Zac's Cacti

[Tom in Tucson]

Next group of plants to exhibit: Mammillaria! All these pics are from earlier in the spring when the plants that do flower were in flower.

Mammillaria bombycinia... One of the oldest cacti I have. I got this as a seedling about 5cm tall amongst the first batch of cacti I ever bought. It's certainly done well over the years! The offsets started growing from the main stem two years ago, and have just grown like crazy. So far only the main stem flowers.
Mammillaria bombycinia.jpg


Mammillaria hahniaha. Another older one. Bought in 2017, early in my cactus growing journey. Has flowered regularly for years.
Mammillaria hahniana.jpg


Mammilaria gemnispina. Another reliable flowerer. It's pretty cool that the main stem is splitting in three!
Mammillaria gemnispina.jpg


Mammillaria parkinsonii. Fantastic dense spines. So far it hasn't flowered for me, but both spines are in the process of splitting into four heads total.
Mammillaria parkinsonii.jpg


Two Mammillaria grahamii. The darker one I've had for a few years, and the smaller one I just got this spring. Can't take credit for the flower; the bud was already growing when I purchased it.
Mammillaria grahamii 1.jpg
Mammillaria grahamii 2.jpg


Mammillaria senilis. No flowers yet, but it is growing steadily. Definitely a candidate for full sun given those dense spines.
Mammillaria senilis.jpg


And last but not least, Mammillaria schiedeana. Slow but steady growth through the years. Has such tiny flowers that they barely poke through the spines!
Mammillaria schiedeana.jpg


That's it for this batch. Up until a few weeks ago I had a pair of Mammilloydia candidas that died a gruesome death, detailed in a separate post.

Excellent MAM collection!

If you like M. bombycina, you should try M. perezdelarosae!

A couple of my favorites: M. lenta, M. egregia, and M. sp. FO229 (OK that's 3)

[zpeckler]

If you like M. bombycina, you should try M. perezdelarosae!

Ha! I literally ordered one two days ago.

[zpeckler]

The newest addition to my collection, a Mammillaria perezdelarosae subs. andersoniana seedling! This thing is very small; for scale the pot it's in is 2.25" in diameter. Potted in pumice screened to 1/8" and pea gravel (60%/40%).

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[Tom in Tucson]

The newest addition to my collection, a Mammillaria perezdelarosae subs. andersoniana seedling! This thing is very small; for scale the pot it's in is 2.25" in diameter. Potted in pumice screened to 1/8" and pea gravel (60%/40%).
Mammillaria-perezdelarosae.jpg

This is a plant that for the most part. only a collector could love, not that there's anything wrong with that. The typical species has far more attractive flowers, and the central spines - instead of looking like tiny meat hooks, look more like a pin cushion. That being said, this variety is actually much more rare than it's "cousin" (with it's larger pink flowers). Bravo!!

[zpeckler]

...A plant that for the most part. only a collector could love...

Ha! You 100% hit the nail on the head. I love Mamms but, man, I *hate* re-potting the ones with the fishhook spines. I'm dreading re-potting my bombycinia, grahamii, and senilis next spring! I must be a sucker for punishment because I have a ton of Mammilaria dioica and tetrancistra seedlings that are coming down the pipeline. Basically I really wanted a perezdelarosae but couldn't stomach *another* plant that's gonna grab me any time I try and handle it. When I saw the subs. andersoniana available I was willing to pay a premium.

In case anyone else wants to grab one, the subs. andersoniana is available from Your Cacti Succs for a pretty penny. If you want a regular perezdelarosae they're available at Arid Lands Wholesale.

[zpeckler]

Well, it's been a little bit.... The next installment in my cactus collection: Columnars!

Trichocereus grandiflorus bought from a big box store. Has a special place in my heart because it first flowered on my wedding day! I have a second much smaller one that was gifted to me, and it flowered for the first time this spring.

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Two Organ Pipe Cacti... One of which almost died earlier this spring, but it recovering nicely after a radical debridement. Has put down roots and has even started to grow a little bit.

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Pachycereus pringeli... Classic. Grown about 10cm so far this year.

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Four South American cacti, from left to right: Cleistocereus strausii, Espostoa (either lanata or melanostele, I'm not sure), Parodia leninghausii, and Oreocereus trollii.

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Here's one that's fairly uncommon: Bergerocactus emoryi. Part of my California native collection. Grows down by San Diego and on the Channel Islands.

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A little Saguaro, because every collection has to have just one.

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Two Stenocereus erucas. Just got them this spring after looking for this species for a while! Really excited to see them creep along in the future.

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Cleisterocereus winteri. Grows great with several long arms, but so far hasn't flowered for me.

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And last but not least, Lobivia leucomalla. A very reliable and beautiful flowerer! Technically it's my sister's and I've been babysitting it for the last few years after she moved to an apartment that doesn't have any sun exposure.

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Well, that's it for culumnars. Hopefully it's not so long until my next update.

[Tom in Tucson]

Organ pipe cactus: Marshallocereus (Stenocereus) thurberi love heat combined with water.

