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PrickPrickBloom wrote: ↑Tue Dec 11, 2018 4:26 am Another question I have on Melo’s is night temps here for the time being go into the 40’s F is this too cold for them should I keep them inside overwinter?

Melocactus and Discocactus will survive down to a low of 39F, below that and you'll have problems. A fellow Arizonan of yours (Miles Anderson) heats his greenhouses in winter. You may want to keep your Melos indoors for the winter.

I've studied quite a bit of this thread, as I have a few melocacti under my care.
So, as someone wrote, in warmer climates melocacti grow all year round, not stopping in the winter.
If I bring my melos inside for overwintering, will they keep growing as the temperature inside the house is warm?
As I understand that would mean I have to water them from time to time, right? But what about the light levels
which will of course not be adequate, won't it cause problems to my melos?
Thank you in advance!

DesertSun wrote: ↑Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:22 am I've studied quite a bit of this thread, as I have a few melocacti under my care.
So, as someone wrote, in warmer climates melocacti grow all year round, not stopping in the winter.
If I bring my melos inside for overwintering, will they keep growing as the temperature inside the house is warm?
As I understand that would mean I have to water them from time to time, right? But what about the light levels
which will of course not be adequate, won't it cause problems to my melos?
Thank you in advance!

My interior doesn't get enough sunlight in winter so i give them just enough water to keep them going but not enough to make them grow and etiolate

Thank you very much for the info Elie!

I have a melocactus glaucescens that has developed a cep and is producing small pink flowers in late afternoon for less than 2 hours. Why doesn't it flower during the day?

I will post a pic of my melo when i figure out how to post a pic.

This is my melocactus glaucescens that has developed a cep this season.
I recently bought another type of melocactus that hopefully develops a cep in the next few years. Do you guys have any idea what type is it?

Sorry for the late response...

Melos flower in the late afternoon, and they last for only a few hours. That's their typical blooming behavior, so nothing for you to worry about here. As to your juvenile Melo, it's difficult to get an accurate ID until it starts growing a cephalium. M. matanzanus is the only Melo species I grow, and the spines on yours look too long for it.

Thanks steve. I'm also on the lookout for M. matanzanus as they are one of the quickest to develop cep's.

Hello all.

Here is one of my Melocactus mantanzanus.
I can't explain why, but it is one of my favorite cactus.

I live in the US and would like to find nurseries or suppliers of other species of Melocactus (not seeds, I have way too many seeds and seedlings, haha). But I can't find many (or any) places that sell other species. I'm willing to pay for shipping, they just don't seem to be very popularly sold as plants. I do have a few Melocactus azureus that I found at big box stores.

In winter, I keep my Melocactus with my epiphytic cacti, in an east-facing window. And I treat them the same (temperature in the upper 50s at the lowest) with water every couple weeks, but never a lot at once.

jp29 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:17 pm Melocactus broadwayi is a Carribean (mostly, West Indies?) species that I don't think is grown very much by hobbyists these days.

Lol, I just ordered some M. Broadwayi seeds and sowed 12, of which 8 sprouted. They are just about one month old now but goodness! I can’t wait until they start taking shape!

Hi all, first time long time

Here is my rather busted looking melo. Not sure of an ID on it. I bought it about 2 years ago (3?) looking just a little bit worse than this for $20. It didn't do *anything* for the first year or so, to the point that the more paranoid part of my brain started wondering if it was fake (lol). This year it finally flowered and put out fruit, a batch of which are currently hanging out in the propagator.

Not sure of the condition of the roots as the previous owner repotted it the day before selling it to me and I was very scared of doing any more damage when I saw the thing. I'm planning on repotting and having a look next spring.

Well, whoever said that it's risky to even look at a mature melocactus is correct as far as my experience. I had a very nice melocactus mantanzanus that was about 18 years old. I contemplated repotting for many years. I listened carefully to all the pros and cons. The plastic pot was getting difficult to move and the cactus was getting a bit heavy for the the pot. So , last summer I decided to finally repot in a larger pot. I repotted in warm weather. I waited a week and then gave the cactus a good soaking of water. One week later a black soft spot appeared at the bottom of the base of the cactus where it meets the soil. I was horrified.
One week later the spot grew and spread and was very mushy. I was heartbroken. I cut open the cactus and it was completely mush and dark inside the cavity. I had pics of it dead but I deleted because it hurt too much to look at.

I added two replacement melocactus mantanzanus. I normally give a little water during the winter to keep the roots from shrinking and soil drying out completely. I watered a bit in January and early February. The water hit the side of the cactus where the body meets the soil. Again, to my shock, both melos within days quickly developed dark spots and proceeded to rot through the black spots. I feel a bit snake bitten. I had my original melo for well over a decade with no issues and now I've lost 3 melo's within a year.

Now I have another melo that I just acquired. I want to repot in a larger ceramic pot but I'm afraid to death it's gonna die on me.
Anybody have a helpful suggestion on how to proceed ? I understand from reading this thread it's better that I wait for the weather to get warmer before repotting. I also have been told that I should not water for at least 10 days after repotting. Any help is appreciated.

So sorry for your loss! I understand that fully developed Melocactus resent repotting and healing of roots due to repotting takes lot of time. How was the root system when you repotted? Since you had your first Melocactus for so many years, I am sure that winter care is not a problem here. In my view, you can try for repotting in warmer months but give the roots to heal more time like 10-12 days and water it initially with sip method instead of soak method and gradually increase the watering volume..I am not an expert but I guess this will help preventing rot..will wait for other experts to comment..

Thanks abhikjha. I quickly surmised that I likely gave it too much water initially . Yeah fully developed Melos are notorious for weak root systems. That's why I didn't repot for so many years. When I removed from the long standing pot I carefully inspected the roots and they were long and looked good. Nothing alarmed me. Like you said a sip is better then gradually increase. My newest addition is I understand 6-8 years old. Hopefully someone else will chime in with their opinion.

@madkactus Whenever the subject of Melocacti comes up I'm always banging on about my 30 year old M. violaceus that I've kept bone dry for 6 months every winter, every single year since I got it as 3cm plant. About 3 years ago it grew its cephalium. It gets winter minimums of 5-7°C.
With plants as succulent and rotund as Melocacti, I would repot them only WHEN they are bone dry, INTO a bone dry mix, and I would wait 3 or 4 weeks before watering again. These conclusions are not from direct experience with them, just surmising from a lot of different factors.
I also don't believe that they are not xerophytic considering their very glaring morphology, and I suspect growers lose them because they don't let them dry out during winter.