14May2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
There’s something of a lull in my greenhouse at present. The Rebutias have just about done their thing for now, and most of the turbs are taking stock and busy preparing their next phase of flowers.
My adult Melocactus is doing a fine job, however, and is popping new fruits and flowers out on an almost daily basis. The cephalium has grown well so far this year, and has produced a decent amount of new wool.
14May2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
This is my first year keeping Digitostigma caput-medusae. I have a couple of double-headed plants, which are tubercle grafts, grafted on (I think) an Echinopsis of some description.
They didn’t adjust to the first spell of bright sunlight this year to start with. They went a deep purple colour, which is something some of my other Astrophytums do anyway. Of more concern though was that the tentacles lost turgidity and went extremely floppy, as it took a while for their stocks to decide to take up water. Now, though, they’re growing strongly, and this plant has surprised me by putting out an offset which is shown circled here.
4May2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
I bought this plant last autumn, expecting it to be the white-flowered Rebutia albiflora.
But no… it’s produced a handful of rather lovely orange flowers, and appears that it’s more likely to be a Rebutia fabrisii v. aureiflora instead.
4May2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
Here is a plant that suffered a bit last year.
I had a bout of attacks of red spider mite in the greenhouse last summer. Plants that were affected included my monstrose Mammillaria painteri, which picked itself up again without any trouble at all, and an Echinocereus fitchii which subsequently collapsed over the winter. Even my rather nice Astrophytum asterias x myriostigma hybrid was affected, and now has a few scars to show for its trouble.
4May2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
One of the nice things about having several plants of the same species is the fact that it makes it easy to see variability between individual plants.
Five of my Turbinicarpus pseudomacrochele were in flower yesterday, and as you can see, the plant top right has much more strongly-striped petals than any of the others, whereas the second plant down on the left has greater separation between the petals.
I pollinated most of these plants between one another, and also attempted a couple of crosses that may or may not produce anything of worth: krainzianus x pseudomacrochele, and schwarzii x pseudomacrochele.
2May2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
At long last, I’ve finally managed to raise a plant from seed to flowering. Admittedly it’s an easy species, and flowers young, but I feel a real sense of achievement with this one.
My two-year-old Echinocereus viridiflorus, which is probably not quite an inch across, has obliged at last, and filled the greenhouse with a lovely lemony scent.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the second bud won’t abort.
26April2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
There haven’t been an enormous number of flowers today, but the plants that have obliged have certainly put on a good show. Here’s Mammillaria zeilmanniana having a go in this afternoon’s sunshine. This plant has been in my care for about five years, in which time it’s gone from living in a 3 1/2″ pot to a 12″ bowl.
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19April2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
At long last, Heliocereus aurantiacus is in flower.
Not bad going for a plant that was destined to be chopped up and thrown out!
The flowers are very heavy and having trouble not drooping, but the vibrant red of their petals is providing some extremely welcome colour on this dull grey spring day.
I haven’t researched much about this species in the past so I wasn’t even completely certain what shape the flowers were going to take. I think I was expecting something a little more Selenicereus-like, but obviously they’re far closer to Epiphyllum flowers.
16April2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
Unfortunately I can’t remember the source, but I recently read a comment in which the author ruminated on the idea that we may not give some Opuntia species enough water. Recent articles in the BCSS journal, and discussion on the forum, regarding the general underwatering of Fraileas, have got me thinking about this again.
I’ve certainly found with some larger growing Opuntioid species (true Opuntias, Cylindropuntias and the like) that they can take ages to wake up properly after the winter if not given a really good soaking from the outset. Because they shrivel so much if kept dry over the winter, they seem to need a lot of water to rehydrate themselves.
15April2008
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.
These, and two others, aren’t far off popping now.
The buds are comparable in size to those that my Selenicereus grandiflorus has produced reliably for the last few years.
Some warmth to help them develop fully would be nice!
As I think I’ve mentioned previously, this plant was due to go to the great compost heap in the sky had it not flowered this year, as it takes up an enormous amount of space that I was starting to begrudge giving to it. Quite what caused it to flower this year, I’m not sure.
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