Fake caudiciform plant made from a redwood burl

 Instead of growing caudiciform plants from seed which takes so long why not just build them.

I took an old burl i bought in the redwoods which had since died. Drilled a 1/4" hole through it and a 1" hole half way.
Planted a little mother hen and chicks in there. A nice little pot.

What to do with a dead burl?

dioscorea elephantipes (elephant foot plant) from seed.

Went online and got some dioscoreaa elephantis seeds. They look like little propellors that fall off of maple treees.

How to sprout discorea elephantipes: They were easy to sprout in a small pot with good draining cactus mix (1/3 comercial potting soil, 1/3 sand and 1/3 perilite) tied up in a opaque plastic bag and put in a eastern window for two weeks.

just after sprouting you can see
the caudex on this little
dioscorea elephantis seeding

at one month the caudex is much larger

8 months

But some wonderfull day they will look like this

or more likely like this wonderful specimen at the huntington gardens. That may be a while though because this softball sized creature is almost 30 years old.... though probably younger then the tortoises. Maybe older then our shelled friend is this huge specimen also a the huntington gardens.

Oldest dioscorea elephantipes around 80 years

Similar but unrelated here is what it looks like at the top of Devils Pollpile in California

Conophytum Calculus from seed

As an alternative to my ugly cactus/succulent collection post category I have also started some conophytum calculus seeds just sprouted today. The first members of my cute cactus/succulent collection. Photo of seedlings later. For now here are the beauties at Huntington gardens in LA. I rename them funny little smiling face cactus (tho not technically cacti)

Started them in the same way as the pseudolithos in the previous post. 

My knowlage of succulents, limited though it is, comes from  The Timber Press Guide to Succulent Plants of the World: A Comprehensive Reference to More than 2000 Species and Toms blog Theatrumbotanicum

Pseudolithos migiurtinus from seed

Bought some Pseudolithos migiurtinus seeds on ebay. 

This is the newest member of my ugly cactus/succulent collection. 

I have them controlled for temp, light and humidity using a light bulb for heat, my LED grow lamp for light and plastic bags for humidity. Heat is easily controlled by checking the temp and moving the light bulb. As for soil I started with a commercial cactus soil. 

Here they are just sprouted about 5 days after planting them: 

On DOL 3 transfered one to a more appropriate soil: 

-one part commercial potting soil (baked in oven to sterilize) 

-one part perlite

-one part washed play sand

Much larger at 2 and a half months old

Starting to get its characteristic texture (and uglyness) at 7 months old

As I had been warned was possible if not likely with this species it suddenly melted away overnight. No idea why. About a year and a half old at the time.

My knowlage of succulents, limited though it is, comes from  The Timber Press Guide to Succulent Plants of the World: A Comprehensive Reference to More than 2000 Species and Toms blog Theatrumbotanicum

Homemade ginger ale recipe. Syrup method for SodaStream.

Ingredients for ginger ale syrup:
1 quart water (can be made with SodaStream)
ginger root
1 lime
1 lemon
1c white sugar
1.5c brown sugar
0.5 cup honey

You will also need to buy soda water or make your own soda water.

Zest the lemon and lime. I did this with my new hand held citrus zester
Juice the lemon and lime.
Peel and then grate the ginger.
Mix the juice and zest with the rest of the ingredients in a sauce pain and simmer for 30 min.
Allow to cool.
Strain with a tea filter.

Finally mix the syrup 1:5 or to taste with soda water.

Take it one step further and make your own soda water. Or carbonate with fermentation. My previous recipe for self carbonated spicy ginger ale . More recipes for soda in this great book Homemade Soda: 200 Recipes for Making ....


Like this. Try my orangina recipe

Alico summit backpacking boots review

Review in progress.....

Took these sweet new boots out for 4 hours in the hills in moderate terrain. Legit old school boots. No doubt more heavy than a more modern style/material boot. I appreciate the real full grain leather. Seem to be very durable. Comfortable, but stiff out of the box.

I have now taken these out for a two 6 hour hikes over very rough terrain and have been quite satisfied. Still notably heavy but great support. Very comfortable. Still have not gone with anything more then a day pack but I have no doubt that they could handle a heavy load.

I got mine at Sierra Trading Post. They often have the best prices, but availability is sporatic.

The best prices on this and all outdoor gear at Sierra Trading Post (when available)

still life with octopus wallpaper (in progress)

Help me make the wallpaper look more real? more texture? a seam? peeling? any other tricks?