A small collection: 2015 and beyond

[Steve Johnson]

Outstanding Mammillaria deherdtiana

Thanks, Keith! Thanks also for the tip re. Acetamiprid. All neonicotinoides can be used as systemic soil soaks, so I believe Acetamiprid should work well for people who either can't get ahold of Imidacloprid or prefer not to use it. Imidacloprid is still my go-to choice for eradicating mealies, although I'm very careful about disposing of Imidacloprid-laced runoff properly. Thankfully L.A. has a good number of places for home hazardous waste disposal, and that's the only way to go.

[Steve Johnson]

Since I gave you a taste of the doings in summer 2013, it's now time for the main event. I'm breaking this down into 3 presentations, so in today's post we'll review...

The new arrivals from CoronaCactus Nursery

Darryl Craig always send high-quality plants, and it was a treat to unpack the CoronaCactus box that hit my doorstep on 7/13/13. First up:



I tried growing A. fissuratus in my younger days. Back then the approach was to treat all cacti the same -- "old school" soil-heavy mix and watering regardless of whether the plant needs it or not. While most of the cacti I had in my first collection were at least tolerant enough to survive these newbie mistakes, fissuratus certainly wasn't. Since the change to pure mineral mix in 2012 produced generally excellent results, I was emboldened enough to try the species again. Arios are very slow growers, so a year of growth won't show us much. But with 5 years under its belt, the fissuratus rates a decent before-and-after pic on 10/27/13 and 9/17/17:



In February 2015, my fissuratus was on the list of plants that were due for a move from terracotta and "dirty" mineral mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix. Because what can happen for good or ill will start out in the roots, I've found it rather instructive to compare the roots of my cacti before and after I cleaned up the mix. Such being the case, here's the comparison on the plant's date of arrival, followed by its repot on 2/1/15:



Yep -- as I was seeing too many times, the bottom of the Ario's terracotta pot was like a brick of DG "play sand" fines. With a potful of thoroughly rinsed pumice and granite gravel going into its glazed ceramic home, the fissuratus was ready to take advantage of open aeration and better root growth. Then it blessed me with my first-ever Ario flower about 9 month later, and I don't think this was a coincidence. Unfortunately no flower the following year, but I sorta kinda expected that this very slow grower was concentrating its energy on growing more roots in 2016. Going back to the "after" photo on 9/17/17, you'll notice a tuft of beige wool sticking straight up. Could that be the precursor to a new bud? Affirmative! 10/18 on the left, followed by 10/24 on the center and right:



A bird's-eye view on 10/24:



And here's the bloom a day later:









I gave the fissuratus its first watering of the year 2 weeks ago. The heat isn't consistent enough for another drench yet, but with summertime on the way, it'll be ready for a regular schedule of watering soon. The uninitiated may ask "how do you know if the thing is even growing?" Answer -- the appearance of new apical wool. I wouldn't expect to see it in spring, but it's something to look for during summer.

Up next, we have:



A very pretty cactus, and so disappointing to see it suddenly infested with scale in the summer of 2014. An Imidicloprid soil soak knocked the infestation out, and I thought that would be it. Well, no -- those nasties killed the retusa's growing point before I caught on to the problem. Okay, so now I have a "blind" retusa, but it didn't take long to respond as blind cacti will do (10/25/14):



The move from terracotta and "dirty" mineral mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix on 3/29/15:



The roots actually look pretty good, so the retusa didn't mind being in "dirty" mix. However, clean is always better than dirty, and I believe the improvement in growth speaks for itself -- the view from above on repotting day, followed by 10/9/17:



Same date for the "after", with a lovely "before" shot on 6/28/15:



I haven't seen any signs of scale coming back, so hopefully the unfortunate experience was just a one-time thing. Wish I could say the same about flat mites, but at least I know the telltale signs of their damage in evidence with the "after" pic. I know more about flat mites than I'd ever want to, although it comes with the territory. There are ways of dealing with them, so remedial action is quite possible. Although I don't have enough time to get into detail now, I'll pass along what I've learned at a later date. In the meantime...

Last, but not least, we have:



The smallest of the Copiapoas, and given my fascination with miniatures, this was an easy selection.

You know the drill -- moving from terracotta and "dirty" mineral mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix on 2/15/15:



C. laui is rather free about offsetting, although I hadn't seen it for myself until I noticed what came out of the terracotta pot. Typical earth
cactus -- hide those new pups underground well before they announce themselves. In spite of the number the "dirty" mix did on its roots, I was pleasantly surprised by the laui's ability to offset anyway. Good as far as it goes, but a potful of clean mix should be even better. Hey, pups, come out and play!



