A small collection: 2015 and beyond

[Steve Johnson]

Hi Harald,

Your square pots are standard nursery pots, and the 3-inchers won't be deep enough to accommodate the taproots as they grow down. I've seen nursery-grown cacti with taproots that end up growing sideways in their pots. I honestly don't know whether or not it hurts the plants over the long run, but at least with your Ario seedlings, I'd opt for the medicine container. You don't have to fill the pot all the way up to the top either, so I'd say that 1/2" below the rim should be fine. By the way -- since we have winter on the way, you may want to think about how you can protect your potted cacti from the winter rain. Since they shouldn't get watered anyway, a garage would be perfect to keep them dry before the next growing season comes around.

[hegar]

Hello Steve,
thank you for your rapid response. I had almost anticipated, that you would go with the medicine containers for the Ariocarpus sp. seedlings. I did take two of them and drilled three 1/2 inch holes in their bottoms. I could do two more and plant each Ariocarpus cactus separately each into its own container. The A. fissuratus ssp. hintonii seedlings do not have as long a taproot as the A. kotschoubeyanus. That was the reason I only prepared two of these long medicine bottles and had thought about leaving the former in the small plastic nursery pots and then transplant all of them in early spring into the ground, after I have prepared the cactus bed by adding the washed pumice-granite-arroyo fine gravel and forming a slight slope for the Ariocarpus and Turbinicarpus plants. This should help to keep their root from being subjected to too much water for too long a time.
To grow larger plants of that genus, I probably would have to purchase special deep pots. I do not even know, how long the taproot of these plants will be with older specimens. I did read though, that Ariocarpus sp. members that are large, do not have a very good survival rate when being transplanted (repotted). That is another reason, why I prefer to have these plants in the ground.

I do no longer have a garage, because my wife insisted on converting it into a second living room. However, I do have an overhang of the roof, which allows only very little rain to reach the ground underneath. I did overwinter a big planting bowl with Ariocarpus fissuratus cacti there and they all made it through the winter. I could partially dig in these long medicine bottles and have them adjacent to the house wall in the dry area. That way they would still receive sunlight and should do OK. With the small container I would be more worried about frost damage. We do have every winter temperatures going down into the low 20 degree Fahrenheit range. I am not quite sure, what minimum temperature the A. kotschoubeyanus can handle. During the winter months the temperature can vary quite a bit within 24 hours. It may be 22 degrees F during the early morning hours and 75 degrees F at 3 p.m.! Usually, the frost only lasts for a few hours each day.
In February 2011, however, we did experience a super cold 72 hour period, where the high temperature did not go above 32 degrees F. Even some of our native barrel cacti (Ferocactus wislizenii) succumbed to that cold spell. I did place a tarp over my cacti and both my Turbinicarpus valdezianus plants and my Echinopsisi eyriesii cactus clump survived with flying colors.

Harald

[Steve Johnson]

Oops, almost forgot...

Our member in Palos Verdes CA requested that I post my watering schedule. Although it applies to my particular climate and growing practices, hopefully the following will be helpful to other growers. Just remember that local conditions rule, so if your conditions are different from mine (and they probably are), use the schedule as a guideline and nothing more.

Growing season

March is a month of transition, so it's the time when I'm looking for overnight lows in the mid-50s and daytime highs in the mid- to upper-70s. When I see those temps consistently, I'll know that the growing season has started.

Watering every 2 weeks in spring and summer: Astrophytum asterias, capricorne, and 'capristigma'; Cephalocereus senilis; Copiapoa hypogaea, laui, and tenuissima; Coryphantha hesteri; Cumulopuntia rossiana fuauxiana; Epithelantha bokei, micromeris, and micromeris dickisoniae; Eriosyce senilis; Espostoa lanata; Geohintonia mexicana; Gymnocalycium baldianum, ochoterenae vatteri, stellatum, and stenopleurum; Mammillaria crucigera, deherdtiana, grahamii, guelzowiana; perezdelarosae, spinossissima, and theresae; Parodia subterrania; Pelecyphora strobiliformis; Puna clavarioides; Rebutia heliosa and pygmaea; Stenocactus lloydii and zacatecasensis; Sulcorebutia callichroma longispina, heinzii, and rauschii; Tephrocactus articulatus inermis and papyracanthus.

Once a week in spring and summer: Pelecyphora aselliformis. A tiny degraft that Craig Fry rooted -- although it's a very slow grower, I'm still treating the plant like a seedling, which means that it needs a lot of water.

Every 2 weeks in spring, and once a week in summer: Cumarinia odorata, Frailea castanea and grahliana.