Pachycereus-pringlei (cardon) like conditions a little cooler. That's why they don't grow far from the Sea of Cortez in Sonora.

Carnegiea-gigantia like nearly the same conditions as the organ pipe.

Machaerocereus (Stenocereus) eruca like what cardons like, but cooler still.

HTH

[zpeckler]

Organ pipe cactus: Marshallocereus (Stenocereus) thurberi love heat combined with water.

Pachycereus-pringlei (cardon) like conditions a little cooler. That's why they don't grow far from the Sea of Cortez in Sonora.

Carnegiea-gigantia like nearly the same conditions as the organ pipe.

Machaerocereus (Stenocereus) eruca like what cardons like, but cooler still.

As always, your habitat insights are always helpful, Tom!

Man, S. thurberi has got to be my favorite of the big North American columnars. I'm really glad I was able to save my smaller one. For anyone else interested in a deep dive into the habitat, growth habits, and cultural history of this iconic species I highly recommend the book The Organ Pipe Cactus by David Yetman. He has a similar book about Saguaros but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I wish I had books like this about all my favorite species!

[Minnesota]

The newest addition to my collection, a Mammillaria perezdelarosae subs. andersoniana seedling! This thing is very small; for scale the pot it's in is 2.25" in diameter. Potted in pumice screened to 1/8" and pea gravel (60%/40%).
Mammillaria-perezdelarosae.jpg

That little one is a stunning specimen. I might need to look into the link--thanks, Zac!

[zpeckler]

Well, it's that time of year... repotting. Things are already off to a bit of a concerning start.

I was inspecting my collection and noticed right away that my Echinocereus rayonensis was looking sick. It's pigment was looking—for lack of a better term—blotchy with some areas that looked kinda bleached. It's hard to describe; not sunburned "bleached," just overall the plant looked really off. I started the repotting with that one and I was dismayed to find that it had a pretty well-established root mealy infestation!

Fortunately I don't see any areas of obvious rot on the plant at this time, but it does look like it's in really rough shape so we'll see how well it recovers. I went to the local garden store and got a shoot-ton of insecticide soap, and after blasting all the old growing medium off the roots with a garden hose I soaked the plant in the insecticide soap for an hour before letting it dry off.

I started with the rest of my Echinocereus because they were all in close proximity to the rayonensis. My E. engelmanii and pacificus had a few mealies, but the rest were ok. A Cleistocereus winteri cutting and two Cylindropuntia ramosissima cuttings were also infected. All of the plants I've unpotted so far have gotten the hose to remove the old growing medium and the insecticide soak.

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Other than the root mealies, I was pretty pleased with how my Echinocereus have been doing. They were all last repotted in February of 2022, and this was the first time I moved them from terracotta to impermeable pots. I was a little concernrd with how some of them were showing such slow growth over the last two years, but after unpotting them I as pleasantly surprised to see that they had WAY better roots than I've ever seen them have in the past. The pic above is after cleaning them off so some of the fine roots were damaged, but take my word for it that the roots were filling their entire pots! The effects of moving them out of terracotta, I guess.

So now I'm gonna go through the rest of my collection and re-pot ALL of them and give them all an insecticide soak. I try to do half my collection one year and then the other half the next, so this'll be a lot more work than usual. Oh well, gotta do what I must to make sure this infestation is eradicated.

[Steve Johnson]

Hi Zac,

There could be a connection between mealy infestations and calcium-magnesium deficiency-- check out what hydrobuilder.com has to say:

• "Magnesium and calcium go hand in hand, and are often an area where plants become deficient. Magnesium helps aid in the uptake and utilization of other nutrients, along with producing carbs and sugars to help during flower."

• "Calcium has a similar role in plants as in humans, helping produce strong cells and root walls. This leads to stronger plants. We've recently come to understand that calcium is actually the dominant nutrient in most plants." [My emphasis]

My theory is that stronger cells and root walls make it harder for sucking insects (mealies, armored scale, and pest mites) to get a toehold on infestation. (Yeah, I know -- mites aren't insects, but the theory applies to them too.) Here's a tip from MikeInOz -- when you give your cacti their last deep watering of the growing season, water without fertilizer (that means no N), but give them plenty of calcium. Mike calls this "seasoning", although you may know it as "hardening off". No matter what we call it, water plus Ca and zero N prepares the cacti for the rigors of winter. If my theory is correct, then root mealies (always a wintertime problem) won't stand a chance trying to attack the roots while they're dormant. Same should apply to stem and spine mealies.

As you know from the new fertilizer regimen I discussed last year, it includes 1/4 tsp. nitrogen-free TPS CalMag per gallon for my watering solution. Thanks to the tip I got from Mike, I seasoned my cacti for the very first time toward the end of summer -- last 2 deep waterings with 1/2 tsp. TPS per gallon. If you do the same (and assuming that my theory is correct), I have a feeling that you won't be stuck with root mealy infestations ever again.

Can't remember if I ever discussed acidifying tap water with you, so in case I didn't...