That was repotting day followed by the view 6 weeks later. What a difference a season makes -- 2/15 and 9/20/15:





2 years later, and wouldn't you know it, the laui needed a bigger pot. Glad to oblige, so it was repotting time again on 3/13/17. Before we do the deed, let's compare the roots on 2/15/15 (left) and right before the latest repot:



Living in clean mineral mix did the plant a whole lot of good, didn't it? The laui ready for action again:



Guess I'm too used to slow growers, so at least to me, this is pretty amazing -- 3/13 and 10/8/17:





We'll fast-forward a bit to January (more precisely, January 11), and the recent winter here in L.A. was warm enough to produce a new addition to the laui's brood:



Now we'll zoom back and survey the immediate neighborhood:



On the upper left we have Eriosyce napina glabrescens, which arrived with the other CCN cacti. (No point in posting before-and-after photos yet -- either the species is incredibly slow, or it may not like my Mediterranean-type climate. Hopefully I'll have something worth showing in a year or so.) To the left of the laui, we have another Copiapoa (that'll be tenuissima), and to its left, Turbinicarpus jauernigii. Part of the summer 2013 contingent -- we haven't reviewed them yet, but they'll be coming up soon.

[Steve Johnson]

Before we bring the review back for more summer 2013 arrivals, here are a few miscellaneous items of interest that'll give us a toehold on the spring now in progress.

My Epithelantha micromeris usually blooms in March, but that requires consistent warmth. Last month wasn't it, and in fact kinda weird to see unusually cool weather in the first half of April. However, this didn't keep the collection from waking up enough for its initial spring drench on 4/6, so let's see how the micromeris responded. Showing signs of new growth on 3/4, and finally producing its first flower on 4/21:



A closeup of the growing point:



Okay, better late than never -- E. micromeris is a fairly prolific bloomer, and it should keep going into next month. Truth be told, the flowers aren't much to look at, although it'll be fun to see the fruits popping up later this year.

Also from last weekend...

A bird's-eye view of Turbinicarpus pseudomacrochele krainzianus:



From the side:



My observational skills are pretty good, but sometimes things escape my notice until I see photos. Here's a good example, caught on camera:



Yuppers, those are brand-new pups! According to Cactuspedia, krainzianus is known to offset from the base when they're older. Mine is certainly old enough, and changing its mineral mix from "dirty" to clean did more good than I thought.

From my Rebutia/Sulcorebutia group, Sulco callichroma longispina was the first one to flower this year:



A week after its repot, the Mammillaria deherdtiana didn't skip a beat when it gave us this wonderful display:

[Steve Johnson]

...happy Cinco de Mayo!

[Steve Johnson]

2013 was a good year for expanding my buying horizons, and they expanded a bit more when I discovered Miles' To Go through the forum. Miles Anderson lives up to his reputation for being one of the best American cactus & succulent nurserymen in the business -- if you reside in the US and you don't already know about M2G, you should!

Before we begin today's presentation, I'll mention the fact that Arizona is way too hot for going soil-less. Such being the case, Miles uses a certain amount of soil in his mixes so that his pots don't dry out too quickly. Since my rather moderate Mediterranean-type climate is perfect for the soil-less mix I use, I'll point out differences in how plant forms have changed after the following cacti moved from Mr. Anderson's place to mine. My shipment from M2G arrived on 7/7/13, so let's see what came out of the box. First up:



Minor oopsie from Miles with a misprint on his plant tag -- that should be Coryphantha. Going from terracotta and "dirty" mineral mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix on 2/21/15, we'll do a before-and after comparison of the roots:





Okay, not too bad, so the hesteri didn't seem to mind being in "dirty" mix. With that said, clean is better than dirty, and we'll find out if we can spot any positive changes. The plant settling in for its first summer on the new plant bench (7/27/13), the end of its second summer on 9/21/14, followed by the view on 9/20/15 and 9/29/17:




