My flowering Cacti 2021

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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by hegar »

Thank you very much for commenting eulaspiegel and Jerry.

@ eulaspiegel: It is quite interesting, that you are using that user name. I remember a court-jester like fictitious figure from the time I grew up in Germany, who is named Till Eulenspiegel. I am astonished, that this fairy tale person is also known in Sweden.

@ jerrytheplater: Well, Jerry, I hope, that you were able to access the images I posted. I am glad, that you like my cactus collection and will of course give you answers to your questions.
First, I found out, that for initial growing and rooting of cacti, I have been pretty successful using the sandy and gravelly material that is present in our arroyo beds. Those are dry creek beds, which only fill with water during the limited rainfall we experience.
Also, the plants, which I obtain for free during our cactus club rescue operations, can be planted in the ground, without preparing the soil.
I did over time add weathered golden granite as a top dressing. That does keep the roots cooler and moister and the cacti do grow better that way.
For those plants, which are more prone to root rot, I did produce a very coarse growing medium. It consits of about 50 to 60% small pumice, with the rest made up of arroyo soil, and granite chicken scratch. I mostly use that kind of growing medium for the cacti in the planters.

Because there are not many nutrients in either my desert soil or the home-made growing mixes, I do regularly fertilize my cacti, whenever I do water them, i.e. about once a week from the beginning of April until the end of October here in El Paso, Texas.
I had been using a MiracleGro product for flower production (Bloom Booster), which did have a formula of 15-30-15, plus some micronutrients.
I would also feed my plants ammonium sulfate twice or three times per growing season.
Now I have switched to a different fertilizer, which does have better fertilizer ingredients and more micronutrients according to Steve Johnson, who is also on this blog. I bought a gallon of this very expensive liquid fertilizer called Dyna-Gro through Amazon for 60 plus dollars and am trying it out this season and hopefully many seasons more. It does have the formula 7-7-7 (N-P-K). Another person, who knowms more about fertilizers than I do, suggested, that to further improve the fertilization, I should add a little potassium sulfate.
Now I do use 1 teaspoon of Dyna-Gro 7-7-7, one quarter teaspoon of potassium sulfate, and two tablespoons of vinegar for each full 2 gallon watering can. I do acidify the water, because our tap water does have a pH of about 8. That is too alkaline for good growing conditions. I am trying to reduce the pH to below neutral (pH 7). Using fertilizers will generally reduce the water pH, making it more acidic.
For the final watering of the season I do use 4 table spoons of vinegar and one fourth teaspoon of potassium sulfate.

As far as weeds are concerned, I do not have too many problems. Those that do grow I pull out immediately. Once again, it does help to have a "mulch" of those golden granite stones. The weeds can be pulled more easily, because the soil beneath it is not as hard and crusty as it would be without the gravel layer.

Finally, yes, I do have an inventory of the plants, which includes even those that I could not successfully cultivate. So I know, more or less, what kind of cacti I do have and how many plants of each genus and species. I also keep the digital images I have taken over the last half decade. They supply me with information about the approximate flowering time. Also, I know then, which kinds of cacti are blooming more than once every year.

Well, Jerry, if you would like to know additional things, please feel free to ask. I know full well, that I am not the cultivation expert and will freely admit, that I have killed a lot of cacti in my care. I do attribute that to trying to grow many different kinds of genera/species in the ground.
I am certain, that I would be doing much better, if I had a greenhouse.

Harald
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by hegar »

Correction:

My growing medium used mainly in the planter bowls does not have the correct percentage values.
The pumice part does actually make up between 80 and 90%. The arroyo material and the granite chicken grit make up the rest.

Harald
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eulaspiegel
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

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hegar wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:49 am Thank you very much for commenting eulaspiegel and Jerry.

