Introduce yourself

Maby it's a good idea to introduce yourself and mention about your cacti collection ( which species, how many, where they grow etc..). Thanks in advance.

Hello,

Let me introduce myself:
My name is Hugo, I am almost 52 years old and live in Belgium.
I've got two children (girl 23 and boy 27) .
Besides that I have a Basset Hound from 2 years old.
My hobbys are, off course Mammillarias, walking with my dog, and I like to work on my pc.
By occupation I was a salesman.
I started with cacti since 1998. I don't know why, but my favorite genus from the beginning was Mammillaria. In 2006, due to circumstances, I had to sell my whole collection, but once bitten by the virus, a while later I started again. At the moment I have around 600 Mammillarias and a lot of seedlings. They grow in a sort of ghouse which I've built myself. In wintertime they are taken indoors and are staying at the attic till the end of february (depends of the weather). For the future I have the intention to buy and build a bigger greenhouse. May my wish come true

I am Bart Roose 51 years old living in Flanders - Brugge - Assebroek.
My hobbys are genealogie , history concerning the low-lands and now special wwo 1 in Flanders Fields...... and growing mammillarias

I am also a member of the Flemish Workgroup Mammillaria

Hi everyone,

My name is Mark Masterson and I live on a small Island off the west coast of Scotland. I am 42 years old and have 3 children, cat and a canary, O and the wife. I have been growing cacti for about for about 15 years but in 2006 I decided to grow only mammillaria's. I am a member of both the UK and German Mammillaria Societies. I have grown most of my plants from seed and I only grow, where possible documented material. I have about 300 plants which have been brought and friends have kindly given me. In 2006-2007 I poduced about 2000 seedlings and this year, 2008, I have produced about 4000 seedlings.
My objective is to create a UK Mammillaria Reference Collection along the lines of the AfM Reference Collection. Althought I have never visited Mexico I hope to be going there in 2010 with fellow collegues.

To all,

Welcome back and thank you.

Hello all,
My name is Chris Davies, I'm 64 yrs old, and live in Amersham in the UK, which has the distinction of being at the very end of the Metropolitan tube line, so I am close to London, to the north west about 25 miles, but away from the main conurbation. My wife, Maureen, and I have three children, 2 boys 37 and 35 yrs old, and 1 daughter who is 27. They all live in or close to Oxford, which is only about 40 minutes away from us.
I have been growing cacti for many years, starting when I was about 7 when my Grandmother gave me a cactus - it was a Myrtillocactus and it sat on the mantlepiece in the dining room, until one winter morning I saw it was little other than a pile of mush - no central heating in those days!
But over the years I have kept a collection of some kind, although my work meant that I moved around the UK fairly frequently until 1980 when we settled in Amersham. My collection had grown to about 400 plants by 2001 and I had retired from full time work, but was keeping busy on consulting work, which in the winter of 200-2001 took me away from the UK. On my return I found to my horror that the heating system (electric) had failed, and I managed to rescue perhaps no more than 100 plants.
I now have about 1400 plants in total, of which there are now about 700 Mammillarias, including seedlings, 80 Coryphantha, and 50 Escobaria plants. My greenhouse is now 10m x 3m, wood construction, and I now have both electric heating (two feeds) and a propane heater as a back-up.
I enjoy photography as a hobby, as well as travelling and I have been to the USA several times to look at cacti in habitat and Mexico once. I plan to do more of this kind of travel, when time and money allow.
I am a committee member of the UK based Mammillaria Society, and am responsible for their web site. I am also a member of the AfM, the BCSS, the CSSA and of AIAPS. I can speak enough French and Spanish to get by, but my German is very poor.

I will try to say something about me. My name is Leszek. I am still 46 years old.
I live in Poland in Gniezno (middle-west side of the country).
It is a very important place for Polish history, because my town was the first capital of Poland.
I have got a daughter (14). I am a historian of art and historian.
Like Hugo, I have got a dog. It is a black Labrador called Homer.
My hobby: of course the cacti, working in my garden, renaissance & barock music and... quantum physics.
In my garden I have got a little greenhouse (3x4 m) where I have about 1100 plants. I have been ordering my collection for last three years. I would like to have in the future only mammillarias.
Now, I have about 350 plants of this genus (and seeds of M. manana from Hugo). I hope my little collection will be still growing...






_ Leszek

Hello everybody,
I am Sonja, 61 years old.
I live in Aalst - province East-Flanders, Belgium. I am married and have a son, 40 years old and a daughter from 36 years. Also two grandchildren, a girl from seven and a boy from 5 years old.
I started with cacti in 1990 and have a mixed collection. Mammillaria, Gymnocalicium, Chileans, Coryphanta, Escobaria, Turbinicarpus, Ferocactus etc...
I hope that we could build back an educating Forum like it was before.

Hello all,
My name is Jacek.
I'm 39 years old, and live in Walbrzych in Poland. I’m married. My hobby : geography, history and of course ... the cacti.

My son (4 months) :

Well you've been busy, congratulations with your son.
Try to make a Mammillaria adept out of him, but not now ( he's gonna hurt himself), but within a few years.

Of course Hugo!
Thank you!

Hi all,
My name is Pieter Colpaert, I'm 27 years old, Belgian and living near Valencia, Spain. I moved last spring so my plants are still adapting to this very different climate. I have my whole collection on the roof terrace, covered with a white isolating plastic to protect my plants from the burning sun and sometimes very heavy rains.
My ccatus collection is a rather mixed one with preferences for Copiapoa, Astrophytum and Turbinicerpus. I think I must have about 50 Mammillaria's.
Regards,
Pieter

Hello everybody!
My name is Paul, I`m 42 old, I`m from Warsaw in Poland.That`s my family with me in polish Tatra Mountains. My favourits caties are this from USA (hard cacties ) and from Mexico (Astrophytum, Echinocereus, Coryhantha, Thelocactus, Escobaria, and all small genus). And of course Mammillaria - I prefere thats smaller with big flower Now I`m building a small greenhouse (2x3 m2) on my balcony and I hope on spring I`ll show You my work. I have also some echinocereen and opuntias in ground in my garden.

Hello Paul,
the photo looks very dangerously but shows a very beautiful landscape.
Let's wait for the spring to see your first photos of the newgreenhouse and hopefully also from a few plants.
Greetings
Holger

I my name is Dan and this is my Mammillaria collection. I like to collect other succulents especially Agaves, they take blistering heat no water an never burn unlike some cactus. ie Mammillaria. I would like to complement the great photography on this board. Some people must have some very good equipment and excellent skill. Feel free to send me any kind of cactus info or remarks at any time. thanks Dan.