Success after seven long years

[fanaticactus]

I purchased this Echinocereus subinermis aculeatus mail order in late April of 2012. For years it did nothing...maybe it grew a tiny bit each year, but never showed signs of producing a flower. About three or four years ago, some of the areoles began to swell in the Spring and grow a little fuzzier, but still nothing. By then I had switched to using a lot of pumice in my substrate and thought a change of pot and soil would help. The swelling areoles continued each year until, finally this year, it rewarded me with this magnificent 4.5" flower, which lasted for several days. The cactus body itself is just 3.5" x 3.5". And there's a second bud developing. I must say those buds took from April until now to fully mature. I've never seen such a slow bloomer. I just had to share this with all of you. Never give up hope!

DSC08304.JPG (59.62 KiB) Viewed 3169 times

DSC08305.JPG (50.83 KiB) Viewed 3169 times

[mmcavall]

What a stunning flower!

[TimN]

Nice flower! Your patience has been rewarded. Funny how some cactus do that....

[bbarv]

Truly magnificent, well worth the wait

[Lea]

This is how an ADHD person like me has learned patience. Rewarding slow growers

[RichR]

Spectacular flower! Well worth the wait.

[gemhunter178]

Amazing! Good job on that flower and hope for the other one soon!

[fanaticactus]

The second bud is still there but, as I said above, they are extremely slow to develop. It might not make it by the end of summer. We'll see.

[7george]

Patience rewarded: this is the way we go!

[DaveW]

Variety aculeatus was unfamiliar to me so I looked it up and see it was published in the German Journal in 1984, though usually sunk into synonymy under E. subinermis. Nice plant. Quite a combination of terms subinermis = almost spineless and aculeatus = prickly or spiny ( = the spiny form of the almost spineless Echinocereus )

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACT ... _aculeatus

[fanaticactus]

Variety aculeatus was unfamiliar to me so I looked it up and see it was published in the German Journal in 1984, though usually sunk into synonymy under E. subinermis. Nice plant. Quite a combination of terms subinermis = almost spineless and aculeatus = prickly or spiny ( = the spiny form of the almost spineless Echinocereus )

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACT ... _aculeatus

It is a bit of an oxymoron, isn't it? I bought it from Corona Cactus in California, so they must have researched its lineage. Other than an orchid cactus, I'm sure I haven't had any other cactus that lasted seven years before blooming. They usually rot before then. I'm convinced it was the change to pumice that made the difference. I think the roots must have been smothered and choked in the original soil, although I didn't think it was that heavy.

[mikethecactusguy]

Being a novice at cactus flowers, the green portion at the front of the bloom is what?
Thank you

[fanaticactus]

The entire structure is called the pistil, made up of the ovary, style (both not visible here) and the stigma, which is the green part. One of my friends said the entire center looks like a pineapple!

[DaveW]

See for a drawing:-

http://www.cactusmuseum.com/anatomy.asp

However if you want to pursue cactus flowers in more depth Mike:-

Inferior ovary means it is below the insertion of the flower petals, whereas a superior one is above. Nothing to do with one being better than the other, just simply meaning above or below in this case.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-diffe ... vary-fruit

http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/mauseth/Resea ... lowers.htm

[dwood5513]

I purchased this Echinocereus subinermis aculeatus mail order in late April of 2012. For years it did nothing...maybe it grew a tiny bit each year, but never showed signs of producing a flower. About three or four years ago, some of the areoles began to swell in the Spring and grow a little fuzzier, but still nothing. By then I had switched to using a lot of pumice in my substrate and thought a change of pot and soil would help. The swelling areoles continued each year until, finally this year, it rewarded me with this magnificent 4.5" flower, which lasted for several days. The cactus body itself is just 3.5" x 3.5". And there's a second bud developing. I must say those buds took from April until now to fully mature. I've never seen such a slow bloomer. I just had to share this with all of you. Never give up hope!DSC08304.JPGDSC08305.JPG

I'm in Portland, and I can tell you I think the level of light at the higher latitudes has something to do with flowering as well. I've also had trouble with Echinocerei as well, and they usually do take forever to bloom. Plus they usually don't get to it by the time it gets dank and wintery and get aborted.

Beautiful flower! I may have to grow that one now.