I discovered then when they entered a big pile of DF cuttings thru their cut ends and ate out the insides. 

I bought a nice sized 3' specimen from a local nursery (Dondros Gardens) a few years ago now. Dondro picked it up down in Miami area where he gets his big stuff. I kept in it an 18" pot until this winter, upgraded to a 24". My yard was all rows of big pots and dense jungle until last fall. It didn't seem to grow very much during this period, in particular the trunk didn't seem to get much thicker. Most the big stuff now all been moved to another property, but I kept this one here in one single straight row along a fenceline. It gets real decent sun most the day, most everyday now even with the suns position in the sky switching so much already this year, and I'm noticing lots of new shoot growth everywhere.

The trunk is and always has been very dense, seems like a very hardwood. Bark seems nonexistent. It's hard to imagine tons of flower buds erupting from it. So of course any insights into how this process goes would be greatly appreciated.

HUH... you mean for them to send stuff outwards? That's crazy; have never heard of such a thing let alone a 'developing' nation with all sorts of economic issues across the board in general. That would be stepping on ones own d*&#, pissing up a rope, shooting the self in the foot, etc. I've got one order taking a long time, but I've seen this happen before this time of year though (spring can really cramp us all in industry) from over there so hadn't thought much into it until now.

Yeah, I'll trade for Yellow.

I think I have secured Dark Star, Voodoo Child and Zamorana.

I have lots of other stuff too you might be interested in.

I'm looking for every cultivar of Dragon Fruit and other proper fruiting cacti (tuna fruits, etc) I dont have. I have a lot to offer for trade from various fruiting & edible perennial seeds & plants (root crops, hot/super-hot peppers, medicinal and so on) to an impressive list of various plant growth hormones and related plant biostimulants.

Before I mentioned I have secured 'Yellow Dragon Fruit', from a local guy, but apparently I still need supply for that....

Fruiting Cacti that I have enough of for trading:
dragon fruit Bloody Mary (cuttings)
dragon fruit Halley's Comet (including rooted plants)
dragon fruit Physical Graffiti (cuttings)
dragon fruit Seminole (cuttings)
dragon fruit Vietnamese Jaina (white) (including rooted plants)
dragon fruit 'generic' 'white', and 'purple' (cuttings)
opuntia Xoconostle (seeds)
Queen of the Night (Selenicereus grandiflorus) (cuttings)
Peruvian Apple Cactus (Cereus repandus) (cuttings)
Sword Pear Cactus (Acanthocereus tetragonus) (all sizes)

Newer Cacti I have secured but cant trade with yet (don't need):
dragon fruit American Beauty
dragon fruit Arizona Purple
dragon fruit Bien Hoa Red
dragon fruit Cosmic Charlie
dragon fruit Dark Star
dragon fruit Delight
dragon fruit Giant Viet
dragon fruit Natural Mystic
dragon fruit Maria Rosa
dragon fruit Phoenix Red
dragon fruit Thai Red
dragon fruit Yellow (always open to more)
dragon fruit Zamorano
Hylocereus bronxensis
opuntia PARL 246
opuntia PARL 256
opuntia PARL 262
opuntia Jeronimo M.V.
Selenicereus setaceus Pineapple Cactus

Tropical Root Crops:
Sweet Potatoes:
All Purple/Purple Delight
Allgold
Amish Bush Porto Rico
Barberman
Beauregard
Becca's Purple
Boniato
Bugtussle
Bunch Porto Rico
Carolina Nugget
Carolina Ruby
Cook's Family Heirloom
Dingess White with Pink Eye
Envy
Ginseng Orange
Georgia Jet
Georgia Red
Hatki
Hernandez
Ivis White Cream
Jersey White
Korean Purple
Mahan/Bradshaw
Marguerite / Margarita (Ornamental)
Memphis Pride
Midnight Lace (Ornamental)
Mirasaki
Oklahoma Nugget
Porto Rico
Razorback
Red Wine Velvet
Ringley's Porto Rico
Satsuma-imo
Travis
Wakenda
White Triumph
and a few yet ID'ed types

Other Root Crops:
various gingers, malangas / taros and more (list under construction...)

Fruit:
list under construction...

Super Hot Peppers
7 Pot / Brain Strain Red & Yellow
7 Pot Primo
Butch T
Carolina Reaper
Dorset Naga
Ghost Bhut Jalokia Chocolate
Ghost Bhut Jalokia Red
Trinidad Moruga Red
Trinidad Moruga Yellow
Trinidad Scorpion Chocolate
Trinidad Scorpion Red
plus over 100 other 'normal' peppers:
http://thehotpepper.com/user/2818-drpeppar/ (trade list)

I'll be working at this effort from now on so please check back in every so often to see if I now have anything you wanted, but didn't before.