@ eulaspiegel: It is quite interesting, that you are using that user name. I remember a court-jester like fictitious figure from the time I grew up in Germany, who is named Till Eulenspiegel. I am astonished, that this fairy tale person is also known in Sweden.
I actually also grew up in Germany, more specifically in the Swabian Southwest where we would pronounce Eulenspiegel as Eulaspiegel. We always used to say "du Eulaspiegel, du trauriger" as a kind of fun insult among friends when someone did something stupid :lol:

Very interesting to see how you grow cacti outside, I would love to experiment with some cold hardy species here in Sweden, but that will have to wait until I have some sort of sunny garden :)
Growing mostly under LED lights, in northern latitudes. Especially interested in stem succulents and caudiciforms. Dreaming of my first greenhouse.
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Aiko
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by Aiko »

We call the chap Tijl Uilenspiegel up here, so a bit of a different name again.
We don't have a saying referencing to annyone being dumb when we call them an Uilenspiegel / Eulenspiegel / Eulaspiegel, though.
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jerrytheplater
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by jerrytheplater »

hegar wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:49 am
@ jerrytheplater: Well, Jerry, I hope, that you were able to access the images I posted. I am glad, that you like my cactus collection and will of course give you answers to your questions.

Well, Jerry, if you would like to know additional things, please feel free to ask. I know full well, that I am not the cultivation expert and will freely admit, that I have killed a lot of cacti in my care. I do attribute that to trying to grow many different kinds of genera/species in the ground.
I am certain, that I would be doing much better, if I had a greenhouse.

Harald
I was able to see your photos here at home. I did find I needed to refresh the page as some did not load the first time I came to your post.

When I first read you were using Arroyo soil, I read it as if you were growing your beds in the Arroyo and was really shocked. But I see my mistake. So your plants in the planters/pots are in a mix you made up, and the garden beds are just your native soil with the gravel mulch. Do you know what the organic matter content of your soil is? Must be extremely low. Do any leaves/needles from trees ever accumulate on the soil and decompose into it?

I've been using Dyna-Gro Bloom and Gro for probably over 15 years on my African Violets (1/4 tsp/gal watered weekly). My cactus get it when I think of it, not nearly as often as you. If I fertilized my pots like that, I think I'd have some pretty overgrown plants. I generally fertilize monthly during the growing season. I buy bulk Potassium Nitrate (KNO3), Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4), and Mono Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4) from a friend in the commercial greenhouse industry to sell to members of the Aquatic Gardening club I am a member of. I also have a trace nutrient mix called Nutritrace CSM which is also used. (Please don't think I wrote that to get you to want to buy some. I won't sell it by the mail and limit it to club members as a service). My friend worked at a greenhouse that used Dyna-Gro and bought it in 55 gallon drums.

I use Nitric Acid to acidify my water if needed, but only because I have it and know how to use it safely. Keep using vinegar. I usually mix up my fertilizers with Deionized Water obtained either from my dehumidifier or from work where my waste treatment system produces it at about 14 gallons per minute. (We recycle our water used in the electroplating part of the business) DI water generally has a pH of around 5.5 due to the dissolved Carbon Dioxide. If you boiled it and checked the pH again, it would be closer to 7, until it absorbs more CO2.
Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ
45 inches (114 cm) rain equivalent per year, approx. evenly spread per month
2012 USDA Hardiness Zone 6b: -5F to OF (-20C to -18C) min.
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,

I did not have a good day today, because I did lose either the largest or the second largest Ariocarpus fissuratus to root rot. :(
Either the largest or second largest of my A. fissuratus is no longer present in the planting bowl.
I do not know, what I did wrong. I may have watered the plants too heavily or too early, March 27th and April 4th. It coud also be the cold spell we did have on Valentine's Day, when the temperature dropped to 11 degrees Fahrenheit. However, I did place a cover over the pot before the tremperature dropped that low. I had used a coarse growing medium and thought, that I would not experience a root root any more.
I had placed the three cacti into the planter in 2018 and everything was fine all of that year and 2019 and 2020. Here is the last photo of all three cacti in flower from September 2020.
A_fissuratus1.JPG
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Ario_fissuratus30.JPG
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A_fissuratus1b.JPG
A_fissuratus1b.JPG (143.26 KiB) Viewed 5809 times
Well, I only hope, that I am not going to lose additional of my flowering-size A. fissuratus plants.

