1

AucklandAucklandAucklandAuckland Branch of the Cactus and Branch of the Cactus and Branch of the Cactus and Branch of the Cactus and Succulent Succulent Succulent Succulent Society of Society of Society of Society of New Zealand Inc.New Zealand Inc.New Zealand Inc.New Zealand Inc.

Meetings - 3rd Thurs of month at 7.30pm August 2020 Plant Sales - start at 7.00pm

Dates COMPETITION PLANT

MAIN FEATURE Open section

(For all members) Novice section

(Membership 5 yrs &under)

FFF (For all)

August 20 Aeonium Aeonium

Flowers Foliage Form

Talk or Demonstration

Sept 17

Titanopsis, Aloinopsis Neohenricia

Titanopsis, Aloinopsis Neohenricia

Flowers Foliage Form

Talk or Demonstration

Minutes of a Meeting of the Auckland Branch of the

Cactus and Succulent Society of New Zealand Inc. (C SSNZ)

DATE: Thursday 16 July 2020 TIME: 7:30pm LOCATION: : AHC Hall, 990 Great North Road, Western Springs, Auckland IN ATTENDANCE: Approximately 37 members. President Max Croft welcomed everybody and declared the meeting open at 7:40pm. VISITORS AND NEW MEMBERS : One visitor MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: Minutes of the meeting held on

18 June 2020, having been circulated in the newsletter, were taken as read. Moved: Max Seconded: Aaron Carried.

MATTERS ARISING : Nil CORRESPONDENCE INWARD: Newsletter from South Australia Newsletter from ACT Australia CORRESPONDENCE OUTWARD: Monthly Newsletter MATTERS ARISING - Nil. Seed Bank Gorakh said that sales dropped off over lockdown but

came back soon after in large numbers. So he banked approx. $1500 just recently. GENERAL BUSINESS : FFF discussion took place, Had Supper Competition winners announced. Raffle was drawn Talk by Aaron on Insecticides etc. Meeting Closed 9.30pm

MaxMaxMaxMax

Aeonium The fast growing, rosette-shaped succulents in this diverse group of plants can be stem less, or stemmed & scrub-like, small or medium sized, sun loving or shade loving. The growing point in the centre of the rosette is where the flower stem comes from, the whole centre develops into clusters of small, long lasting, starry blooms that can be white,

yellow, pink or red. After flowering the rosette dies, (similar to the agave) but in some species the whole plant dies. Most of the 30 species of plants are dormant in summer and start growing in autumn. Mostly from the Mediterranean and Canary Islands region. They can tolerate dry cold but can rot in the damp cold.

2

Competition Results

Open 1st - Luen Jones Echinofossulocactus multicostatus

Open 2nd - Luen Jones Echinofossulocactus tricuspidatus (syn. Echinofossulocactus phyllacanthus)

Open 3rd - Liam O’Meara Echinofossulocactus crispatus

Other Open Plants

Articles for future newsletters are very welcome from any member. Deadline next issue 6th Sep 2020

Other Novice Plants

3

Novice 1st - Mona Tang Stenocactus multicostatus

Novice 2nd - Harry Sollis Stenocactus sulphureus

Novice 3 rd - Mona Tang Stenocactus densispinus (syn. Echinofossulocactus ochoterenanus)

FFF 1st - Roy Plackett Lithops optica rubra

FFF 2nd - Martin & Maribel Albuka spiralis

FFF 3rd - Martin & Maribel Adromischus “Little Sphaeroid”

Other FFF Plants

4

Other FFF Plants – cont’

Problem Plants Pachypodium sitting on the kitchen bench in what I thought was reasonable light, but its obviously not enough. It will be chopped back & repotted as summer comes along. Echinopsis Possibly in need of a bigger pot. Otherwise looking good Ferocactus d=200mm Never been a happy looking plant. But over the last few months has gone more yellow and developed a rotting spot. Possibly need to look at the root system. Coryphantha maiz-tab Tabasensis Difficult plant to grow Should check to see what habitat soil might be like. Looking a bit like sunburn

5

Repotting Malcolm A Grant “When in doubt, tip it out” is the traditional advice when a plant isn’t performing very well. Usually there is a nasty surprise lurking in the soil. So, you may recall this picture of my backyard before I began planting:

Figure 1. Backyard before planting. The sloping bed in front of Kathie is the area of concern. What I did with it was spray to kill the grass, and then start planting cacti. I covered the surface with woodchip mulch to help control weeds. A few plants here have done well but most have struggled. By contrast in the sloping bank behind Kathie, and the rock wall, plants have generally thrived. The soil here is fine silt with many stones. It holds water very well. I had assumed that with the slope and stones, it would drain well. But the problems eventually led me to lift some plants. What I found was soggy wet soil and few roots – the ground was too wet. The combination of the puggy soil and the mulch was too much. Also, this bank collects runoff from the lawn above. So, all the plants came out and I forked over the bank:

Figure 2. Ground dug over. Then we added a small truckload of sand, with Kathie doing much of the hard work of barrowing it up:

6

Figure 3 & 4

Figure 3 & 4 – adding sand And then I dug it in, constructed a drain across the top to capture runoff from the lawn, and planted:

7

Figure 5 . Ground prepared

Figure 6. Replanting A number of plants now needed staking. After a few weeks they are all looking visibly happier, no longer with wet feet. There is no mulch over the surface now so I will have to do more weeding, but I want to keep the soil surface open to the air to dry. And then we got a bout of unseasonal rain (it’s supposed to be dry in winter), which showed that the drain works. The water is going onto the vegetable garden, I don’t mind if that gets flooded.

Figure 7 . Runoff

8

_

Other bits. There was this Atheist being chased by a large hungry bear. As he tripped and fell and the bear was about to pounce, the Atheist shouted "Oh my God". There was a flash of light, everything stood still, suspended. A voice said "Do you expect me to help you after all your years of putting me down?" The Atheist agreed that this would be too much to expect but "perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?" The light disappeared, everything started moving again and the bear stood up, clasped his front paws together and said "For what I am about to receive, may the Lord make me truly thankful.

_

Cactus and Succulent Society of New Zealand Inc Postage .

Newsletter of the Auckland Branch

www.akcactus.org.nz Facebook http://tinyurl.com/3c2zy7j

Coromandel Cacti Cactus & Succulent Mix No expense spared in this premium formulation Controls root bugs, fertiliser releases over 18 months or more, no need for liquid feeding, plants grow steadily without bolting, includes generous trace elements, uses optimum pH for cacti & succulents, drainage is superb, “wetting” problems banished forever.

30 Litre bag for $15

For seed raising, and cacti in small pots, and fine rooted plants such as Lithops, Crassula and Echeveria we recommend sieving our mix to remove larger particles.

NURSERY HOURS Very limited opening hours Check the Website for days & times,

& rain cancellations. ,

170 Mt Wellington Highway, Panmure.

Phone ................... 09 527 4052 027-287-4287 Email .................... info@cacti.co.nz Website ............... www.cacti.co.nz