These photos reveal a good news-bad news situation. First, the good news -- the hesteri has developed a more compact form consistent with pure mineral mix. It was unfortunate that I inadvertently worked against the soil-less idea when I left too much DG "play sand" in the dirty mix. (If I was really aiming for soil in the mix, DG fines are a lousy substitute for it anyway.) 2 years of growing in clean mix, the plant ended its 2017 summer with more growth than I'd seen before. And now for the bad news. After 5 years of mealy-free living, the collection got hit with a root mealy infestation during the spring of last year. Luckily I caught on to the situation in time to apply an Imidacloprid soil soak that June, but it left the hesteri especially vulnerable to another pest I've had to contend with -- flat mites. Thanks to excellent advice from Dean Stock, TetraSan has been my go-to miticide. Normally regular treatment keeps them under control, but there's no 100% guarantee unless you can catch the mites in the act. They're impossible to detect without magnification, and that's why I call the nasty things "drive-by" pests, leaving their damage behind after they've already come and gone. The hesteri's first run-in with flat mites took place in 2016, and the damage you just saw in the latest pic was worse. Another good news-bad news view from above:



New spines at the growing point are clearly in evidence, so it was nice to finally notice that aspect of the plant's progress in 2017. Not so nice -- also in evidence, the flat mites apparently favored the tubercles surrounding the tender new growth. I should also point out that the hesteri's skin is paler than it had been prior to last year. Coincidence? I think not, since the plant endured a double-whammy with the root mealies and mites. Those mealies are dead and gone, so with a healthy set of roots to support it, the hesteri should be on its way toward a good recovery. Regarding what the flat mites did -- I've seen other cacti reverse their damage, although I think it'll be permanent on the hesteri. Hope I'm wrong, and since healing from the extent of that damage would undoubtably be a slow process, I'll have to see where we're at during summer. I wish there was such a thing as systemic miticide, but even if we could find one, the environmental regulations here in California would prevent me from buying it. What to do then? Those mites will come back again, so it'll be up to TetraSan and a dose of vigilance on my part.

Up next, this story is nicer:



Since my laui is the smallest of the Copiapoas, why not go in the opposite direction? While tenuissima isn't the largest of the genus, this beauty was big enough to suit me just fine. Going from terracotta and "dirty" mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix, we'll compare the roots on the plant's date of arrival and the move to its glazed ceramic home on 5/25/15:





We can't argue with the growth in those taproots, although the "dirty" mix was clearly holding the tenuissima's fibrous roots back from growing more than they should. Now for an above-ground comparison on 7/28/13 and 9/23/17:



The plant has flattened out quite a bit, and once again consistent with growing in pure mineral mix. The view from above -- what 2 seasons of growing in clean mix can do on 5/25/15 and 9/23/17:



Pretty wonderful result, huh? The tenuissima started out with 3 pups, but oddly enough, 1 seems to have slowly disappeared. However, the other 2 are finally growing well, so let's zoom in (same dates as above):



Ooh, looks like we might have a brand-new pup wedging itself in above the one on the left! With the exception of laui, Copiapoas are generally slow to offset, so I'd be surprised if the tenuissima pops out more than a handful over time. However, its overall progress is quite satisfactory, and one thing it'll be fairly prolific about is -- flowering. Here's one of many, a lovely shot of the plant in bloom sitting next to my C. hypogaea (8/26/17):



A close-up of that wide-open flower:



After the tenuissima had been with me for a few years, it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the species is self-fertile. The top of the plant with 2 buds and a dehisced seed pod on 10/8/17:



We'll end today's post with the nicest story of all, and it begins here:



Going from terracotta and "dirty" mineral mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix on 3/12/16, we'll compare the guelzowiana's roots coming out of the box on 7/7/13 with what emerged from its terracotta pot:



A closer inspection:



Ouch -- those roots "took it on the chin" in the dirty mix, so the move to clean mix came none too soon:



With open aeration provided by a soil-less mix, the guelzowiana's roots are capable of growing more extensively than they would in a mix containing soil. Of course the plant had to grow an actual root system first, and there wasn't enough of it to accept deep watering yet. Watering frequency stays the same for the growing season -- every 2 weeks in spring and summer. The trick was to gradually increase the amount, as I started with light watering a few times (just enough to moisten the mix), then "half watering" with a few drops coming out of the drain hole a couple more times. This approach "teases" the roots into growing as they get thirsty and seek out moisture. The guelzowiana was ready for full-on soaks as the spring turned to summer, so let's have a look on 7/27/13 and 9/18/16:



Alright, mission accomplished -- we have a healthy root system producing some wonderful activity above-ground. The species is known to offset rather freely, which led me to being curious about why I didn't see any new pups throughout 2014 and '15. My curiosity was satisfied once I figured out the "dirty" mineral mix problem -- give the guelzowiana a year to let those roots have at it in clean mix, and here's the result I was hoping for (5/20/17):



Yuppers, that's a brand-new pup! Seems to be a relatively fast little grower too (5/20 and 9/29/17):



Going from the end of one summer to the end of another, we'll zoom back for a complete view of the plant on 9/18/16 and 9/29/17:



That's right, more pups!



