I decided to cut off the dried, brown part where it attached to the body and was surrounded by other offsets so it got no sunlight. Lo and behold, there was some nice succulent flesh hiding in there. So I am letting them dry and callus over with hopes of setting them in some soil and having roots de...

I'm aware this may be a tall order, but still after all these years and using a much simplified, very porous soil mix, I am still wondering which genera of cacti love lots of water and which are rot-prone when given too much. Can anyone help with a generalized list of each...knowing there will most ...

A lot of what appears to be corking is really just completely dried out 'stem'. There's no actual 'flesh' in there, which leads me to believe that part is completely and irretrievably dead. I guess cutting into it is the only way to discover how far down some of the real cactus body is...because I d...

Thanks for this info, 'greenknight'. I sure have enough offsets to try some both ways, although the parent plant might look a bit strange missing so many of them. But I'm sorry yours has never bloomed--yet, I'm glad to find out I'm not the only one who's got a 'dud'!

Last year I posted a photo of a large, mounded Echinopsis oxygona with a ton of offsets. It is in a 6- or 8-inch pot and has never bloomed in the approximately 5 years I've had it. I finally decided to root some of the offsets, and when I twisted some off, there is a large dried brown area where the...

In trying to decipher recipes for soil mixes, what is the difference--if any--between 'coarse sand' and 'grit'? Does 'poultry grit' (crushed stone) satisfy the category of 'grit'? It seems it should...or is it still too coarse for cacti, although it provides good, non-organic drainage? And where do ...

It's a bit too early for buds on the Gymnos here in Vermont, but when and if it happens, I will post photos.

It is species-specific and depends on the strategy plant have chosen. Rebutia, Sulcorebutia, Lobivia have their buds set in the shaded side but for most other species I have grown flowers are either on the very top or arranged in a ring around the stem. And if that ring is not full or just a few fl...

For the past couple of years I've noticed something which, to me, is contrary to almost everything I've learned about cacti loving sun. When buds start, whether they are the first ones of the season or ones that develop during the summer, almost exclusively they seem to develop on the sides of the c...

Also make sure you do not make insecticides stronger than the instructions say. They will not kill more bugs but may burn the plant. I don't remember which I used on them for mealies. One I usually use was a pre-mixed Neem Oil spray. The other was a homemade non-chemical mix of one pint 70% isoprop...

The topic title is my question. I've added numbers to all the photos, at the top on either the left or right side, for easier reference. I'm positive #1 is G. baldianum because it came labeled from Miles', and I believe #2 is one also. I recall fairly clearly they both had the typical bright red flo...

I really appreciate all the helpful information you have all sent. It is most expedient to give you all a big collective Thank You ! instead of trying to respond individually. The universal message I'm getting from all over is that winter watering (the amount and how often) depends largely on what t...

Thanks, Steve. That sounds entirely reasonable. I am finally at the point of using only about 20-30% soil in the mix for desert cacti, with the rest being pumice, crushed stone, and grit. I even have two types of soil: one that is primarily inorganic and the other with composted organic material (fo...

Now that we're approaching the time when my cacti will have to stay in the greenhouse for the colder weather, I'll have some winter care questions--even after many years of collecting and caring for these babies. My first question is about watering. I generally have not given any water to cacti from...

Thanks, DaveW and anttisepp. There may yet be hope for me in terms of cactus IDs!