Every 2 weeks in spring, and every 10 days in summer: Echinocereus rigidissimus rubispinus and viridiflorus canus.

Every 10 days in early spring, and once a week in late spring and summer: Discocactus buenekeri, Melocactus matanzanus, and Uebelmannia pectinifera.

This part of the schedule is fairly straightforward because it kicks in right at the start of the growing season. The same can't be said for what I'm calling the "special needs" cacti, so I'll briefly describe how they should be handled.

Every 3-4 weeks in spring, and every 10 days in summer: Ariocarpus fissuratus. Arios need consistent heat to get going, and the heat in April and May isn't consistent enough for a regular schedule yet. Whenever I find brief stretches of hot, sunny weather in springtime, that'll be the time for watering. Since they're summer growers, they'll appreciate regular watering when the days are nice and hot all the time. I've found that watering every 10 days works well from late June until the end of September.

Every 3-4 weeks in spring, and every 2-3 weeks in summer: Astrophytum myriostigma; Gymnocactus ysabelae; Turbinicarpus jauernegii, klinkerianus, polaskii, pseudomacrochele, and pseudopectinatus. These plants take up an amazing amount of water when they get their first deep drink of the year. If the Gymnocactus and Turbs get watered too often in spring, you'll end up with bloated unnatural-looking cacti over time, and some of these species are prone to developing nasty splits. (This is also true of A. myriostigma, which I found that out the hard way in 2014.) When they look a bit thirsty, it'll be time to water them.

Every 3 weeks in late spring, and every 2 weeks in summer: Aztekium ritteri. April isn't warm enough for it, but I can ease the plant into its summertime schedule with watering every 3 weeks from mid-May to around the end of June.

Every 3-4 weeks in spring, and every 2 weeks in summer: Eriosyce napina glabrescens, duripulpa, and odieri. The same basic principle I follow with my Ario fissuratus applies here.

October can be pretty toasty -- I call it a "bonus" month if the heat is consistent enough to extend the growing season well beyond the end of September. As of this writing, my local 10-day forecast is showing daytime highs in the upper 70s and low 80s, with overnight lows in the upper 50s to low 60s through 10/27. These are late-spring temps, so the collection is on tap for deep watering tonight. That means everything, and the growing season will end when October is done. For the years when October isn't quite as toasty, the fall growers could still use some watering.

Fall/winter watering care

Here in SoCal, hot spells in November and December aren't all that unusual, but with day lengths shortening and nights cooling down below 50, the cacti are settling into their winter dormancy period. Although I'll keep my South American plants completely dry until the next growing season begins, some of the North Americans appreciate light watering (in other words, sip, don't soak!) every 4 weeks in fall and winter. They are: Astrophytum asterias, capricorne, 'capristigma', and myriostigma; Coryphantha hesteri; Cumarinia odorata; Echinocereus rigidissimus rubispinus and viridiflorus canus; Mammillaria crucigera, deherdtiana, and grahamii; Obregonia denegrii; Parodia subterranea (my only South American on this list); Stenocactus lloydii and zacatecasensis.

The following cacti get deep watering every 4 weeks in fall and winter: Eriosyce senilis, Tephrocactus inermis and papyracanthus.

This brings us to the "special needs" plants. When they're in the juvenile stage, Discocactus buenekeri and Melocactus matanzanus can be treated like most other desert cacti, which means they can be kept dry during the fall and winter. However, when they start growing cephalia as they enter the adult stage, their watering needs change. From that point on, light watering every 3 weeks is an absolute requirement -- while the peripheral roots gradually die off during winter, periodic hydration of the core root system will keep the plants alive until they're ready to start growing again in the spring. Discos and Melos aren't exactly the easiest, but if you give them the winter watering care I just described, your chances for long-term success should be pretty good. I should mention that Uebelmannia pectinifera also needs to be on the same fall/winter light watering schedule.

Most of the time, my wintertime lows don't go much below the low 40s, although occasional cold snaps can spell trouble for any cacti that are due for watering. I keep a very close eye on my local 7-day forecasts December-February, so if I see temps in the 30s creeping into the immediate forecast, I'll hold off on watering until the lows start going back up above 40. The Disco, Melo, and Uebelmannia will tolerate overnights down to a low of 39 -- for those nights when they could catch a deathly chill outdoors, I'll bring them inside. Since they need to be on a regular watering schedule anyway, they'll be well taken care of regardless. When winter is done, they'll be ready for action again in the next growing season.

[Steve Johnson]

Before we get to today's main event, I just wanted to give y'all a (very) small winter shriveling-spring plumping presentation...

