CactiGuide.com

Nobody has come up with a new theme and winter is the "Dead Season" with me for flowers since the plants are now in their winters rest, therefore I await to see if anything does not survive the winter. So how about R.I.P.(= Rest In Peace) as a theme? We all loose plants over time but still have images of them at their best in our image files. At least it will show newcomers that we all loose plants at one time or another and to not get disheartened. They may also brighten our winter up again even if they are no longer with us.

Some I have lost over the years:-

Echinocereus reichenbachii ssp. pailanus.
Mammillaria sanchez-mejoradae.
Stenocactus sp.
Parodia (Notocactus) rutilans
Yavia cryptocarpa.
Just a few to start us off with.

Oh, really sad, those all were gorgeous cacti! But, it's all in the journey. I lost a Coryphantha andreae and felt really bad for it, I don't know what the problem was, but it was a sudden rot. I managed to save two cuttings though and restarting her. My Mammillaria microhelia was lost also, still I have a cutting from her, but I'm not particularly optimistic on that one rooting, since soon winter is coming.
Thank you for this thread, you are so right, newbies (and I certainly fall in the category), always feel better to know that even experienced growers and collectors have lost plants, it gives a much needed perspective!

Over 57 years of growing cacti, particularly in a cold greenhouse, I have lost at least 25-30 given our UK climate, but that is out of a collection of now around 1000 plants. The tender ones I bring into the house, but the rest have to survive cold nights with a layer of newspapers over them.

A few More:-

Disocactus (Nopalxochia) phyllanthoides.
Rebutia violaciflora.
Austrocactus bertinii (being from Patagonia this one got too warm in summer, not too cold!)
Matucana calliantha.

I suppose the advantage you have over those just starting, after 57 years in the hobby you either know nurserymen or friends who are likely to have replacements, or know where you can get seed to start again. I have now replaced most of those pictured, including the Yavia.

I try to purchase two of the plants I find interesting now, trying to at least produce seeds to replace them before I kill them



Here is a beautifull R.I.P. display In the foreground blooming is Gymnocalcyum horridispinum, on the right is Matucana madisonorum with the bud.
Litlle brownish-green thing in background of the gymno is Lobivia famatinensis and the yellow one blooming is Parodia aureispina. All dead now. I learnt the hard way of the greenhouse effect. I bought myself a greenhouse and thought that cacti cannot scorch, because they were fine on my balcony on the other side of the house. Big mistake...
Now I learnt to appreciate shading and ventilation the hard way. As for the plants, I will replace them one day, probably from seed.

Most of my cacti were lost in winter up here. I actually lost the Ariocarpus that is still my profile picture when we had a surprise freeze and it was in the unheated sunroom. Turned to mush, but, kept it's shape so I didn't know when I brought it in the following morning.

I also lost a good amount of grafted plants from cold rains, including both Mammillaria bertholdii I excitedly bought this summer. Need to find someone with seed...or shamefully ask Miles Anderson again
The front four are doing fine though.

I also lost a good Mammillaria duwei this year from rot. I presume I may have put it outside after winter resting too quickly. Tried to save some of the offsets, but, when I found out it was too late. Planning on getting another if I can find one.


I lose a good amount of seedlings as well, especially within the first few weeks or at first winter rest.

My list is long, some of those are:




Including the plant on my avatar. I keep all photos. From some have seedlings. Do more seedlings, guys.

"Do more seedlings, guys."

Yes George, we should point out to novices that whilst some cacti can outlive us, not all cacti are long lived. For instance some like I believe it is Mammillaria louisae are said to be short lived in habitat (4-5 years, also usually in collections) and have ev0lved to regularly and easily regenerate from seed. Therefore it is best to always have a replacement from seed coming along and not automatically think it is your poor cultivation when it dies:-

"Mammillaria louisae is one of the easiest cacti to raise from seed, and two- year-old plants flower and set seed readily."

Another is Setiechinopsis mirabilis which most do not keep it for more than 6-7 years, but is self fertile and produces numerous seeds that germinate easily.

