Introducing myself

[SavageTurtle]

Those plants from Southfield Nurseries look lovely. I had a shipment of plants from them a few weeks back, I was also very happy with my purchases.

Love the yellow flower on your G. Baldianum and your G. Damsii is stunning.

[diana.v]

Thank you

Very happy indeed, and they delivered fast as well. A bit of a strange feeling when you know someone else will choose what plants you get, at least for me. Except the ones that I just bought and very few others, acquired at Chelsea Flower shows, all my cacti are from various garden centres or supermarkets, where they didn't always receive the best care. Most of them had mealybugs or scale when I bought them

Obviously buying from dedicated sellers pays

[diana.v]

A few days ago I was checking to see if the guys that are still in my dirty mix have dried out ( I was sticking a toothpick in the soil) and after 7 days of 30C plus degrees(86 F) in my conservatory, the soil was still wet! Especially wet in some of them. I thought there's something wrong and decided to take the risk and take them out of the pot to check the roots. I took the Echinocereus rigidissimus and the Gymno mihanovichii out first and they just came off the soil There was barely any roots in there... They didn't have too much to begin with when I repotted them last year. Then I checked underneath the top dressing of all of them and discovered a few that I thought to have been repotted in pure mineral mix were actually still in dirty mix, and because it has been so warm I was giving them sips in between waterings
I am lucky they're still alive. Decided to take all 15 of them and repot them in mineral mix.
Most of the Mammillarias were fine though.

Now since I started watering in March, I've been giving them full drenches every 7 days, and that combined with the fact that I repotted them in 30 August last year, probably took its toll on them. I think I will go on a every 2 or 3 weeks watering from now on and see how it goes. I would rather see them shrivel a bit than loose them.

Unfortunately also found root mealies in some of the pots

On another note, I managed to pollinate my G. baldianum flower with the pink flowered G. damsii, and when the flower died, the stalk didn't fell and it was visibly getting fatter day by day. Then, yesterday morning, I checked on it and it was deflated and dry. I blew softly and it just came off I have 0 experience with pollination, and this is my first year when I tried to pollinate my cacti, but that night it got down to 10C (50F) in the conservatory, and I'm wondering if that's why the fruit was aborted. I dissected it and it looked full of undeveloped seeds

Well, I guess better luck next year.

[Aiko]

Now since I started watering in March, I've been giving them full drenches every 7 days, and that combined with the fact that I repotted them in 30 August last year, probably took its toll on them. I think I will go on a every 2 or 3 weeks watering from now on and see how it goes. I would rather see them shrivel a bit that loose them.

That sounds like a very wise plan! Don't water succulents on a time scale, especially on a high recurring one. Once every few weeks sounds like a much better plan. Even if a plant gets dehydrated in the mean time, they will plump right up a few days after the next watering.

I have 0 experience with pollination, and this is my first year when I tried to pollinate my cacti, but that night it got down to 10C (50F) in the conservatory, and I'm wondering if that's why the fruit was aborted.

I would be surprised if that was the case. Most cacti can easily take cold temperatures, even well below 0C depending on the species. Below 10C might not even hurt a heath loving Pseudolithos or Whitesloanea...

You only tried pollinating once? Pollinating more often might do the trick, not just a one try. Sometimes the pollen is not ripe, or the receiving end on the other flower is not ready yet. They might not be fully synchronised in development. Or they just don't match, as might be the case with these two separate species. Or the actual transfer of pollen just did not go right. I usually just use my fingers, which works fine.

[diana.v]

Thank you for the sound advice Aiko!
I am definitely going to go easy with the watering from now on

Regarding the pollination, I probably did it about 3 times in the 4 days that the flower was open. I guess not nearly enough. While the G. Baldianum's flower lasted only 4 days, the G. Damsii's flower are today 10 days old, and only one of them looks like it's gonna close for good today and the base getting thick.
Fingers crossed!