Gymnocalycium stenopleurum looking awfully thirsty as it comes out of a dry winter on 3/27:



After regular springtime waterings on 6/17:



When May came to a close, so did the portable GH's time outside. Stowed in my garage on 6/1, here's the top shelf sans plastic the following day:




Lighting on the top shelf can be pretty harsh under full sun, and the pics you see here were taken with a small light diffuser I put up on the shade cloth enclosure whenever it's needed. Not needed in this shot as Eriosyce senilis Jr. enjoys a spot of sun in Shady Glen:



Sun Valley looking rather sunny on 6/4:



The Eriosyce duripulpa on the left set its very first bud under my care, so let's zoom in for a look at the bud's progress on 6/10, 6/16, and 6/18:



Now we'll step back and see if there's anything else interesting in the vicinity:



And yes, we do have a couple -- first, Rebutia heliosa with a lovely orange bud:



Compared to previous years, the heliosa produced only a few flowers. Not sure why, and while it's a bit disappointing, I'm definitely not disappointed about the wonderful growth I've seen on the plant this year.

The duripulpa again, with the other item of interest:



And that'll be none other than Sulcorebutia rauschii with a bud and a bloom. Oddly enough, that was as wide as the duripulpa's flower was going to get. Think it may have needed more heat, but at least the rauschii's flower was satisfied. A close-up of the bloom on 6/18 and 19:



The rauschii's buds usually set around the upper part of the parent stem, so it was a pleasant surprise to see a pup's bud hiding under the top dressing suddenly pop out.

Next, we'll rewind back to 6/8 -- my Rebutia pygmaea in Shady Glen with buds and a bloom:




On 6/10, the pygmaea demonstrates different stages of flowering -- deep orange when they first open, then gradually fading over the course of a few days:



Now we'll jump forward to the end of June -- Sun Valley's westside on 6/30:



The Eriosyce odieri on the right has a nice set of buds well in progress. I'll save the plant's buds-to-blooms story for my next post. In the meantime, we'll wrap things up for today as we investigate the Turbinicarpus klinkerianus:




The view from above:



I haven't seen more than 3 flowers on the klinkerianus before, and it was marvelous to see 4 this time around. The Turb krainzianus sitting behind it may give us a nice little surprise too!

More good stuff coming your way, my friends!

[Steve Johnson]

Actually, I do have a few miscellaneous photos left over from June, so we'll ramp up to July with this...

Parodia subterranea setting its first buds of the year (6/16):



Frailea castanea doing what it always does -- straight from bud to seed pod (6/25):



"Pop!" goes the seed pod, leaving behind another bud (6/30):



Discocactus buenekeri the morning after its weekly soak (6/30):



Summer kicked off with a beautiful, sunny and not-too-hot Independence Day on July 4th -- Mammillaria guelzowiana getting ready for a spectacular fireworks display:



The guelzowiana didn't flower last year because it was too busy growing new pups. So nice to see buds returning, and here's a close-up of the ones you can see:



The buds you can't see will reveal themselves in due time, and the guelzowiana's display will come up in my next post.

Here's a little sparkler on the 4th -- my Turbinicarpus polaskii from CoronaCactus:



As promised, Eriosyce odieri going from buds (6/16 and 6/25)...




...to blooms with some fireworks of its own:



The odieri did a bit of a "slow burn" -- you saw 2 flowers on the 4th, and now you get to see 5 a day later:




Now we'll zoom back as a couple of Turbs decided to get in on the act:



The Turb krainzianus has been doing a few neat tricks I'd like to show you, but I'll save that for my end-of-summer review. In the meantime, here's the klinkerianus again:



The National Weather Service forecast indicated a major heat wave due to hit on 7/6. Things were already heating up in my part of L.A. when the daytime high went from 82 on the 4th to 92 on the 5th -- the polaskii's flower on both days:




Stay tuned for more of the story in Part 2.

[cosmotoad]

Wonderful stuff, I just got a few succulents from CoronaCactus a little while ago. The shipping to Canada is a little steep but sometimes it's hard to resist ordering (I've been wanting a pachycormus discolor for a while now and finally got one). I'm about 400 posts late to this thread but I'll be checking it out from here on

[Steve Johnson]

I've been through heatwaves before, but the one that hit on July 6 was the worst I'd ever seen. The daytime high of 108 set a new record in my little corner of L.A., and the heat was literally unbearable -- don't even think about trying to do anything outside. If you're forewarned, you're fore-armed, and with such being the case, there were a couple of things I did the day before the big blast. First, I had 3 new cacti I acquired in May and June that would've gotten scorched for sure if I didn't give them serious shade protection. I found the perfect spot right under my apartment, so they were completely shaded throughout the day. Second, the plywood drip tray under my plant bench's top shelf pulls double-duty as a shade board, and it went up so that Shady Glen would be completely shaded from late morning to mid-afternoon. On 7/7 the daytime high was 104, followed by 98 on 7/8, 96 on 7/9, 91 on 7/10, and 90 on 7/11. The heatwave broke on 7/12 when temps ramped down into the 80s, so my latest acquisitions went back up into their spots on the bench and the shade board came off.