In spite of being stuck in "dirty" mineral mix, the guelzowiana was at least healthy enough to bloom. It was thrilling to see those drop-dead gorgeous flowers for the first time in 2014, then again the following year. Giving the plant a potful of clean mix did more good than I could've imagined, and I'm wondering if this incredible display had something to do with it (7/16/16):





No flowers last year, but not a surprise since I had a feeling the guelzowiana was concentrating its energy on growing the new pups. (Making up for lost time, I suppose?) Blooming period for the species is May-July, so we have plenty of time left as I keep an eye out for buds. This big beautiful puffball has everything a Mamillaria-lover could want, and if you don't already own one, I highly recommend adding guelzowiana to your collection.

[Steve Johnson]

Since we still have so much of the 2017 review to cover, I thought that it might be nice if we mix things up with a few cacti in bloom during this year's first quarter. Today's story begins when my Turbinicarpus valdezianus set buds on the cusp of fall and winter (12/9/17):



With New Year's Day come and gone, we're now in 2018 -- 1/11:



1/28, 2/4, and the bud starting to open on 2/7:



Flowering day on the right (2/8):



The blooms on valdezianus last for a good while, as we'll see here on 2/8 and 2/16:



There's something irresistable about a flower that can hide the plant under it:



Unfortunately, I couldn't get the 2nd bloom on camera, but the valdezianus produced a wonderful springtime surprise. I'll have it for you in a later post.

Gymnocactus ysabelae setting buds (2/4):



You saw the buds, so here are the blooms a week later. The ysabelae surrounded by 3 cacti lying in wait for spring magic yet to come:



A closeup of the plant:



As we've seen with the valdezianus, the flowers on my ysabelae do last for awhile -- first there were 2, now there are 3 (2/16):



Those 3 flowers got smooshed up a bit -- give it a day, and the small "logjam" cleared up for these pretty shots:





February 4 was a great day for some bud-setting photography -- my Eriosyce senilis joining the ysabelae with telltale signs of blooming on the way:



Let's zoom in:



Buds aren't the only things we're seeing. Give the plant enough warmth in February, and senilis will put on new winter growth. How do we know? Here's a clue -- those tiny black spines are new, and they'll slowly turn white as they get longer. In fact, it's a highlight of my winter to notice how wonderfully active the plant can be when it kicks off the growing season -- 2/4 and 2/17:



A couple of observations worth noting -- first, as soon as the buds start poking their pretty little heads up, it'll take roughly 5-6 weeks for them to bloom. Second -- generally speaking, the flowers on fall- and winter-blooming cacti last longer than their spring- and summer-blooming brethren. This is certainly the case with E. senilis, and the flowers we see here on 3/25 opened about 4 days earlier:





At their peak of wide-openness on 3/27:





In the 6-plus years the senilis has been with me, here's something I hadn't seen before:



After I cleared away the other spent flowers, the one still on the plant looked like it might be turning into a fruit. I took this shot today, and guess what? That is a fruit! I don't know if the species is self-fertile, but if it is, the seeds will go to my friends at Desert Creations in Northridge, CA. We can't forget about E. senilis Jr. -- enjoying the last of today's evening sun:



It'd be awfully sweet to see both senilises (senilii?) flower at the same time, although Jr. isn't mature enough to bloom yet. Maybe next winter? Regardless of how long it takes to get there, the blessed event will definitely be worth waiting for!

[WayneByerly]

Hi Steve

How are you? The weather treating you and your cacti OK? You brought up a couple of very interesting/important topics here. Which is really good, as I think some people could learn something from this.

Darryl Craig always send high-quality plants

I have bought a number of cacti from Darryl (CoronaCactus) over the years, and have always been very appreciative of the quality of the plants that I get from him. I have yet to get the first cacti from him that had any kind of pest or pathogen on it when I got it. But I now have a question/complaint(?)

• I used to be able to buy plants in 4-inch pots ... larger and more mature plants... And now the only thing I can get is little tiny plants in 2in pots. What happened to the bigger cacti?

And it's not just him. I find this to also be true of other sellers out there. Does anyone know of any place where I can buy slightly larger cacti... Specifically, in 4-inch pots?

I've found it rather instructive to compare the roots of my cacti before and after I cleaned up the mix.

