I'm spitting mad because this program keeps fucking up!  I had several paragraphs written and in the process of trying to "fix" a problem (it wanted to orient text centered instead of to the left), I lost it!  Grrrr... So this will be my attempt at recounting what I already wrote!

H. EPC 392 is showing signs of growth!  Last blog (last weekend), there was nothin', nada.  Today, there is a tiny set of new leaves emerging from a two-leaf cutting I put back in the pot probably 2 years ago.  Additionally, I see another spot that I'm pretty sure is a "growth nubbin" on the main plant.  Yippie!!

Yesterday, I took down H. shepherdell to water and saw one tiny new leaf forming.  A little disappointing, but it's not in a real high light spot.  And it was one of those beat up in last summer's hail storm.  So I removed some damaged leaves and took enough cuttings to pot up 7 to sell this spring.  That should inspire mother plant to start putting out more new growth!

I also took the plunge and whacked up my old bhutanica.  Wow, that was a project!  Took me over and hour and I had two flats (12x18) heaped with cuttings.  I soaked them in a sink of water and put them back in the flats with the intention of getting rid of the old soil in the pot today and potting up the best of the cuttings to keep, then making a (LOT!) of pots to sell.  I set the old rootball outside hoping it would freeze and just pop right out of the pot.  But it seems to have just "glued" it in there, so I brought it in to warm up.  Maybe by this evening, I'll be able to pop it out.  

In the process of cleaning the shelf where bhutanica sat, I found a container of rooting hormone.  I went ahead and used it on the shepherdell cuttings and will probably do so on the bhutanica cuttings.  I don't really think it's necessary this time of year, but what the hell - I don't want to just toss it and who knows... maybe it will make them root faster.  

H. macrophylla albomarginata is not even hinting at growing - well, not the mother plant.  It's another one that got beat up pretty bad last summer in the hail and I removed a lot of the damaged leaves to start new plants.  I put a potfull of cuttings to keep, thinking I might be ready for a new start of it anyway.  That one is growing!...

You can see the new developed leaves in the foreground - my thumb is on one of them.  And you can see the tiny new leaf on a new vine right in the center of the pic.  I'm very pleased with how it's doing!

I talked about how well deykeae is doing with the new foliage on the cutting I added last year.  Well, it's putting on new growth in several spots - new leaves are kind of bronze and fuzzy:

What I love most about this species is how it gets leaf clusters (kind of like my old fungii).  Here is a node with 7 leaves!...

 

It makes it look super bushy!

I'm conducting a little experiment.  A two-fold experiment.  My Schizobasis intricata (an African bulb) has been blooming and spewing seeds all over my livingroom shelf all winter. I decided to see how easily they grow from seed IF I TRY.  Oh, they grow in everything when I don't want them to!  But I've never been successful at growing things from seed ON PURPOSE.  So I took a lid from a large to-go plastic container and put about a half inch of soil on it.  I scattered a few hundred (yes hundred) seeds over it.  Well, I later discovered one of my Rhipsalis had shed a shit-load of it's "leaves" on the spare bed.  They looked perfectly healthy other than being detached from the mother plant, so I scooped them up and put them on top of the same soil.  Maybe they'll root, maybe they won't.  We'll see!

I try to mist it once or twice a day when I'm misting the rooting cuttings.

Another little experiment...  I also found two little pieces of wood on which I got two tiny orchids a couple years ago.  I lost the orchids but saved the mossed boards.  I decided to try starting a Dischidia ovata on one and a Hoya 'Mathilde on the other.  I set them against the rooting pot of H. rubra as I am misting that every day right now and I will mist them as well.  Once the rubra is well rooted, I may move them closer to the rooting cuttings to catch the daily mist if I think that's necessary.  But I figure by then, it may have developed into a daily habit and I can just leave them there. Here's how they look now:
 

I was watering on the top shelf (in the corner) and decided it's time to whack back the H. treubiana which has overtaken the top shelf, making it hard to get pots to sit level up there.  Just whacking that "overflow" produced 11 cuttings to root!  That's one that brings some nice money...But now I have to trek out to the garage to get more pots and it is bitterly cold and windy as hell.

And that's enough for today.  I'm feeling a little nap coming on and do I need it!  I'm going to Des Moines tomorrow for the cactus club meeting and we're going to Bedwell's, a nice greenhouse down in Norwalk.  They were hit by a tornado - was it last year or the year before?  I can't remember... Anyway, they got everything back in order and I'm looking forward to seeing it.  I guess they've greatly expanded their succulent collection!  Looking forward to it!