Recently I moved to the countryside of Portugal, more precisely in the region of the Alentejo.
The Alentejo is the hottest and driest of all differents regions of Portugal, the climate of the region is typically warm and dry for a large part of the year, with summer temperatures regularly reaching up to 40 °C (104 °F), while winters are little rainy, wet and relatively mild by European standards.
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I have a Lophophora for a few years that I bought very small and it seems to be loving the new home/climate, because I noticed some development after moving here.
So... My interest has increased about these plants and I decided to buy another one, a little bigger.
So far I have had no problems with these plants, I keep them inside a greenhouse most of the time with a sun protective cover and the substrate I use looks ok, a mixture of limestone gravel, pumice, lava rock, perlite, akadama and kiryu and they dry really fast.
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But now some questions have come up and I hope to receive some help in this forum
FIRST: This summer is being really hot, and my little plant was a little squishy and wrinkled, so I watered it and it became firmer,
but not turgid as it usually is. And I noticed that a small part of the bottom is becoming a little purple(?) and still squishy.
I did some research and it seems to be a sign of dehydration.
Can I water more frequently??? I'm really afraid of rotting problems.
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SECOND: The bigger plant, which I bought recently, came with some scars. As soon as the plant arrived, I took the plant out of the pot, washed it, allowed it to dry properly, and changed the substrate (that was very organic) and the scars seem to have no progression. Should I worry about mites etc?
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THIRD: I bought these plants in simple plant stores and I'm not sure about their variety, should I wait for flowering? Is that the only way?
Sorry about my bad English