I'm absolutely convinced that this is the only way to go. I have done the same thing myself and got exactly the same results. Just phenomenal growth on the root systems of the plants in which I have made the change to high percentage inorganic soil mixes. Exactly the same kind of results that you have Illustrated with your photos above. Bigger Roots, longer roots, healthier thicker roots! The change in the quality of the root systems is just incredible. And since the health of a plant is directly attributable to the health of its roots, what I am getting now is plants that actually Thrive, and not just survive.

Then it blessed me with my first-ever Ario flower about 9 month later ... you'll notice a tuft of beige wool sticking straight up.

Very nice flowers... a gorgeous set of shades/colors! And I really need to say that I am very impressed by the quality of the photographs that you have chosen to share with us. You have a good eye for composing pictures, and it really shows with these pictures.

[WayneByerly]

Hi again Steve

I just had to make a quick reply to say that the progression of the photographs that you have posted is very, very nice. Extremely in instructive. Extravagantly well done, and I thank you for all the time and effort that you have expended in creating these posts. Some of the nicer that I have seen on all the Forum.

[Steve Johnson]

Thanks, Wayne! It really is a pleasure to share my activities with everyone here. A perpetual backlog of digital photos is keeping me nice and busy, so the party shall continue!

[Steve Johnson]

The forum gave me a few ideas about finding good cactus nurseries online, so I added Mesa Garden (Belen, NM) to the list. As I found with Miles Anderson, MG's owners Steven and Linda Brack lived up to their reputation for selling high-quality plants at reasonable prices. With that in mind, we'll review...

The last of the summer 2013 arrivals

Ah, the lament of the apartment-dweller -- wish there was more growing space! Although the new plant bench gave me some room for expansion, I still had to be choosy about what I'd select. Mammillaria is by far the biggest genus in the cactus family, so trying to find something that'd be unusual enough to rate was kinda challenging. But MG's huge (and I mean huge) inventory gave me access to one which answered that challenge:



The Bracks sometimes misidentified their plants, and in this case the correct ID is Mamm crucigera. Doesn't matter -- what came out of MG's box on 7/9/13 was exactly what I wanted. And it was a fast little grower too, going from its first day on the plant bench to 9/20/14:



On 4/4/15 it was the crucigera's time for the drill we're familiar with -- terracotta and "dirty" mineral mix out...



...glazed ceramic and clean mix in:



Those roots coming out of the terracotta pot looked pretty good, and the plant didn't seem to mind growing in the "dirty" mix. But as I've said before, clean is better than dirty, so let's see if there's any improvement resulting from the change -- 9/26/15 and 10/1/17:





The crucigera's growth rate has slowed down, although no surprise there. However, its skin color is darker, and that tells us the roots are taking up water and nutrients more efficiently in clean mineral mix. As it keeps growing, my crucigera should be ready for a bigger pot in a year or two.

Also coming out of MG's box, we have:



A "before-and-after" year of the jauernigii under my care on 7/27/13 and9/27/14:



Okay, the plant was taking up water and growing a bit. But I had some doubts about the change in skin color -- was it supposed to look like a lime jelly? Coming from the dry desert heat of New Mexico, I chalked this up to a year of being in my temperate and fairly humid coastal microclimate. Then again, there could be something else going on. I moved the jauernigii from terracotta and "dirty" mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix on 1/18/15, so we'll compare the roots on 7/9/13 with what they looked like on repotting day:



Not too bad, but those fibrous roots could be better. With that said, a nice little surprise revealed itself when I took the plant out of its terracotta pot:



For the benefit of those who may not know this, here's some insight into the rooting behavior of desert cacti. When they're dormant in winter, their roots appear to be dead. Then when the cacti start waking up out of dormancy, the roots suddenly come alive and sprout a multitude of root hairs. January 2015 was unusually warm and dry, and guess what? That, my friends, is exactly what we're seeing. Believe it or not, the jauernigii was already primed for action:



The plant needed to take advantage of the clean mineral mix to build a better root system, so I figured that its growth in 2015 would take place mostly below-ground. Then in 2016 and '17 we should see more growth above-ground too. Am I right? 9/27/14, 9/20/15, 9/18/16, and 10/8/17:




The view from above on 9/27/14 and 10/8/17:



Oh, yeah! And the jauernigii's skin color looks healthier, although I wasn't thrilled about the beige patches that showed up around its growing point last summer. Sunscorch? Possibly, but the damage has the suspicious look of flat mite damage. I've seen cacti reverse their damage before, so I'll keep an eye out and see if those patches disappear over the summer we have coming up. Not the worst thing in the world if they don't. In the meantime, here's the jauernigii with its fall flowering magic on 11/18...



