I thought, I should produce this new thread, because some of my plants are never been shown, unless they are in bloom. Also, it will let new people joining this forum know, that some cacti take a long time to go into the flowering mode. Even for an experienced grower, the time may be long and a lot of patience is required, until the first flower appears.
For example, I purchased a small Ariocarpus fissuratus plant in a 2 1/2 inch square nursery pot. The grower told me, that he had planted the seed eight years ago! I did, however, flower for me within a year.
Cacti can also stay small and refuse to bloom, if their environment is not to their liking. Sometimes, moving the plant just a few feet can make a big difference for a grower, who has the cacti growing outdoors in the ground as I do.
I am going to show a few of my plants, which I have had for a good number of years and which have never flowered or perhaps once every three or four years. For a lot of those "non-bloomers" I do not know the reason, why they fail to flower or grow satisfactorily.
So, here are the plants I photographed today:
- Ariocarpus sp.JPG (112.65 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This group of three Ariocarpus sp. plants has not grown much over the years and never flowered. This may be due to the plants being too much in a shady locations. The tree under which they are growing is going to be removed, because it died and the branches could crash into the neighbor's roof. So these plants and a good number additional ones will have to be transplanted.
- Cylindropuntia sp.JPG (66.76 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This Cylindropuntia grows well, but only vegetatively. It produces temporary round diameter, elongate leaves (see image).
- E_fendleri ssp kuenzleri.JPG (89.72 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
While my regular Echinocereus fendleri plants do flower regularly, this plant does not. It produced, however, one additional stem. It too will have to be removed and I shall take a look at its roots, in order to evaluate what could be wrong with it.
- E_stramineus.JPG (98.75 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
The "strawberry pitaya" shown also was purchased as a single stem, small plant. Thus far it has only been adding stems. However, it should go into the flowering mode within the next few years.
- Echinopsis grandiflora.JPG (83.84 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This plant has been rather slow as far as growth is concerned. This runs counter to my experience with other members of the genus Echinocereus. I shall most likely dig this one up too to check it out further.
- Ferocactus sp.JPG (106.76 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This Ferocactus sp. is growing pretty well, but has yet to flower. The diameter is a little over 7 inches. It may start to bloom within the next few years though.
- Hairy Opuntia Hybrid.JPG (65.49 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This is an interesting plant, with long, silky, white hair tufts. According to Opuntia spp. expert Dave Ferguson, this plant may be remaining in a juvenile form and thus would never flower.
- Opuntia aciculata var. orbiculata.JPG (90.46 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This is my favorite prickly pear. However, while it is adding pads (cladodes), it has thus far produced only one blossom. Perhaps giving it some fertilizer with a high phosphorus content would make a difference.
- Opuntia imbricata.JPG (109.82 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
Another Opuntia member, which does grow vegetatively for me, but hardly produces any flowers, although it should be large enough to do so.
- Opuntia schottii.JPG (86.4 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This is a low-growing, dwarf version of an Opuntia sp. It used to be in the back yard and grew in a mat-like fashion, but never flowered. I moved it to a cactus bed in the front yard, where it receives more sun. Perhaps that will aid the plant with flowering.
- Oreocereus trollii.JPG (96.64 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This cactus does grow reasonably fast and even has produced a pup. The plant is over one foot tall, but most likely will not flower until it reaches about twice that height.
- Soehrensia (Echinopsis) bruchii.JPG (96.64 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This is a very fast growing plant. I purchased it in one of those small 2 1/2 inch square nursery containers. It has now reached diameter of 9 inches. Last year it started to produce a flower bud, which subsequently was aborted. I hope, that this year will finally result in the cactus coming into flower for the first time.
- Tephrocac_papyracanthus var diadematus.JPG (94.65 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
Tephrocacti like this one and the next one pictured are very reluctant to flower. I am told, that they need to have three or more segments on a stem, before the plant will produce a flower bud. However, it feels, is if you sneeze near that kind of cactus, the top segment drops and there are not going to be any flowers. The plant shown lying down for its winter rest did flower once for me. That happened, when a club member brought some pieces that had broken off his plant(s) and I took one home and put it in the ground. I had a short 1-segment cactus that gave me two beautiful white blossoms! Since then, there has only been vegetative growth.
- Tephrocact_articulatus ssp papyracanthus.JPG (88.75 KiB) Viewed 2974 times
This is the other, more common Tephrocactus. This one does have wider, soft spines, resembling long fingernails. This one too rarely ever flowers, due to the tendency to drop the top stem segments.
Harald
Gabriel