This is a great topic, and Dave's introductory comments in the first post were spot-on. Hopefully more members will follow suit and keep it going.

Although my collection is small, I've taken more than a few casualties since I started building it in 2011. From my archive of ex-cacti:

Copiapoa hypogaea



Discocactus crystallophilus




Echinocereus rigidissimus rubispinus



Mammillaria blossfeldiana





Mammillaria hernandezii





Strombocactus disciformis



All told, 15 cacti have gone to the great compost heap in the sky -- the last one was the disciformis which suddenly rotted for no apparent reason in November 2017. In some cases, I replaced dead plants with individuals of the same species. In others, I decided to use the empty spots for cacti I hadn't tried growing before. Being an apartment dweller, 9 square feet of growing space is all I have to work with, so growing from seed is out of the question. Seems like quite a limitation, doesn't it? But limitations often come with opportunities too -- losses come with the grower's territory, so the trick is to make the most of what you've got when you need to replace them.

I probably lose about 10 cactus a year out of around 300. I grow many cactus from seed so usually have a replacement for my mistakes.

End of Summer is when the causalities most often show up. I'm shying away from any new hard to grow cactus I like the easy ones more and more these days. years ago I got rid of most of my easy cactus and grew all the difficult ones and as they slowly die off I think that was a mistake cause a few easy ones are really nice and big now.

I don't have any pictures to show, but since I am new to growing cactus I have lost quite a few.I have lost mostly young plants. Two Astrophytum caput medusae,a Melocactus, Mammillaria duwei, a grafted Mammillaria luethi, Turbinicarpus, Rebutia heliosa, a seedling Strombocactus coregidirae, Trichodiadema densum, Echinocereus rigidissimus rubrispinus, Eriosyce napina, Mammillaria albiflora, a grafted Mammillaria theresae, Stenocactus coptonogonus, a grafted Turbinicarpus valdezianus, some Adenium and maybe some others which I don't remember. The last casualty is a very young Aztekium ritteri. That heart a lot. Now that I see all those names written it is a shock for me. I hope I decrease the number of lost plants in the future. Most of these I have replaced or in the process.

Oh, dear I've just noticed my cute little Ferocactus has turned dark and is softening. I suppose there is nothing I can do for it now. Only a matter of time.
Why! We may never know what we did to let it happen; it just does happen sometimes.

I have had losses in the outdoor garden and in the greenhouse. I bought a Obregonia denegrii for a show plant, lots of money, and it never made it to the show.

In the three years I've been growing cacti I've only lost two plants completely. Both were Melocacti and both died during the rainy season. Those two were the only ones that I had not been able to save frome rot because I have noticed that Melocacti, at least the ones I've cared for, rapidly rot from the core. Other plants have rotted but slow enough that I was able to take cuttings. The rainy season is the biggest threat to cacti here in my country.

This is a picture of one of those plants.
Melocactus ernestii

I am growing cacti since I was a child, since 52 years. There have been so many plants, and so many have left me again.... I would not offer a gallery as it would be too big.

Only my most and one of the very first cacti -- and its donator -- I want to remember: When I was 8 years old, our neighbor, Mr.Schwaderer, grew wonderful Epiphyllum in his bay window. I often visited him secretly in his well kept garden. One day he wanted to throw away a Epi-rest, one of them was dying. I asked for that rest. Since then I had it, called it "Schwaderer-Cactus" and it had flowered each and every year in pink with loads of floweres. Really great. I loved it!
Until ca. 5years ago, when it finally left me. I still miss it!
But by then I had a couple of cutlings ready, so genetically my Schwaderer-Cactus hasn't left me. Especially I had given a plant to my grandmother when she moved to a nursing home. It flowered with her every summer, until she died about 10 years ago. Since then, I have her Epi as a kind of replacement of my old Schwaderer-Cactus, still flowering plus remembering me of my grandmother and of Mr.Schwaderer.

It's "just a simple Epi", but they are a treat with their loads of flowers.
N.

That is a very moving story, nachtkrabb. I can see why this cactus is precious to you.