...and 12/9/17:





Before we continue, I just wanted to mention that Steven and Linda retired from the business last year, so MG has been under new ownership since then. You can only buy seeds from there this year, but the new owners will start selling plants again in 2019. Whether or not one of our favorite c&s nurseries will be as good as it was when the Bracks were at the helm, only time will tell.

There's a cactus from summer 2013 which got cut from the collection a year later. Coming from CoronaCactus, it was a Sulcorebutia arenacea -- way bigger than I expected, and it outgrew the biggest pot I was willing to allow. I had Rebutia heliosa in the back of my mind for some time (the species is more my style anyway), so after I found a good home for the arenacea, I went on the hunt. My usual sources came up empty, but I found a heliosa offered by a nursery in Orange County on eBay. (Hadn't heard of the place before, and of course I forget to make a note of the name.) It arrived as a potted plant right before Thanksgiving 2013, so the first order of business was getting the heliosa out of its nursery mix. Next step, clean the roots thoroughly (that mix was a rich, wet mess!), then soak them in 1% Hydrogen peroxide. And finally, repot in pure mineral mix -- the deed was done on 12/1/13:



Pure, yes, but clean it certainly wasn't. We'll have to do something about that -- comparing the roots on 12/1/13 and the change from "dirty" to clean mineral mix on 2/21/15:



The roots in the "after" pic look pretty good, and as it was with my jauernigii, they were alive and ready for action. The heliosa in its new glazed ceramic home:



The response was fairly impressive with the plant's first season in clean mix -- nice "before-and-after" pics on 9/21/14 and 9/20/15:





Take the "after" turn it into a "before", and things were even better on 10/8/17:



This kinda blows me away -- just one season of growth in 2017 (3/25 on the left):



Can't argue with these results!

Are we done with 2013 yet? Nope -- I went on a small holiday buying spree to end that year, so we'll dig into it for our next installment.

[GrowLLLTigeRRR]

WOW! Steve you have some amazing cactus friends.

[Steve Johnson]

WOW! Steve you have some amazing cactus friends.

Thank you! It's a genuine pleasure to share all this (mostly) good stuff with everyone here.

2013 ended wonderfully with the spree I eluded to in my previous post, although it wasn't just about cacti...

Pots are pots

Doesn't matter what they're made of, right? Well, that's what I used to think. I grew up with terracotta, so when I began building the current collection in 2011, I assumed that terracotta pots were the only way to go as far as I was concerned. Ooh, bad assumption. Terracotta is fired at a relatively low temperature, which means we'd be growing our plants in porous clay pots. Maybe fine for non-xeric plants, but not so good for cacti or succulents due to a couple of significant problems. First, evaporation through porous clay draws off water and nutrients that should be going to the roots. And second, when those roots have to compete with the pots for said water and nutrients, they won't grow nearly as well as they would in nonporous pots. While it may take years before you'd notice the difference, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the improvement if you move your plants from porous to nonporous pots. (I've learned a lot over the last 7 years. While I've been dispensing some of that knowledge in dribs and drabs here, it would be nice to gather it all together into one place. I'd like to post a comprehensive series of presentations on the Cultivation forum, and one of them will deal with various pot materials in a little more detail. If this isn't done by the end of summer, it'll be a good project for the time when our collections are asleep during the fall/winter season.)

I caught onto the terracotta pot problem early in 2012. Plastic? Yeah, I hate plastic pots, but I wanted to give them a try anyway. Unfortunately I couldn't find a lot of the pot dimensions I needed, so most of the collection was still in terracotta. I spent the better part of that year waterproofing my terracotta pots, although I considered it to be only a stopgap solution. Glazed ceramic is a much better solution because A. it lasts forever, and B. glazed ceramic pots are way more attractive than boring old terracotta. Alrighty then, time for some December pot-shopping! My decision to stop buying plants at the California Cactus Center in Pasadena didn't prevent me from going there for other things, namely pumice and -- ceramic pots. Just a few to begin with, and they gave me a toehold on gradually replacing the terracotta and plastic pots over the next several years.

