cintia troubles

[cefalophone]

I've had two cintia knizei in my care now for a few years. I originally had three. Two were degrafted and rooted and one I received as part of a trade. I lost one of them about two years ago and now it seems the other two are on their way out. I have them in about 70% pumice 30% soil and they sit in my south facing window behind a shade cloth. I water them sparringly to avoid splitting. They were happy up until about last August. They stopped plumping up after their watering and recently I unpotted them to find their roots died back some. Anyone have any idea what could be happening with them? They're the one cactus currently in my collection that I just can't seem to get the hang of. I thought I was doing well with them too.

Also does anyone know any u.s vendors who have them currently in stock? I've been searching this past week and can only find them on eBay for more thanwhat I feel comfortable spending. It's up there in my top three favorite non crested/monstrose cacti and would really like to keep it in my collection.

[iann]

They may not be entirely happy in one of your summer (or winter?) heatwaves. These are high altitude mountain plants that get cool nights year round. Even summer days are not particularly hot although the sun is obviously very strong. They don't look like they are especially resistant to the sun, but seem to cope in my greenhouse, and I think are often shrunken down to ground level in habitat. I water them very little once they've bounced back after a long winter drought, not least because the taproots need quite a large pot for quite a small plant. Incidentally, mine flowered this week (third time this year) which is unusually late. They tend to shut up shop once it gets "warm" here.

[cefalophone]

Thanks. The high summer heat makes sense as the cause. I've had trouble and lost sulco's and other high altitude south American cacti in the past. I don't know how I can keep them cooler duringthe heatwaves in my area.

Also my cintia do not have tap roots. The rooted degraft never developed one and the one from the trade had its prunedthy it's original owner to make it easier to manage.

Do you think there is any way I can bring them back? I am going to try to coax them ba k into growing but if they get worse I have some graft stock on the ready for them.

[Steve Johnson]

The high summer heat makes sense as the cause. I've had trouble and lost sulco's and other high altitude south American cacti in the past. I don't know how I can keep them cooler duringthe heatwaves in my area.

Remember that we just went through another unusually warm winter, and I don't think it did your Cintias any favors. Since I'm in a semi-coastal microclimate, the Rebutias and Sulcos I have are fine, although they won't set buds after a warm winter. I know your part of L.A. pretty well, and being farther inland, it wouldn't surprise me if you've been having trouble keeping high-altitude cacti. While I'm personally not a fan of the practice, grafting your Cintias may be the only option to get them going again.

[cefalophone]

The high summer heat makes sense as the cause. I've had trouble and lost sulco's and other high altitude south American cacti in the past. I don't know how I can keep them cooler duringthe heatwaves in my area.

Remember that we just went through another unusually warm winter, and I don't think it did your Cintias any favors. Since I'm in a semi-coastal microclimate, the Rebutias and Sulcos I have are fine, although they won't set buds after a warm winter. I know your part of L.A. pretty well, and being farther inland, it wouldn't surprise me if you've been having trouble keeping high-altitude cacti. While I'm personally not a fan of the practice, grafting your Cintias may be the only option to get them going again.

Yeah it can get pretty arid in my location. I thought growing them on my windowsill behind shade cloth would help and it did for a while.

I normally only graft cacti I think I may loose or to jump start columnar seedlings. I prefer keeping my cacti on their own roots when possible. But in this case if my cintia's start to decline even more I'll graft to ensure their survival. I really dont want to though because grafted cintia's tend to split more often. I've been able to avoid splitting mine with an irregular watering schedule but if I do graft it it may actually make it trickier to grow.

Hopefully it will all work out though.