Ariocarpus help.

[Dodi Russell]

I brought a Ariocarpus maybe retusus. This is my first Ariocarpus and I don't want to kill it ( because it is my first ario and these plants are very expensive in my country ) like I killed my lithops( the rat ate it )

So could you please tell me some information on how to grow these cacti
Watering, soil medium, type of pots( plastic or porous clay) adding fertilizers, lighting etc...

I feel like putting it in a porous clay pot so the soil medium will dry up faster. And should I use a very gritty mix I fear that it might dry up too soon.
How often do you water these type of plants
Can you treat ariocarpus like lophophora in a clay pot.
And any other advice would be really helpful.

[Paul679]

I am not a Ariocarpus expert but here is an older site with a lot of information. https://living-rocks.com/index.htm

[keith]

feel like putting it in a porous clay pot so the soil medium will dry up faster. And should I use a very gritty mix I fear that it might dry up too soon.
How often do you water these type of plants
Can you treat ariocarpus like lophophora in a clay pot."

I think all your ideas are good and keep them out of direct sunlight they can sunburn.

[Dodi Russell]

feel like putting it in a porous clay pot so the soil medium will dry up faster. And should I use a very gritty mix I fear that it might dry up too soon.
How often do you water these type of plants
Can you treat ariocarpus like lophophora in a clay pot."

I think all your ideas are good and keep them out of direct sunlight they can sunburn.

I normally water plants with giant tap roots after 2 weeks or a month depending on the weather.
Thanks Keith

I am not a Ariocarpus expert but here is an older site with a lot of information. https://living-rocks.com/index.htm

Thanks Paul

[gemhunter178]

All the above advice is good. Here's my experience:
I tend to grow them on the drier side rather than the wetter side - their tap roots can hold a lot of water and they will be fine without water for a long time.
That being said, a good amount of water does make them grow faster. From what I found, you can drench your Ariocarpi when temperatures are above 30C.

but overall, if you're worried and in doubt, keep them on the drier side

[Dodi Russell]

All the above advice is good. Here's my experience:
I tend to grow them on the drier side rather than the wetter side - their tap roots can hold a lot of water and they will be fine without water for a long time.
That being said, a good amount of water does make them grow faster. From what I found, you can drench your Ariocarpi when temperatures are above 30C.

but overall, if you're worried and in doubt, keep them on the drier side

Thanks
I just potted it up in a porous clay pot to keep it dry as possible, so I will water them every month when the temperatures are above 30C.
Here is the plant

IMG-20191103-WA0005.jpg (126.97 KiB) Viewed 2395 times

IMG-20191103-WA0004.jpg (97.17 KiB) Viewed 2395 times

IMG-20191103-WA0003.jpg (84.23 KiB) Viewed 2395 times

[DaveW]

Watering can depend on the time of year and whether they grow on the plains or rocks in habitat. Plus they flower in our fall or Autumn in the UK. Collectors in the 1960's in the UK virtually dare not water collected plants at first (few grew them from seed then) but they do like proper watering at the correct time. Therefore occasionally completely plunging the whole plant and pot and soaking it in the growing season does no harm. In fact some species do get flooded at certain times of the year and are underwater for a few days in habitat, therefore do like a proper soaking at that time.

For a series of different views on Ariocarpus culture and see my post on page 2 here :-

http://forum.bcss.org.uk/viewtopic.php? ... 74456d0902

Regarding "cooking" plants. A friend of mine who was in Australia for a while said they did nor water their plants during the heat of the day since the water meeting the hot soil it immediately turned it to steam, but watered them early morning or in the evening before the sun got too warm and then the water evaporating as the sun got up and temperature of soil rose it simply cooled them.

[Hanazono]

I do not know the size of your Ariocarpus retusus but it may be a similar size to mine attached photo in here.
The Ariocarpus retusus on the photo is 9 cm in diameter.

I feed water to young Ariocarpus to be able to maintaining "no shrinkage of tubercles".
When tubercles shrank, you can not expect any grows of the Ariocarpus.
I water every 2 weeks for young Ariocarpus in growing season.

https://cactiguide.com/forum/download/f ... w&id=71643

[7george]

In your tropical climate you better apply deep regular watering during the growing season and maybe dry in winter. Do you have winter there, what it looks like?

Also use direct sun or light shade after the plant is being adapted to this.

[Dodi Russell]

Sorry, I completely forgot about this.
Since I have potted it up in a porous clay pot and because of the high temperature we have here I think if I water it every 7-10 days it should be good . The water evaporates very quickly in the clay pot.

Hanazono my ariocarpus is still a seedling it is just 2 inches in diameter.