Here in the southwest US, December is the last month for getting plants shipped from Arizona and New Mexico before the cold winter weather of January kicks in. Since my initial experience with Mesa Garden was excellent, I gave the Bracks a bit o' pre-Christmas trade with 2 new Epithelanthas joining my E. micromeris. The first one all potted up and sitting in one of the equally new pots I found at the CCC -- 12/22/13:



In its first growing season under my care -- 4/26, 5/31, and 9/20/14:





The gregii wasn't shy about flowering either. You just saw a bunch of spent ones, so here's something fresh going from buds to blooms on 10/4/14:



And in spring 2015 we'll see more than just a flower -- watch what happens on 3/14 and 6/20/15:



Yes, indeed -- pups in strange places. Things were about to look stranger that summer -- the end result on 9/20/15:



After doing some research online, it appears that MG gave us another case of misidentification. What we actually have is E. micromeris dickisoniae. Am I complaining? Heck, no -- this is even better than what I was asking for! However, I did have some concern about how top-heavy the plant might get given the fairly thin base of its neck. In the interest of being proactive, I repotted it into a deeper pot on 4/24/16. The dickisoniae coming out of its old pot:



The roots filled the pot pretty well, so the plant didn't seem to mind being in "dirty" mineral mix. Now we'll compare the roots on 12/22/13 and 4/24/16:



Not bad, but please join me in a chorus of "they could be better!" The repot was there primarily to give the plant more depth while replacing the "dirty" mix with clean. The dickisoniae had a distinct southward tilt before then, so I also wanted to straighten it up. The plant in another new pot I purchased at the CCC:



Okay, the above-ground base of the neck isn't quite so thin, but the plant is now tilting in a different direction. Suppose I was trying to "micromanage" it, although I'm sure my dickisoniae doesn't care as long as I continue treating it well. 2 different sides on 9/25/16 (left and center), and obviously no problem about the change in the plant's direction after a year (9/27/17):



The view from above, once again on 9/25/16 and 9/27/17 -- the dickisoniae leaning toward the northwest:



Sweet little displays on 9/8...



...and 10/18/17:



Epithelanthas are so wonderfully odd, and E. bokei might just be the oddest of them all. No misidentification here -- a young 'un from MG:



"Before and after" pics on 9/7/14 and 9/20/15 -- if you look closely at the "after", you might notice a new little something-something:





That's right, a pup! The bokei was ready for a bigger pot by the end of summer 2015 -- happy to oblige when it was repotting day on 3/5/16. First, we'll do a before-and-after comparison of the roots coming out of their time in "dirty" mix:



Wow, the bokei did rather well, and the tiny white spot next to the pup could be the very beginning of another one. If I'm right, the new pup will eventually pop its little head up. In the meantime, here's the plant in a new pot from Desert Creations:



At the end of the bokei's last summer in "dirty" mineral mix on 9/20/15, followed by the end of its first summer in clean mix on 9/25/16, and the end of another one on 9/27/17:





The pup's growth in 2016 looks really good, although we don't see any signs of appreciable new growth for either the pup or the parent plant in 2017. The result is a bit disappointing, so hopefully I can give you a better one this year. Compared to my dickisoniae, the bokei isn't exactly a prolific bloomer, but at least it has been healthy enough to flower. You already saw one on 9/27, and we'll rewind back to August -- a bud on 8/16 and a bloom on 8/26/17:



A bird's-eye view on 8/26:



And a close-up of the cute little flower with just a hint of pale pink in the petals:



We'll end today's post with a lovely shot of all 3 Epithelanthas on 10/18/17:



In our next installment, we'll review the December 2013 cacti I received from Miles' To Go.

[keith]

I haven't bought cactus for awhile but I bet Miles2go cactus will be bigger than Mesa cactus. Even talked to Miles about this back when I lived in AZ.

Miles uses potting soil and fertilizer and Mesa uses soil from their property. Guess which cactus will grow faster. However which cactus will be more "in the wild" looking which is what Mesa was growing for? IDK some cactus in the wild look dead some times of the year and great other times. Both nurseries have great plants.

I believe Miles uses high potassium fertilizer for disease resistance. IDK what Mesa uses? Back when I used to talk with Steven Brack its was nothing no fertilizer. That was along time ago mid nineteen nineties when I ordered my lohopo seeds . I remember asking him you really going to sell me these seeds and he said " the answer is yes" straight up guy not too chatty.

I do remember Miles saying the plants were grown in " Death Clay" I thought that was so funny. All depends on how you like to water them and how dry it is were you grow 'em.

as always love the detailed reports

[Steve Johnson]

Before we get to it, I just wanted to thank Keith for giving me some insight into Miles Anderson's and Steven Brack's growing practices. My practice is obviously different, and so is my climate -- interesting to think about how adaptable cacti are when their conditions change quite a bit going from one place to another. (By the way, I'm glad you enjoy my posts, Keith! ) But I digress...

