The BIG Score

[hoteidoc]

I've been pestering "nursery" staff at Lowe's for weeks to find out when delivery of C & S was going to be -- but patience does pay off!. Happened 2 days ago & I was there yesterday! There were stacks in virtual darkness indoors, hadn't put them out 'cause had a frost the night before (calling for 29 -30f next 3 nights!). Doubt anyone had stopped to look. Luckily had my trusty penlight (for seedling observation) & talk about "cherry picking" ! Finally have an Echinopsis (sp) that had one spent blossom with a FB! & several more buds!; Rebutia muscula with blossom, several more coming & several pups; Lobivia leucomala?(new to me), but lots of buds; Mamm. zeilm to replace a much bigger one that never blossomed, but lots of pups which rotted over the Winter; Mamm. mystax (don't have - cheap); a E.rigid. v. rubri (cheap); & a Haworthia cooperi that ended up being 4 plants! Total cost: $32! It was as closest to the "O" word as I could get - @ 64 yrs! or at least I haven't felt like that in a VERY long time!
Also think I spotted a "closet" cactaholic with the sales lady that was watching my enthusiasm. Was saying all those catch phrases , you know... "maybe get a few", "gee, I've always liked the spines"

Peter
P.S. Can anyone tell me how you add on to your started threads? beside edit, or is that it?

The-BIG-Score_0141_1.JPG (127.4 KiB) Viewed 1886 times

[Harriet]

NICE!!! Look at those buds and flowers!

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[hoteidoc]

Thanks, Harriet! And EVERYONE on CF! I feel like I've almost past thru "The Rite of Initiation", -- once we get some steady decent weather & I get my 1st batch of seedlings out of propagator! -- but always a Newbie!
Peter

[gemhunter178]

BTW that "Echinopsis sp." you have is probably Echinopsis subdenudata. I've always wanted a second one to pollinate mine with......
Other that that great score!

[Tony]

Nice! looks like you got ahold of them before the "nursery staff" had a chance to rot the roots off of them too!

[hoteidoc]

Absolutely, Tony! A couple were damp & I had to hold off repotting, but otherwise nice healthy plants! Always go in @ end of summer looking for really cheap survivors & do well @ that end too!
Peter

[hoteidoc]

Gem - If you know, or read Pollination thread, & tell me what to do, I'm pretty sure I could gather some pollen & send it out (if it tolerates those things)! Like grafting, too much work, too many plants, don't care. But if you want to take a chance on "Echinopsis sp.", glad to help!

[gemhunter178]

Yeah, I've read about that, but my Echinopsis subdenudata's buds just started forming, unlike yours, not sure if the pollen could survive that long, but if so, sure, maybe I could even give some of my plant's pollen!

[hoteidoc]

Gem - There's 1st one that's withered with the FB, but there's 5 or 6 more that are just pushing out, so we might be very close to synchronicty My experience over the last 2 yrs with various genus is if they show a bud, they using carry on. So it's a matter of Priority Mail getting to you in time. As they always say, try it, the worst that could happen is it doesn't work. I'll let you know how the buds proceed.

[cactuslee]

WOW, nice haul. congrats.

[hegar]

Hello Peter,
as already stated on my own thread, you did get some nice plants at Lowe's. My Echinocereus rigidissimus ssp. rubispinus (note the spelling ) should flower perhaps tomorrow. I will then expect Peter from Arizona to tell me, if this is indeed a correctly identified plant or what he calls a red-spined Echinocereus pectinatus. If my memory serves me right, I did have my plant flower once before and I did not hear anything about it being misidentified. The stigma of my plant's flower had some odd reddish brown color and the blossom was pink. My Echinocereus pectinatus plants, which will flower later in the season, do have larger blossoms and the color of the throat region is greenish, not more or less white as in Peter's Echinocereus rigidissimus ssp. rubispinus plant.
I am already excited about seeing your plant in bloom. Whatever it turns out to be, you will be impressed with this cactus. Unfortunately, these plant flower only once a year. The Echinocereus reichenbachii on the other hand is a repeat bloomer. Today it opened another blossom while the first heavy flush was over a week ago. It may even give me one or more blooms later in the season. It too produces a nice flower of decent size and I always highly recommend purchasing it.

Harald

[mughal113]

Hi Peter,

Thats a nice haul. Happy growing.

[hoteidoc]

Thanks, everyone! As I told another forum group, felt I hadn't been "pulling my weight" with pics -- too much yapping !
I think with Mom passing a couple of weeks ago, it might have been one of her finally gifts from beyond! Did re-acquire a nice 30" Espostoa melano.!
Hegar - There shouldn't be any comparison between "rubispinus" & pectinatus. I got a much bigger last rubisp. last year -- HUGH flowers, so that's why I got the "back-up" d/t price vs. growing time. Got a "red-spined" pectinatus a couple of years back -- only has 4 or 5 red spines @ a time, although I understand they can have a lot more. Much smaller plant, no signs of any buds yet; lots of new spination!
Peter

[LT10]

Yeah I see Peter - good group and some flowers coming to boot...congrat & happy growing.