14 December 2007
Turbinicarpus: small plants that burst
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti; Pests & Diseases .
I mentioned in the blog entry entitled “Turb rescue!” that I generally find Turbinicarpus to be sturdy little plants. Well, here’s an example of what can go very wrong with them.
Give them too much water early on in the growing season, and they get over-excited, pull in as much water as they can, and promptly burst. Literally. [1]
They’re not, after all, designed for particularly luxuriant growing conditions.
T. schwarzii, shown here, is, in my experience, by far the most vulnerable species. I’ve caused more of them to split over the years than I either care to remember or admit. [2] But although the damage is unsightly, they’ll generally recover as long as the wound can be kept clean and allowed to heal.
Footnotes:
[1] another plant I’ve found to be vulnerable to this is a hybrid Astrophytum I’ve had for many years - a cross between A. asterias and A. myriostigma ‘nudum’. Its scars from splitting have just about grown out of view now, but it’s taken years. And this year the red spider mites got it…
[2] Incidentally, I didn’t burst this one - it was like this when I got it. Honestly.