Now to another topic: Jerry, I do indeed have rather poor soil conditions. My property was located on the "Mesa", not in the valley. As a result, I do have sandy, low organic soil. I am trying to keep the soil the way it is now and will not allow organic matter to accumulate from nearby plants, be they conifers or decidious plants. I believe, that with an increase of organic matter (humus) I might increase the probability of root rot.


Harald
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jerrytheplater
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by jerrytheplater »

Thanks Harold.
Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ
45 inches (114 cm) rain equivalent per year, approx. evenly spread per month
2012 USDA Hardiness Zone 6b: -5F to OF (-20C to -18C) min.
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,
I still want to explain to you, why the claret cup cactus (Echinocereus coccineus) and also hybrids, which - except for the flower color - do resemble the claret cup, are some of my favorite cacti.
One of the main reasons to me is the long flowering period, with each flower lasting approximately one week. The second is the multitude of blossoms, which do open up in a staggered fashion. So, you will have one flower finished, while one will freshly open. The third reason is something I do consider quite rare, if not unique: The flowers do remain open day and night!
I still go to work on weekdays and have missed out on a lot of flowering cacti, some of which only bloom for one day or two and their blossoms are closing or closed by the time I arrive home.
With this cactus, however, you can come home at midnight and with some decent illumination you will be able to take a good photograph.
I did go out a little after 10 p.m. and used an LED flash light, which did not give me even illumination. I just wanted to show you, that indeed the flowers are wide open. Here is an image to prove it.

Harald
E_x roetteri5a.JPG
E_x roetteri5a.JPG (121.17 KiB) Viewed 5775 times
keith
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by keith »

second largest Ariocarpus fissuratus to root rot" yea no fun and who know why with these transplanted big ario's could be anything ?

I have lost a couple due to too much pumice which holds water so I have to be extra careful now watering. Before that ( new pumice mix) I never lost any.
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,
several of my plants did bloom the last coupel of days and more are announcing their upcoming flowering within the coming week.
Here are a few of the cacti in flower:
My only large-size Turbinicarpus valdezianus did produce a large, long-lasting blossom. I had ordered three more of them from Miles-2-Go. However, they were pretty small seedlings and our resident curve-billed thrasher pulled them out of the pot. I am still not sure, if any of them are even alive any more, but I do hope, that at least one survived the uprooting. Nasty birds! :x
T_valdezianus6.JPG
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Also, two more of my Turbinicarpus pseudopectinatus plants were in flower. The largest one of the four I do have does not show any sign of flower buds. So, it may skip this year. I had tried to purchase two plants of the subspecies jarmilae and two white-colored specimens, but thus far I do have two pink jarmilae and one which is white with a pink midstripe. Perhaps the big one is also a plant producing light-colored flowers.
T_pseudopectinatus2.JPG
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T_pseudopectinatus4.JPG
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Another Turbinicarpus, which keeps on blooming is this specimen. I do not recall, what the species name of it is.
Turbi3.JPG
Turbi3.JPG (90.19 KiB) Viewed 5725 times
A small Mammillaria sp. is also still producing its cute ring of flowers.
Mamm6.JPG
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Last, but not least I can now report the first of the claret cup cacti (Echinocereus coccineus), which is joining the first E_ x roetteri in bloom.
E_coccineus6.JPG
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E_coccineus7.JPG
E_coccineus7.JPG (155.75 KiB) Viewed 5725 times
I may have some more images to show tomorrow, but it may take a few days longer, depending on the plant's schedule of course.