You might think that a few degrees one way or another wouldn't make much of a difference, but believe it or not, going from 108 to 104 was the difference that made things just bearable enough to venture out for a little bit 'o cactus photography on 7/7. Epithelantha micromeris dickisoniae:




Copiapoa tenuissima with a couple of wide-open flowers:





We'll return to the tenuissima later in this post, but first...

Here's the E. dickisoniae again on 7/8:



Also on 7/8, Parodia subterranea showing a lovely, colorful bloom:



Uh, make that 2:



The subterranea's 2nd flower opening more on 7/9:




Mammillaria grahamii working on its 3rd flush of the year:





And now for the star of July's show -- Mammillaria guelzowiana making good on its promise for a fireworks display (7/8 and 9):







The guelzowiana's spot on the back row of Shady Glen gives it enough sun time to make the plant happy, so a few days (or in this case a week) of complete shade under the shade board wasn't a problem. Because some species can get scorched if they're subjected to full sun under extreme heat, the shade board does an important job during heatwaves. And for the scorch-prone cacti it certainly did -- not even a hint of scorching after it came off on the 12th. I thought the "crisis" had passed until...

I noticed a small light greenish-yellow patch on my tenuissima at the beginning of August. The patch slowly started to spread out, and I wasn't thrilled about what I saw in September -- the view on 9/29:



Yep, that's sunscorch. So what happened? This could only be one heck of a delayed reaction to the blazing heat of 7/6. The daytime high of 108 was bad enough, but what made it even worse was a very unusual situation when the high stayed in the century mark until it started inching down around 7 p.m. The tenuissima was under full sun well before then, so unfortunately the shade board's protection time had passed. That exposed the plant's west-facing side, which is the affected area you're seeing in the above photo. Quite odd that it took a month for the plant to react, and it brings up another question -- why was my tenuissima the only one that got hit? It's a mystery, and I won't hazard a guess. But the tenuissima will survive, and in fact it produced an impressive amount of growth this year. We've seen the bad and the ugly, so I'll show you the good with before-and-after pics in my upcoming end-of-summer review.

In the meantime, we still have some July photos to look at -- coming up for my next post. See y'all again soon!

[DesertSun]

So glad that you thought of moving your plants to save them from a sure scorching! I did the same with some of mine too this summer, I had information from other collectors that even cacti that had been fully acclimated to sun were scorched this summer! Even a ferocactus herrerae that had been in the same position for ten years! That goes to say, extreme conditions require extreme measures.

[Steve Johnson]

So glad that you thought of moving your plants to save them from a sure scorching! I did the same with some of mine too this summer, I had information from other collectors that even cacti that had been fully acclimated to sun were scorched this summer! Even a ferocactus herrerae that had been in the same position for ten years! That goes to say, extreme conditions require extreme measures.

Sad, but true -- and of course it never occurred to me that I might want to put something over my shade cloth enclosure when I saw the highs staying above 100 throughout the entire afternoon of 7/6. If I see this happening again, never mind the bloody heat, and I'll be prepared to do something about it next time.

[Steve Johnson]

As bad as that heatwave was, it would've been hot enough to see my Frailea castanea actually flower. Unfortunately the plant didn't want to cooperate, but I may have another Frailea that blooms -- and without needing extreme heat to do it. The top shelf on 7/15:



Yes indeed, it's F. grahliana. I took that photo at around 2:30 p.m., so we'll rewind back 4 hours and have a look at the buds before they popped:



Going from buds to blooms:






Now we'll move down to the southwest corner of Sun Valley with 4 of my 2011 "veterans" on the back row (7/20):



Mammillaria grahamii displaying a lovely summertime wreath:





Astrophytum capricorne going from bud to bloom on 7/20 and 7/21:






Zooming back as my "queen of the Astrophytums" holds court with the grahamii and the Eriosyce senilis which does its flowering in March:



Up next, Gymnocalycium stenopleurum enjoying a late afternoon on 7/29:





What a colorful way to end July -- Mammillaria theresae:




It's quite a project to photograph each cactus in the collection for my end-of-summer reviews, but I got the job done in September and October. Although I could post my August pics before we get there, I decided that I'll fold them into the 2018 review. The bigger project is putting it all together -- I haven't even started yet, so my next post will be a nice little follow-up to something involving the E. senilis you just saw.

