The 300 collection
Where to begin?
Often the question I ask myself when embarking on a new hybrid line.
In this blog post we will be looking at the “300 collection”
The name of the collection simply comes from where this grouping ended up in the reference book.
These are all Lobivia hybrids produced at Spine City nursery.
Lobivia cv. Embers
Above you can see one that qualified for it’s own name.
They don’t all turn out so beautiful and you have to accept when working with hybrids that out of 100, you might, if you’re lucky, get 1 or 2 that are truly something special.
The 300 collection was at it’s peak an incredibly large number of plants, over the months and years I removed all yellow and white flowering plants.
Straight yellow and white flowers are not pursued at Spine City nursery.
This does not meet standards.
There is a selection process that starts long before the plants reach flowering size though and that is general stress tests.
This is a process every single plant grown at Spine City goes through.
Many will be familiar with the term “hybrid vigour” whereby the stronger elements of 2 plants comes through as a result of
hybridising .
But of course we are working with nature and it can (and does) go the other way too!
These are plants that do not grow strongly, are weak and often have a susceptibility to pests and disease.
Plants that fall into this category are discarded.
Unreleased
The one pictured above is a personal favourite.
(I have a soft spot, ok ok, obsession with pink flowers)
It is often difficult to capture the true majesty of some of these flowers and the one pictured above is no exception.
Incredibly bright, good size flowers and those green accents make the pink pop!
Lobivia cv. Ti Amo
I love you!
(Ti Amo)
The second from the 300 collection to receive it’s own name.
Lobivia cv. Marshmallow
Soft and sweet!
So…..
Are these plants difficult to grow?
Nope!
Lobivia for the most part fall amongst some of the easiest cacti to grow.
They do not require any special treatment to flower but of course there things that can be done to improve and increase the number and quality of flowers.
Still in production - peach dream perhaps?
They must be provided with good light, indoors is definitely not an option!
They will tolerate some pretty intense light levels but may scorch if being blasted completely exposed all day.
This will not affect them flowering, they just wont look that pretty.
Water must be applied generously during active growth and flowering (weekly up to twice weekly)
In the case of the 300 collection, they have been bred specifically for big flowers and lots of them.
It is very common for them to become squishy and deflated during flowering - the roots / plant simply cannot keep up with the amount of energy and water it takes to put on such a show.
This does not harm them, they bounce right back!
Still in production.
Now you might think that these plants need copious amounts of fertiliser.
But this is not the case.
Of course they need food, all plants do.
But we can keep this simple.
A general purpose soluble fertiliser applied in Spring and Autumn will be plenty.
You can also apply a seaweed tonic like Seasol a couple of times throughout the growing season for a little boost to their overall health.
This does not replace fertiliser.
LV.2
Above is one of the parent plants for the 300 collection.
LV is a whole other collection and a story for another day.
You can buy plants from the 300 collection through our webstore.
We offer confirmed flower and also mixed selection.
Thank-you for reading our blog post.
Hope you enjoyed it!
