CactiGuide.com

I went to Lowes yesterday. For my European friends, that is a large Chain Hardware Store. They have an extensive gardening section in the spring and summer.

I only stopped in for a couple of small cheap plastic pots, so I could repot a couple of cacti that are growing rootbound. And then I walked by the cacti area.

I shouldn't have done that ...

I bent over to look and thought ... "Hey ... I don't have one of those... and look at that ... that is the cutest, smallest Echinopsis grusonii that ... and then OH!!!! LOOK at that one ... I don't have one of ..."

I just can't imagine how I wound up with 9 (count them ... NINE) new cacti. Granted, they are small, and they were cheap. But NINE????

So ... just in case ANYONE would be interested in looking at what I bought yesterday, here they are:

1) Mammillaria muehlenpfordtii 2) Mammillaria (unknown species as of yet ... it wasn't labeled with a species) ... if anyone can identify it, I would be very appreciative. I'll post it under Cactus ID's also. Maybe the flowers will help with the Identification ... 3) Mammillaria marksiana 4) Hamatocactus setispinus... Corrected from "Ferocactus wislizenii" by one of the everso helpful members here= - Once I pulled the straw flowers from the crown of this one, I noticed that It had three buds of its own ... cool! 5) Parodia werneri - All, and I mean ALL of these cacti came with those STUPID straw flowers glued to the top. I managed, with the help of a pair of hemostats and about 10 seconds of VERY hot water (turn the cactus on it's side, and judiciously apply the hot water to the glue, between the straw flower and the cactus, trying to not overheat the cactus skin so as not to damage it) to pull them all off without damage to any of the cacti. Except maybe this one. I think I MIGHT have pulled off all of the center spines ... unless the center just hadn't grown any spines yet. 6) Echinocactus grusonii 7) Echinopsis chamaecereus 'Rose Quartz'
I love all the offsets on this guy. The columnar cacti in my collection are some of my favorites, but these little clumping cacti have a very special place in my heart. Haageocereus pseudomelanostele 9) Austrocylindropuntia subulata
I didn't think that this cactus looked as though it has spines, although I found out differently, and as you can see in the second photo below, that it DOES have a few respectable spines. What I did not even for the first moment consider, and what I wound up with, was TWO hands with fingers just FULL of glochids. My fingers hurt so bad today that I can hardly stand to push the keyboard keys to get this typed in. These cacti, one and all, came in 2" pots, and are now in 4" pots. They were SO rootbound that the rootballs were HARD, like a baseball. There was NO way that I could "shake off all (or ANY for that matter) of the dirt before repotting". I even tried soaking the rootball and then trying to rinse off the existing soil (probably peat). I had a VERY limited success on one of them (but then quit out of fear of damaging the roots) before repotting. Anybody have a comment about this? I really didn't want to damage the roots although I wanted the peat GONE!

I had to do a lot of swapping around, put several small plants in one of the bigger new pots i bought and then the new cacti in the small pots (AND two bonsai pots I had left over), and then several in some disposable 4" pots I bought a couple of years ago. So I have got them all repotted ...

But the cacti that I originally stopped in for, in order to buy a couple of cheap bigger plastic pots for, are STILL rootbound and STILL in need of new pots.

Hello Wayne,
I do hate to see cacti with glued-on, oftentimes dyed straw flowers. Here at the U.S.-Mexican border we also see plants coming from Mexico, where the straw flower stems are just pushed into Aloes and Cacti. That makes it easier to remove them. Those plants are also grown for a short time in what looks like conifer needle medium, sometimes inside an aluminum beer can! The tourists coming from Mexico then snap up these "flowering cacti".
About your "haul": Somehow I cannot believe, that the cactus # 4 is a Ferocactus wislizenii. Those are big barrel cacti that grow in the wild where I live. The spine color and length does not agree with that identification and neither does flower bud formation at that size.
Most likely, this is not a Ferocactus at all, and perhaps a forum member will have a better-fitting name for this plant. Of course, determination would be a lot easier, once those flower buds open.

Harald

I believe #4 is a short spined form of
Thelocactus setispinus

The ID's given are what was on printed labels affixed to the pots they came in. Which is not to say that i believe straw-flower encrusted cacti growers are infallible. But it IS all i had to "pin on them" as I had never owned sny of these except for the E. grusonii.

And I am absolutely delighted to welcome dissenting opinion and alternative ID's, as I am certain that some everso kind, polite and knowledgeable member (such as those who respond here) will provide/produce/suggest a more acceptable/correct ID.

NEVER fear to suggest what you believe to be a more correct ID... not to me. I appreciate your commentary. Thankyou for your help. I hope to discover more assistance here...

Great additions wayne! I'm actually jealous
Your unlabelled mammillaria looks like a zeilmanniana. Soon to open flowers will confirm
Here are some of mine the other day

ElieEstephane wrote: ↑Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:08 pm Great additions wayne! I'm actually jealous

I'm jealous to find that people have any cacti. I want them ALL!

Good choice, nice addition to you collection.

4) Ferocactus wislizenii - Once I pulled the straw flowers from the crown of this one, I noticed that It had three buds of its own ... cool!

That is Hamatocactus (thelocactus) setispinus. The real F. wislizenii blooms much bigger then this and hooks are stronger.

ElieEstephane wrote: ↑Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:08 pm Here are some of mine the other day

Lookit all the flowers... So, so nice to be just surrounded by SO many flowers...

ElieEstephane wrote: ↑Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:08 pm Great additions wayne! I'm actually jealous

Nay, nay, nay Elie. Jealousy is a dark hateful spiteful emotion. Say instead that you have "Cactus ENVY".

Hey, that gives me an idea... does anyone here have any musical talent? I think we need someone to write a brief little song entitled "The Cactus ENVY blues".

Thanks again for your contributions to flower pix Elie ... Looks like ive got a little bit of that "Cactus Envy" myself

ElieEstephane wrote: ↑Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:08 pm Your unlabelled mammillaria looks like a zeilmanniana.

I agree, although I haven't got much experience, I do have 2 of my own (white flower variation) that look identical.

Very nice plants.

SavageTurtle wrote: ↑Sat Apr 28, 2018 9:20 am

ElieEstephane wrote: ↑Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:08 pm Your unlabelled mammillaria looks like a zeilmanniana.

I agree, although I haven't got much experience, I do have 2 of my own (white flower variation) that look identical.

Very nice plants.

Yes they clump very fast and have amazing flowers!
Never got my hand on the white flowered variety though

Yes they clump very fast and have amazing flowers!
Never got my hand on the white flowered variety though

I got mine online last year from a seller in the UK, they started my collecting I would say. Ever since I have bought the majority of my small collection. I will be posting my collection soon, just embarrassed to show some of my oldest cacti as I haven't looked after them properly until recently