Harald
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jerrytheplater
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by jerrytheplater »

Harold, have you ever tried putting a wire mesh over your plants to keep that bird away? Chicken wire would work or a smaller mesh hardware cloth. At least until the plants root in.
Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ
45 inches (114 cm) rain equivalent per year, approx. evenly spread per month
2012 USDA Hardiness Zone 6b: -5F to OF (-20C to -18C) min.
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

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Hello Jerry,
that idea using small-mesh wire sheets sounds good. Not only would it protect the freshly planted seedling cacti, but it would also provide a bit of shade in our super strong sun. It would thus do dual function duties.
Thus far, all I have done is to place a few stem pieces of cholla cacti (Cylindropuntia spp.) near the seedlings. The birds will then not get too close, because they seem to know about those nasty barbed spines on those stems. A small-mesh hardware cloth or metal grid supported by a few sticks or bent into a U-shape would be much more versatile.
Thank you for the suggestion.

Harald
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,
today, the second of my hybrid claret cup cacti (Echinocereus x roetteri) opened its first blossom. Of all the possible hybrid flower colors, ranging from white over pink, to orange and all the way to red, the pink color dominates.
E_ x roetteri9.JPG
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E_ xroetteri10.JPG
E_ xroetteri10.JPG (112.09 KiB) Viewed 5680 times
More to come in the near future.


Harald
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jerrytheplater
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by jerrytheplater »

hegar wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 4:41 am Hello Jerry,
that idea using small-mesh wire sheets sounds good. Not only would it protect the freshly planted seedling cacti, but it would also provide a bit of shade in our super strong sun. It would thus do dual function duties.
Thus far, all I have done is to place a few stem pieces of cholla cacti (Cylindropuntia spp.) near the seedlings. The birds will then not get too close, because they seem to know about those nasty barbed spines on those stems. A small-mesh hardware cloth or metal grid supported by a few sticks or bent into a U-shape would be much more versatile.
Thank you for the suggestion.

Harald
You are welcome. I use 1/2" mesh hardware cloth bent into an open box shape to cover over my hills of squash. Birds love the seedlings as they sprout. Once the leaves hit the mesh, they are no longer attractive to birds.
Jerry Smith
Bloomingdale, NJ
45 inches (114 cm) rain equivalent per year, approx. evenly spread per month
2012 USDA Hardiness Zone 6b: -5F to OF (-20C to -18C) min.
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2021

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,
I did have a three-day weekend and there was no flowering to speak of. Today, while I was at work, three cacti did bloom!
Because I arrived home at around 6:30 p.m. all three blossoms had already closed and I am not sure, if any of them will be open again tomorrow.
Here are the three whose flowering I missed: Thelocactus hexaedrophorus, Thelocactus bicolor var. bolaensis or flavidispinus, and Echinocereus bonkerae. I also photographed one of my prickly pear cacti, either Opuntia azurea or O. macrocentra, also with the flowers already closed.
T_hexaedrophorus.JPG
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T_bicolor var bolaensis or flavidispinus.JPG
T_bicolor var bolaensis or flavidispinus.JPG (121.15 KiB) Viewed 5623 times
E_bonkerae.JPG
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O_azurea or macrocentra.JPG
O_azurea or macrocentra.JPG (120.1 KiB) Viewed 5623 times
Now, in comparison, those plants, which did have open flowers. All of them are either claret cup cacti (Echinocereus coccineus ssp. rosei) or hybrids with claret cup phenotype (Echinocereus x roetteri).
E_coccineus ssp rosei.JPG
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E_ x roetteri11.JPG
E_ x roetteri11.JPG (163.08 KiB) Viewed 5623 times
E_xroetteri12.JPG
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E_x roetteri13.JPG
E_x roetteri13.JPG (127.56 KiB) Viewed 5623 times
I am going to ask my wife, if she would be willing to take a photo of the Thelocactus bicolor, in case it does open its blg blossom once more tomorrow. I may thus still be able to post a picture of that plant. I did notice in prior years, that the first blossoms do have more saturated petals and it would be nice to have an image.

Harald
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