A small collection: 2015 and beyond

[MrXeric]

Awesome and awesomer -- check out the view from today:

Lovely!

[Steve Johnson]

Mamm guelzowiana -- the gift that keeps on giving:



Okay, that gives us 13 flowers in the flush, and the plant has broken its 2016 record handily. I took the photo on Friday, some others to go along with it this weekend, so I'll post Part 2 soon.

[jerrytheplater]

Do Mamm's produce more flowers as they age?

[Steve Johnson]

Do Mamm's produce more flowers as they age?

Per Wikipedia:

• "Mammillaria is one of the largest genera in the cactus family, with currently 200 known species and varieties recognized."

My experience is limited to the 8 Mamm species I grow, so unfortunately I may not be the best person to give you the answer. If we have any Mammillaria experts in the house (so to speak), they should be able to provide one.

Now that I think about it, there is a factor that could answer your question at least partially...

Annual flower production on solitary Mamms is probably the same regardless of age (just a hunch for whatever it's worth). But with offsetting species that grow pups as the plant ages, more pups = more flowers over the course of years. I have a wonderful example, although it involves a sad story with a happy ending I'll save for the 2023 end-of-summer review.

[7george]

Congrats for Sulcorebutia rauschii progress and flowers! Also I first time see such a large M. guelzowiana also in good shape...

[Steve Johnson]

Congrats for Sulcorebutia rauschii progress and flowers! Also I first time see such a large M. guelzowiana also in good shape...

Thanks!

I have a whole bunch of new photos for Part 2 of my July flower report, but unfortunately not enough time to assemble them for posting yet. Y'all saw the star of the show, so get ready to see the "supporting cast" next weekend. And a few of them might even rate as co-stars!

[Steve Johnson]

Yeah, I still need to post Part 2 of that July flower report...

I got a beautiful Discocactus buenekeri from Miles' To Go in December 2013. My only night-blooming cactus, and it's always a pleasure to see the plant doing its thing in the summer. Only 1 or 2 flowers at a time before now, but 4?




Yes, 4! That's what greeted me when I did a plant inspection yesterday evening. Lovely night-blooming magic:



Thanks to lower P in my new fertilizer regimen. In fact, it's responsible for my best flowering year ever, and the year ain't over yet.

[Steve Johnson]

Before we get to it, I wanted to remind everyone of what it means when I talk about lower P vs. higher P. Going by NPK ratio with N = 1 as the constant, P should be in the 0.25-0.35 range. The Dyna-Gro All-Pro 7-7-7 I used before 2023 comes in at 0.44 -- too high. The P in my new fert regimen is 0.29 -- perfect. After 9 years with almost no growth and no flowering at all, the Eriosyce napina glabrescens I received from CoronaCactus in July 2013 finally did this:



I saw what appeared to be a bud in mid-June, and sure enough it was. The dates on that photo go from 7/3 to 7/24. From bud on 7/26 to bloom a day later:



The view from above:



Give it another day:



The flower colors aren't quite was I expecting, but I have no complaints -- they're lovely! New growth on the plant is pretty darn good too.

A year before I got the glabrescens, CoronaCactus set me up with another Eriosyce. That'll be E. odieri. The plant started exhibiting monstrose behavior on the growth point in summer 2020, and we'll see more of it here, with buds around the normal growth on 5/2/21:



No flowers at all last year (no surprise either). The odieri did produce a bud this year, being "guarded" by a highly recumbent Mammillaria grahamii (7/15):



From bud to bloom on 7/18 and 19:




Give it another day:




Why did the odieri go monstrose? Was the plant finally complaining about higher P in the 7-7-7, or could it be something else? We may never know. I'm generally not a fan of monstrose cacti, but I'll make an exception -- I have a fondness for "oddballs", and this oddball is a keeper regardless of what happened.

The Mamm grahamii is in the core group of cacti I purchased at the California Cactus Center when I started my current collection in 2011. A reliable bloomer since 2012, although not much in the way of flowers last year. Now they're back thanks to lower P:




Compared to previous years, they seem to be bigger -- here's an example:



Now we'll zoom back and view the odieri's flower at its widest on 7/23:



Gymnocalycium baldianum (purchased at Sunset Nursery in L.A., July 2013):




Gymnos flowers aren't known for being colorful, but baldianum is a stunning exception. The plant is flowering more often as well, once again thanks to lower P.

6 years after I got the baldianum, I came back to Sunset Nursery for a few more cacti as I expanded the collection a little bit. Here's one -- Wigginsia vorwerkiana:




We'll end the July flower report with these 7/26 photos of a Parodia subterranea I received from Kyle's Plants in July 2016:




Of all the flower colors I see on my cacti, these may be the most unusually beautiful.

[zpeckler]

Oh hell yeah! All the flowers are beautiful—particularly that Parodai's—but that grahamii is a BEAST! Absolutely massive! Has it made any offsets yet? I love it when they're clustering in habitat!

[Steve Johnson]

Thanks, Zac! Yes, the grahamii really is a beast, and hard to believe that's what it looked like in summer 2011:

Mammillaria_grahamii09272011.JPG (135.79 KiB) Viewed 3921 times

I don't know if the species offsets under pot cultivation, although it does when collectors are growing them in the ground. More to the point, I'm not sure if I should be impressed or concerned that I let the plant grow too big. Higher P should reduce stem growth, but obviously the grahamii had no problem with P at 0.44 in the Dyna-Gro 7-7-7. If I did let it get too big, what did I do wrong? I won't jump to any conclusions either way here, so all opinions on the matter (good or not-so-good) will be gratefully accepted.

[MrXeric]

Lovely flowers on the P. subterranea! I need to get seed of this one day. Seeds of that and G. baldianum. Mine has rather disappointing flowers, more pink than red, nothing like those of your plant! Beautiful!

[ohugal]

Beautifull. Don't you ever think about making (habitat) stagings for your plant?

[Steve Johnson]

Don't you ever think about making (habitat) stagings for your plant?

No -- while I do enjoy the habitat stagings I see at the local shows, I've never been interested in going that far with my own cacti. Thanks, Oscar!