Is this plant considered to be a rarity in the US? Here in EU it's readily available for as little as 4€ for a rooted offset.

By "hybrid" you mean crossed with another species ? Which one would it be? Is it possible to know? Ornatum? Asterias? Your plant is most likely cross between A. asterias "Superkabuto" and A. coahuilense . I sowed a batch of seeds of that particular hybrid couple of years ago, an...

It looks like a mechanical damage to me (not a disease). Most likely it's been eaten by some kind of caterpillar. Check the undersides of leaves for butterfly/moth eggs and/or small worm-like creatures crawling around your plant's leaves. You may remove them manually, or you can use some broad-spect...

Generally speaking, North American species are ev0lutionarily adapted to alkaline soils, I think that these soils would be more neutral than alkaline with a pH of around 7. Even if growing in pure limestone from what I have read. Yes, that's right. In fact, in my area most igneous rocks (which are ...

It is probably misspelled Mammillaria cadereytensis, a short spined form of Mammillaria parkinsonii.

DaveW wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2024 10:24 am Found these. Its interesting that most of the LED grow lights do seem to produce a pinkish light:-

Older generations of "grow lights" consisted mainly of red and blue diodes producing unnatural-looking pink to violet light. Modern LED grow lights produce much more balanced spectrum.

She is very enthusiastic and hopes you are having an amazing day! I knew whom are you talking about the moment I read that phrase! :lol: Still, in the case of old P. strobiliformis I'd go with Mike's advice. I had similar case with old S. disciformis (35+ years old). It took almost two years to roo...

Lucy_V wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2024 5:12 am The 3rd one gives me a vibe of one of the E.curvispina group (var.robusta may be?), but not sure.

Yes, I'd definitely go with E. curvispina group.

Turbinicarpus x roseiflorus were in flower these days:

Thanks Dave, you make excellent points, as usual.
Also, you have eased my mind a little

Very nice looking W. kargliana - and early blooming too!

MrXeric,
thank you for an excellent post and heaps of new (to me) and useful information. I have difficulty thinking of Pelecyphora and Escobaria as a members of single genus, though.
Best regards,
Nino

In my experience Sempervivums are almost impossible to kill, so either approach will work. Please note that I've never kept any of the "fancy" cultivars, just the "regular" species. Cultivars might be a bit more sensitive.

Seedlings look perfectly normal in my opinion. U. pectinifera is a slow growing species.

Many thanks Nino_G, I was looking far too close to the spiny areole! As a non-specialist, forgive me but I'll think of them as separate areoles when looking for them from now on... So, big question, if I see spiral tubercules=mammaries each with two areoles, the top one having a white furry 'cover'...