Turbinicarpus jauernigi seedling help!

[KittieKAT]

So a friend sent me a Turbinicarpus jauernigi seedling andi just got It! Thoe my excitement was short lived when i noticed that it was very wrinkly, flat, thirsty, dead looking .....not very happy looking little guy I'd say. Should i water him after his roots heal? Will he plump back up after that? Or should i leave him dead looking until i water all my cacti in spring/summer?
Really really worried that I'll kill this guy before i can actually enjoy him! Please let me kno if this is common in winter or if somethings wrong or he's thirsty or something. Thanks

[Aiko]

Give it a little splash and see if it plumps up. Little splash, not a big one.

How big is the plant? It is not strange even for little plants to be very wrinkly and very flat. It all depends on the size of the plant. Bigger than a pea?

[iann]

This species typically has a substantial taproot and a body that can be as flat as a pancake. Here's Splat in fat mode, about as tall as it ever gets:

jauernigii-0904.jpg (70.64 KiB) Viewed 1128 times

Never rush these plants with big taproots. I don't know how big your plant is, but most likely it could survive the rest of the year without water. Or die in a week if you water it too soon. Take your choice Unfortunately for you they're most active in autumn going into early winter, but that does give you plenty of time to get it established!

[KittieKAT]

It's like the size of the inside plastic roll thought on a roll of scotch tape, about an inch or a little across the top
Really can't explain it since i don't got measuring tape on me at the moment. Its old enough to flower since it had about 3-4 dried flowers on the top of its fluff it looked nice before it got sent to me .....now itskinda scary sad looking
Can't really tell what i mean by the picture but it was more smooth and plump, now this

[KittieKAT]

I lifted it outta the soil to show u root to body in size

[Steve Johnson]

The species has a big, fat taproot that stores a lot of water, so IMO the winter shriveling you see on yours is normal. I keep all of my Turbs completely dry during wintertime, and it's amazing to see them plump up just a day or two after their first water of the growing season. You might want to try growing your jauernigii and other taprooted cacti in straight horticultural pumice -- available here through eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5-GAL-PUMICE- ... 3384a94694" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With a few exceptions, I've been growing my cacti in nothing but pumice and decomposed granite. Coming up on 3 years since I started using it, and the results have been pretty awesome. Only drawback is that you need to fertilize every time you water in the growing season, although no biggie to keep up on it as long as you don't overdo the fert.

[iann]

Looks fine. If it isn't fine then there's nothing you can do about it. It isn't thirsty and if it is rotting then you won't save it. You certainly won't save it by watering. Leave it alone until the weather warms up. Don't plant it in "cactus soil"!

[KittieKAT]

That isn't the soil i plan to keep it in, that was just what i put it in till i move to the new house im a week hopefully, cause I'm trying to limit the pots around the house fo my roommate to knock over...grrrrr.
So its in the same pot as my L. Williamsii till i move and then it will be moved to its own pot of
Lava, pumice and turface stone/chips

I don't think its rotten, as much as i think it's some kinda damage from the cold or from traveling
But i don't plan on watering the turb. Cause i don't usually water cacti in winter
But i wanted to know if it would plump up when i do water it, so I don't panic and jump the gun.

[Steve Johnson]

But i wanted to know if it would plump up when i do water it, so I don't panic and jump the gun.

I dug through my photo archive, and I have an example featuring the Turb polaskii "family". Right before first watering of the year on 3/11/13, followed by the response a few days later:



If your jauernigii is basically healthy and the roots are working, you should look for a similar response time when it gets water. My growing season usually starts in early/mid-March, although that's SoCal -- not sure if yours starts a little later. I hope the new jauernigii does well!

[KittieKAT]

So do i I've only been wanting this plant for eeeevvvveeeerrrr! So hard to find them in US even online
I was lucky to even get this one after months of begging for it.
I'm hoping it will be okay just was worried cause it was prob bouncing around the mail and it had Gotton freezing a day or two before i actually got it so i was hoping it wasn't dying due to the cold weather on its way to me those last two days.
My Neo. Occulta does its little splat thing in winter too! But I'm used to that guy - since this is a fairly new Addition, i was worried and bettersafe tthen sorry.