In December 2013, Christmas came a few days early. My shipment from MG wasn't the only package I had to unwrap, so let's see what came out of the box from M2G on 12/22. First up:



Just going by those tubercles, it sure looks like a Coryphantha, doesn't it? Then again, the long dark red fishhook central spines are definitely not typical of the genus, and the taxonomists picked up on that and a few other things when they renamed it to the monotypic genus you see here. I seem to have a talent for selecting cacti that are almost impossible to find here in the US -- this is one of them, and I was lucky enough to snag the Cumarinia from Mr. Anderson's inventory while I could. Okay, not the best lighting in the above photo, and here's a better one from the new plant bench on New Year's Eve day 2013:



Cumarinia offsets at a fairly young age, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the evidence of that in 2014 -- 4/19 and 9/21/14:



3 pups there, and when we turn the plant around, we'll see 2 more:



By the end of summer 2015, I knew that the Cumarinia needed a bigger pot. Repotting day arrived on 4/16/16, so here's what came out of the old pot:



The "dirty" mineral mix didn't appear to be all that dirty, so compared to what I saw coming from most of the "dirty" mix pots, this wasn't bad at all. The Cumarinia in its bigger pot:



"Before and after" pics on 9/21/14 and 9/25/16:





I'm usually good about taking benchmark end-of-summer photos with all of my cacti, but every once in awhile I'll miss one. Sorry, Cumarinia -- I forgot about you at the end of last summer. We'll have to make do with this artistic shot of a later summer evening on 9/25/16:



The central spines turn black with age, but interestingly enough, they'll glow red with a sort of "fiber optic" effect when they're backlit in the late afternoon/evening sun. How long the effect lasts, I don't know, but I'll find out when I try another backlit photo later this summer. In the meantime, the Cumarinia's growth did slow down last year -- not unexpected, although I was hoping to see a new pup or two after I gave it more room to grow in its bigger pot. Oh, well -- new pups or no, I'll definitely be sure the Cumarinia gets a couple of new benchmark pics at the end of September.

My collecting approach is to try for at least 2 different species of each genus represented on the plant bench. Since I had only 1 Stenocactus at the time, I needed something to go with the zacatecasensis I got from CoronaCactus. And perusing M2G's website, here's what I found:



While I'm generally not a fan of really long spines, everything about the lloydii was too wonderfully wild to resist. And it definitely gets the top-shelf treatment -- the plant sitting up there in its first growing season here at Casa de Jefferson Park (3/16 and 9/20/14):



On 9/20/14 and 9/20/15 -- howzabout this?



Just like the Cumarinia, 2 growing seasons under my care left the lloydii in need of a bigger pot. The deed was done on 3/19/16, so let's see what came out of its old pot:



Also like the Cumarinia, the "dirty" mix wasn't all that dirty. However, the lloydii could still use a dose of clean mix -- out with the old, in with the new:



We'll crop out the central spines to see how big the plant itself has become -- 9/20/15, 9/17/16, and 9/30/17:



The lloydii spines and all on 9/17/16 and 9/30/17:



Don't know about you, but to me those central spines are pretty. Now for an aerial view of the plant's growth point on 3/26/16 and 9/30/17:



I witnessed my first-ever Stenocactus flowers when the lloydii set buds in February that went into bloom in early March 2016. Last year the buds-to-blooms sequence took place in March -- flowering at the same time as my Eriosyce senilis. When we see E. senilis flowers, we should see them on lloydii too. A couple of its most recent flowers (3/4/18)...



...followed by 2 more on 3/25:



(Ahhh, there's the senilis blooming in the background.) A close-up of the lloydii's flowers on 3/4 and 3/25:



That's it for now. In my next installment, we'll wrap up the 2013 cacti with 2 more from M2G, plus a year-end holiday "bonus" coming from a nursery in northern California.

[Steve Johnson]

As far as I'm concerned, capricorne should be called "Queen of the Astrophytums" because of their big, colorful blooms. The view on Friday, with my capricorne flanked by 4 other 2011 "veterans":



The Mammillaria grahamii put on a wonderful display too, and the Discocactus you see front-and-center will be investigated in my next post. Now we'll zoom in on the bud starting to open:



From yesterday -- long live the Queen!





Those colors really are quite stunning, aren't they?