My small collection

[ElieEstephane]

You got your IDs correct. Congratulations on the new plants pompom! Of course repotted plants will look a little sad for a couple of weeks but then they will grow like crazy!

[Pompom]

Oh my, I have something else to share too! My mamm got a berry?! I'm pretty sure it wasn't there like a week ago
What should I do? I haven't watered the mamm about 3-4 months now, except two times when it got about 0.5dl water. Should I do something or nothing at all? If the berry grows, it'll get stuck to the edge of the pot.

I said before this mammillaria is kinda boring, maybe it heard me and gave me surprise!

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[ElieEstephane]

I said before this mammillaria is kinda boring

Cacti have feelings too you know
Just leave it for no. Let it ripen well and then try your hand at growing cacti from seed!

[Pompom]

Just leave it for no. Let it ripen well and then try your hand at growing cacti from seed!

Should I give the plant more water? The reason I hadn't watered it normally is the winter time. Obviously the plant hadn't stop growing at all. Last time I gave it a sip of water was two weeks ago. The pot 10cm deep and about 10-11cm in diameter, so half deciliters is small amount of water for the soil. I did a further investigation, and noticed it has 4-6 more potential berries to be coming. Maybe. Maybe not. Just brown dry flower bases here and there. Will the berry be fine even if it gets stuck to the edge? Will it get over it and just bend?
Now I have to read about the ripening process, I remember it can take for a long time.

Thanks for the help!

[ElieEstephane]

As long as the cactus is not too shriveled, it's fine without water. It's gonna take more than a month for the fruit to ripen and it doesn't matter if it gets stuck.
Good luck!

[7george]

Better do not water Mammillaria in winter at all. This will not affect flowers and fruits. The cactus stem is like a water tank, it provides moisture for all its needs. And also roots should be kept dry at this time.

[Pompom]

Better do not water Mammillaria in winter at all. This will not affect flowers and fruits. The cactus stem is like a water tank, it provides moisture for all its needs. And also roots should be kept dry at this time.

Yeah I know that. My plants live inside in room temperature (around 21-22C) under growing lamp. That's all I can do in winter since there is no better place for overwintering. Maybe I stop the watering as you said. The plant looks just like it looked like in summer, so no water needed... I believe it hasn't got into dormancy due to warm surroundings and that's why I gave it a little bit water.
I'm surely not the patient one, and struggle with concept "how to not take care of my plants"

[7george]

If you see new growth on the top of the plant give it more light, not water. Day temps in 20s C are not unusual in south Mexico & Guatemala where this plant originates but minimums are ~ 10 or so. They even get some occasional rains but strong winds and sun after this dry the soil very quick. As soon as we can not emulate all these things in our home environment it's better to keep mature plants dry in winter months.

[Pompom]

My mammillaria is growing berries like crazy. I've scheduled trying to pick up the first fruit on Sunday, or tomorrow if I can't wait. I believe it didn't like at all when I said it was kinda boring and now is telling me "Me? Boring? Look at this, I'm fruiting. Here! Here are your exciting moments! I'm gonna give you hard times with my little presents, you bully! ".
So yes, the first fruit came out from the tightest place possible, and grew straight down to the soil... (Far left fruit from pic 1)
Then second two poked out a week ago. I tried to give the plant courage talk, told it it can do it, it is a nice plant. Still mad at me, one of the fruits (middle one) started to come up, but of course took a turn straight to the closest spines. The other one (far right) seemed to grow kinda OK, but then I noticed there will be coming another fruit under that one. We'll see how those two end up sharing the space. In picture 2, you can see the situation with far rightest one better.
There is also one more out, didn't took a picture of it. I has more space to grow, so I believe it can't trouble me whatever it grows.
What I find interesting, that all of the fruits are poking out from the "dark side" of the plant. Side where growing lamp isn't shining. Does that tell me something? Maybe this mamm is super mad and has fallen to the "dark side" of the Force for the eternity.

I named it the Sith Lord, Darth Karw, I had to

troubleberry1.jpg (85.99 KiB) Viewed 914 times

troubleberry2.jpg (88.79 KiB) Viewed 914 times

[ElieEstephane]

That was a hilarious post pompom!
Maybe cacti need a good pat on the back to develop a good character or maybe it wasn't hugged enough as a seedling?
As for the fruits, i'd let them ripen a bit more than sunday.

[Pompom]

That was a hilarious post pompom!
Maybe cacti need a good pat on the back to develop a good character or maybe it wasn't hugged enough as a seedling?
As for the fruits, i'd let them ripen a bit more than sunday.

Ehh, I'll wait then... So eager to get the seeds and start growing. The first fruit will be three weeks old next Sunday, so I was planning to gently try if it comes off with ease. But I can wait. Waiting is frustrating sometimes.

[ElieEstephane]

Fruits usually need at least a month or more to ripen so it's a good idea to pick at 6 weeks or when the fruit starts to shrivel or fall off.
Imagine that some fruits take several months to ripen!

[Pompom]

Fruits usually need at least a month or more to ripen so it's a good idea to pick at 6 weeks or when the fruit starts to shrivel or fall off.
Imagine that some fruits take several months to ripen!

I'm so happy I don't have to wait that long. Whatever, the waiting continues at least to the end of the month. I'm also happy I didn't get to see it flowering when it did it. It took at least 8-9 months to form the fruits (I've had Darth Karw since June), so the waiting would've been insuperable.

[ElieEstephane]

When did you buy it? Because some mammillarias will also bloom in autumn and it's likely when those fruits started

[Pompom]

When did you buy it? Because some mammillarias will also bloom in autumn and it's likely when those fruits started

Bought it in June. I hasn't flowered to me ever. Took a long time to form these.