[Steve Johnson]

Posted on June 2nd -- remember this?



After the 7-plus years it's been with me, this was the first (and so far, only) time that my senilis produced a fruit. It slowly took on a tinge of red, and a month later I figured that was the time for plucking:



The seeds tumbled right out of the hole on the bottom, and here they are:



Those seeds sure look viable, don't they? As far as I know, Eriosyce isn't self-fertile. The only other Eriosyce in the vicinity is senilis Jr., but it isn't mature enough for flowering yet. The only cactus flowering at the same time as Sr. happened to be my Stenocactus lloydii. Now, I freely admit that I don't know anything about pollination, so whether or not cross-pollination between the senilis and lloydii led to viable seeds is something of a mystery. If it did, we'll get a funky-looking hybrid -- wish I could see the results for myself. Unfortunately I don't have the setup for a seed-growing operation, although the seeds I gather go to my friends at Desert Creations in Northridge, CA. If they're successful with the hybrid seedlings, I may be able to go there and see those results after all.

[DaveW]

I always found Neoporteria's (now lumped into Eriosyce) produced fruit fairly easily, but I did grow quite a few together. Apart from Eriosyce sensu stricto, which I don't think really belongs in the same genus with the others due to the different fruit, all produce elongating hollow bladder like fruit that goes red on ripening. This leaves the seeds loose to fall out when it detaches from the plant. Backeberg distinguished Islaya from the others claiming it had a "carpel sack" which retained the seeds at the top of the fruit, but this is only a matter of degree as one goes northwards in Chile and into Peru.

One interesting point about these plants is they can often produce examples of "endogenous vivipary" or "crypto vivipary", which simply means some of the seeds will often germinate whilst still in the fruit. Your fruit does not seem red or elongated enough so I think you took it off a little early before fully ripe, but the seed is still probably viable. However some may have germinated if the fruit had been left on a little longer to go bright red. It is interesting to speculate regarding coloured light and it's influence on germination whether the light shining through the red fruit walls once ripe does induce germination in some of the seeds?

This is an example of the fully ripened fruits in Islaya which are characteristic for most of the Chilean and Peruvian plants of the "Eriosyce group" with the exception as said previously of Eriosyce sensu stricto.

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACT ... krainziana

You can also see the similar fruits in Neoporteria (Thelocephala) napina here if you scroll down:-

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/ERIOSY ... napina.htm

See also:-

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18051

Some of the Thelocephala group produce long bristles on their similar fruit which when the fruit detaches are blown along by the wind, thus scattering the loose seeds in the fruit far from the original plant. Eriosyce (Thelocepala) aerocarpa gets its name from this since aero + carpa means "windblown fruit".

[Steve Johnson]

Thanks, Dave -- your posts are always informative, and I really enjoy being able to advance my cactus education through your activities on the forum.

Can't remember the source, but I think that Eriosyce fruits dehisce. If this is correct, then I was a bit premature when I picked the senilis fruit before it did so. Hopefully the seeds are viable, but if and when I see fruit on the plant again, I'll be more patient and wait for dehiscence to get the seeds.

[spok]

Hello, Steve. I have been following this thread for some time now, and have double read it. I must say it is one of my favourites here. You are so informative in your posts and the pictures really show all the progress of every plant. Since I read your posts, I have switched my potting medium to a totaly gritty mix with small pumice and small grit(or something similar)in the previous spring. In the begining, most of them seemed to suffer but eventually they have recovered and do much better. I must admit I had a few losses but it was my fault for overwatering them. It seems that the mix retained more moisture than I had thought. I have learned how to water each species and they are doing great. So thank you and please keep on posting.

[Steve Johnson]

Hello, Steve. I have been following this thread for some time now, and have double read it. I must say it is one of my favourites here. You are so informative in your posts and the pictures really show all the progress of every plant. Since I read your posts, I have switched my potting medium to a totaly gritty mix with small pumice and small grit(or something similar)in the previous spring. In the begining, most of them seemed to suffer but eventually they have recovered and do much better. I must admit I had a few losses but it was my fault for overwatering them. It seems that the mix retained more moisture than I had thought. I have learned how to water each species and they are doing great. So thank you and please keep on posting.

I sure will, and I really do appreciate your kind response. To the people who are following this thread, I can't thank you enough for your attention and interest!