Believe it or not, the hardness in tap water provides Ca and Mg to our plants, although the water needs to be acidified. The 2 acidifiers safe for home use are 5% white vinegar and citric acid. The reaction products are:

• Calcium acetate and magnesium acetate from vinegar.

• Calcium citrate and magnesium citrate from citric acid.

Acetates and citrates are water-soluble, making Ca and Mg available to the plant's roots. I use a digital pen style pH meter with 2-point calibration, but I don't know if you want to go that far. If you'd rather not, you can use test strips. The best I've found -- 20 in 1 Hard Water Test Kit made by Oycevila available on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Oycevila-Complet ... 58&sr=8-36

pH of the water after acidification should be 6.0-6.5, so it's best if you "sneak up" on your target pH by adding a small amount of acidifier at a time. Once you hit the target, write down the total amount of acidifier you used and make a note of it so you'll know how much you need every time you prepare to water your cacti. Something to be aware of -- tap water pH is higher in summer and fall than it is in winter and spring. As Mike has said in the past, there's no such thing as too much Ca and there's no such thing as Ca toxicity. If you acidify your tap water and keep it up with the TPS CalMag supplement, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the improvements in growth of your cacti with more Ca and Mg.

[zpeckler]

Hey Steve!

Yeah, I was doing the standard 1/4tsp/gal of the TSP cal mag when fertilizing. I'll have to remember to do the boosted dose next fall at the end of the growing season.

I'm all over the water chemistry! In addition to growing cacti I also homebrew so I've had my water profiled at a lab. Ward Labs does an afforable water profile for homebrewers that includes pH, hardness and electrolyte levels; link here. My tap water has a pH of 7.3, and is only "slightly hard" with a total hardness of 30. I have a pH meter (also repurposed homebrew equipment) and I use a little white vinegar to bring the pH down to the 5.5 to 6 range.

This is the first time I've had a problem with mealies, but since they're so common I figure it was only a matter of time. At least they didn't kill any plants outright, and if my E. rayonensis does end up dying the shop I got it at still has them in stock so I can get a replacement.

[Steve Johnson]

Ward Labs does an afforable water profile for homebrewers that includes pH, hardness and electrolyte levels; link here.

Only $52 and change for the Brewer's Test or Household Complete Mineral Test -- IMO worth the price of admission so I know exactly what's in my tap water. I should do that soon. Thanks, Zac!

[zpeckler]

Things are proceeding apace. I'm almost done with my North American cacti, and man oh man has it been a process! About 25% of all the cacti I've unpotted have had root mealies. Most haven't been too extensive an infection, but a few got it really bad. I'm kinda surprised that more of the plants weren't looking stressed.

Here the m*therf*ckers are chomping away on my F. viridescens. Every plant has had its roots sprayed liberally with insecticide soap, and the ones that are actively infected are getting soaked in the soap for an hour or so.

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Here's some of the "in progress" plants. Getting the larger ones like my Cardon, E. grusonii, and M. bombycinia unpotted were real struggles. The hooked spines of the bombycinia were particularly difficult considering the size of the plant and how I didn't want to damage any offsets. For scale in the pics, the metal tray they're on is a half-sheet pan. The roots and bodies of some of these are dusted with sulfur powder if I was a little rough getting the clumped-on old substrate off them and damaged them.

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One thing that struck me is how densely compacted my old growing medium was. for about 5 years I was using a mix of 50% turface, 25% 1/4" pumice, and 25% potting soil. Now to my eyes that mix is insanely organic for my desert cacti. Plus, with the small particle size of the turface and the potting soil, it compacted really densely around the roots.

I'm trying out an all-mineral mix for my N. American species. The medium pictured below is 30% pumice, 30% scoria, and 30% "bonsai block" (a hard-fired volcanic clay that's a cheaper substitute for akadama). These ingredients were all screened to be between 1/8" to 3/8", with some larger pieces of pumice allowed through. I used the bonsai block because wanted to include something in the mix with some CEC; time is at a premium for me a lot of weekends and I didn't want to be obligated to fertilize every time I watered.

The remaining 10% is decomposed granite; washed and screened to remove the fines, it ended up with a minimum particle size of around 1/12". Because the DG I was able to get locally was so small I made it a relatively small portion of the mix so as not to "clog up" the pots. Overall, the mix is open, airy, and drains very quickly. I will do drying tests this summer once temps get up to my growing season average, and adjust particle size and mix composition as needed.

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That's all I've got time for now. Will post pics of the re-potted plants when I can. There are also other issues with my growing technique I've encountered that I'll go into more detail later.

[Steve Johnson]

Aside from the root mealies (I'm with you on those emeffers), everything looks good. You might notice that the roots on some of your cacti are starting to wake up. The difference is between dark brown (asleep) and light brown/beige (awake). When the roots are fully awake, they'll grow a multitude of root hairs that give the roots a fuzzy appearance, and the root hairs are the transport system which get water and nutrients up into the plant. When the overnight lows are consistently above the low 50s, the roots of your cacti should be fully awake and ready for action in spring.