Other fruiting cacti I'm wittingly interested in:
Burbank's Opuntia
Cereus jamacaru
Consolea corallicola
Corryocactus brevistylus
Corryocactus melanotrichus
Cylindropuntia arbuscula
Eulychnia acida
Haageocereus pseudoversicolor
Harrisia fragrans
Hylocereus Bronxensis
Hylocereus megalanthus
Hylocereus Ocamponis
Hylocereus spp.
Jasminocereus thoursii
Mammillaria sp.
Myrtillocactus geometrizans
Opuntia dillenii
Opuntia engelmannii var. linguiformis
Opuntia ficus-indica cultivars
Polaskia chichipe
Selenicereus boeckmannii
Selenicereus pteranthus
Selenicereus validus
Stenocereus griseus
Stenocereus pruinosis
Stenocereus gummosus
Stenocereus queretaroensis
Stenocereus stellatus
Stenocereus thurberi
Stenocereus treleasei
Trichocereus validus

With Dragon Fruit I'm not interested in any more generic colors such as 'pink'. Cultivars only please, thanks.

I'm also looking for Piper genus plants, and Vanilla orchid cuttings:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=11157.0

I can also offer for trade various exotic Plant Growth Hormones (PGR's) and related Plant Biostimulants. I can speak from experiences cacti & succulents commonly produce acutely dramatic results in growth boosting enhancements. Everyone's heard of rooting hormones, and nobody disputes their overall effectiveness. It turns out there's plenty of other interesting effects that can be 'dictated'. Some people might be put off by this 'new' angle of horticulture, but if you've eaten broccoli or seedless grapes you've already eaten the chems I'm referring to, while you can't eat any piece of any plant without eating plant phytohormones in general, while all of industrial agriculture / horticulture uses them extensively (both pre & post harvest with produce). With these stigmas averted, especially if you have smaller plants you're trying to bulk up, PGR's assuredly are the certain way to achieve the maximum growth rates scientifically possible in a season. Some even only influence natural health and vigor mechanisms that might be weakened otherwise by the stresses they've endured.  Understand that nutrients don't DRIVE growth, but PGR's do. Likewise, nutrients & water are but mere fuel, so when you stomp on the (PGR) GAS PEDAL, to harness all of the potential you need to boost the fuel tank & octane.
PGR's & Biostimulants I can offer:
Atonik [natural based antioxidant precursor good for everything from rooting cuttings but especially overall vigor]
6-Benzylaminopurine (6BA)  [the most popular / widely useful "Cytokinin" 'branching hormone' in the world]
Brassinolide (BL) [interesting nature based 'brassinosteroid' first derived from Rapeseed flowers, gives broad growth boosting effects usually only done via several others PGR classes combined)
Chitosan [another interesting vigor booster; shellfish extract commonly used as a food additive; good for germinating seeds & increased yield with overall vigor boosting being the main effect. has actual human medical uses]
Fulvic Acid [choice chelating agent; highly bioabsorbable sometimes touted as helping effects of other chem effects]
6-Furfurylaminopurine (Kinetin)[natural analog to 6BAP; has been detected in virtually every living biological cell on all of planet earth]
Forchlorfenuron (CPPU) [a more exotic Cytokinin. mainly used for making seedless grapes & kiwi; not sure yet how it would influence cacti]
Gibberellic Acid (GA3) [earths ultimate 'seed sprouting hormone'; has many other uses but alone to drive realistic intense growth needs be mixed with the likes of 6BAP & IAA to balance out the effects (prevent raw stretching)]
Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA) [primary Auxin PGR produced by all plants; plays role in all stages of growth but best known for driving 'straight up' meristem growth]
Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA) [the most effective & widely used Auxin rooting hormone in the world]
Indole-3-Butyric Acid-K (K-IBA) [water soluble, changes the pH of the solution though]
Kinetin (6FA) (natural analog of 6BAP; said to be a natural component of virtually every living cell on earth]
Mepiquat Chloride [a Gibberellin Inhibitor. similar to the now semi-infamous Paclobutrazol but without of the health threats]
Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) [2nd most important Auxin rooting hormone; main ingredient in Superthrive]
Salicylic Acid (SA) [related to Aspirin, this the proper form for plants (boosts natural health mechanisms. main component in willow leaves]
Triacontanol [extracted from beeswax. good all around yield booster on paper similar to Brassinolide. real safe, but difficult to use]


You can follow my profile to see the rest of what I have to offer.  Majority of everything listed as live plants / cuttings I now maintain a steady supply of specimens ready to go year round.  Also open to all sorts of other trades, for pretty much any seeds or 'plants of a useful nature' that I don't already have. Very interested in root crops outside of the 'potato' species. Thanks for reading.