Blossfeldiana

25January2009

Schlumbergera opuntioides again

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

The flowers can’t be far off now. At least, you’d hope not.

25January2009

Vegetative propagation of Mammillaria luethyi

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

I bought a bloated, many-headed graft of Mammillaria luethyi at the BCSS National Show last September, along with a couple of lovely little plants of the same species on their own roots. The graft came from Terry Edney, and I spent a little time talking to him about the possibility of chopping up the grafted plant and rooting individual heads.

He seemed to think that it would be no problem, and that Mammillaria luethyi cuttings will root easily enough.

His suggestion was to take cuttings in January, when the plants are at their most desiccated, and keep them somewhere warm sitting on top of dry sand.

I don’t use sand, so, as you can see, the trusty Tesco’s premium lightweight cat litter is being employed instead. If these four heads root down successfully, I shall gradually dismantle the graft, and use it as a stock plant for production of more of them.

18January2009

Tephro time!

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti; Propagation.

I’ve now sown most of my Tephrocactus sensu stricto seed, apart from a new packet of Tephrocactus geometricus sourced from the Rowlands.

I’m encouraged by the progress of the pot of Tephrocactus fiambalensis nom. prov. from the BCSS seed list – I now have five seedlings, one of which is growing on its side after having to be prevented from burrowing down into the bottom of the pot.

They’re enormous seedlings compared with those of most cacti, and I’m a little concerned that if all the seeds in that pot germinate, they might be a little crowded.

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11January2009

Fraileas, two months on

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

I’ve posted twice recently about the speed of development of young Frailea seedlings; well, I thought it might be interesting to post photos of what they can be expected to look like a couple of months after germination.

On the left is a pot full of Frailea angelesiae, sown in October 2008. I’ve done far better with these this time round, due in no small part to the fact that my current artificial light doesn’t cook small plants like the last one did.

You can see the distinctive tubercles developing already; some Fraileas do look like miniature adults at a very early age.

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10January2009

Last year’s seedlings – part 4

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

Here are some rather nice small white plants.

There are plenty of cacti that are small and white. Tight white spination is, after all, a good defence against ragingly bright sunlight. Quite a few of these species have been shunted around a lot, taxonomically speaking.

Turbinicarpus valdezianus, shown left, has been both Pelecyphora valdeziana and Normanbokea valdeziana, and probably other things besides. It’s obvious from its flowers, though, that it’s a turb. These seedlings are just 7 months old, having been sown last May.

Two months older, and quite a lot larger, are these Mammillaria pectinifera youngsters. M. pectinifera had its own genus to itself, once upon a time, as Solisia pectinata. It’s long since been absorbed into the genus Mammillaria, and rightly so. At this stage the pectinate spination is just beginning to assume the distinctive shape that it will have in adulthood, but from a distance you could easily be forgiven for confusing these with the turbs above.

10January2009

Hurray for Tephrocactus seed that germinates…

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti; Propagation.

I’m very pleased to find that I’ve had a seed of Tephrocactus fiambalensis nom. prov. germinate. These were the seeds shown in the seed-raising guide I put together last week, and despite being massive, hard-coated seeds, they seem to work.

It would of course be nice if some of his companions decided to join him…

4January2009

Early signs of spring

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

Despite the horrible cold weather, a couple of my plants are already preparing for spring flowering.

As usual, a Turbinicarpus valdezianus is one of them.

This rather splendid specimen was bought at the BCSS National Show last year from Phil White, and is well ahead of my smaller plants of the same species.

Also in bud is this Titanopsis hybrid – a cross between T. primosii and T. hugo-schlechteri given to me by Ian.

I’ve been struggling a little to keep its growth really compact as I’ve been a little too generous with water, unfortunately. I’ll grow it harder next year.

3January2009

Last year’s seedlings – part 3

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

It’s been a heavy day’s blogging here at Blossfeldiana Towers. The bitterly cold weather may just have something to do with it. But this will be the last post for today.

I don’t normally grow columnar cacti, but received seeds of Corryocactus melanotrichus and Trichocereus pseudocandicans from the BCSS Forum seed pool when seed dating back to 2005 was being chucked out to make room for newer material.

The largest of the Corryocactus melanotrichus seedlings (above) grew like the proverbial clappers and takes the prize for tallest year-old seedling of the 2008 season.

Meanwhile, the tray of Trichocereus pseudocandicans to the left just goes to show what happens if you sow loads of seed thinking that none of it is going to come up: all of it does.

3January2009

Last year’s seedlings – part 2

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

2008 was the first growing year in which I tried to grow some of the other succulents from seed. I cast the net reasonably wide, and tried various mesembs, as well as some leafy things as well. The thing that surprised me most was how rapidly some of them sprout, like Euphorbia obesa, and how huge the newly-germinated seedlings are.

Left to right, top to bottom: Gasteria pulchra, Euphorbia obesa, Agave sp. (Arizona), Conophytum pellucidum, Titanopsis primosii, and Lithops julii ssp. fulleri.

3January2009

Not an opuntia

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

Here’s a strange plant: Schlumbergera opuntioides. It’s basically a Christmas cactus that’s dressed itself up to look like something far meaner – an opuntia.

Each segment is covered with spiny areoles, just like a flat-padded opuntia, but as you can see, the shape of the flower buds gives away the fact that it’s nothing of the sort.

Schlumbergera opuntioides is tropical and likes warmth. I’ve seen 12 centigrade quoted as a minimum winter temperature but mine seem happy with a minimum of 7. Happy enough to flower, anyway!

3January2009

Last year’s seedlings – part 1

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

Apart from the seedlings that are in the house under lights, there are of course hundreds of tiny spiny plants in the greenhouse. These are the ones that I deemed big enough to fend for themselves through the drought of the winter months.

I think these two pots of mammillarias look particularly attractive with their spines drawn closely together – on the left is Mammillaria perbella ‘infernillensis’, grown from Doug & Vivi Rowland seed, and on the right is Mammillaria sp. ROG 642, a plant with yellow flowers, grown from Mammillaria Society seed. The ROG 642 plant’s spines catch what little winter sun there is rather nicely.

3January2009

Early outdoor trial results

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

Blossfeldiana: destroying plants so that you don’t have to! This Opuntia decumbens went outside with the hardy opuntias this summer as it’s been sitting in the greenhouse for years refusing to grow.

As I considered it fundamentally expendable I thought it could stay out for the winter and take its chances. Well, after a period of low temperatures and hard frosts, as you can see, it’s not looking too healthy. One to keep in the greenhouse, I think.

However, the O. decumbens isn’t the only one to have suffered badly.

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3January2009

Fraileas are go!

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti; Propagation.

I’ve posted before about sowing Frailea seed fresh – well, the seed I set in October was almost completely successful; only Frailea horstii v. curvispina struggled, and I now have hundreds of the little blighters.

Some took a week or two to germinate, but several species were up very quickly indeed, and I was curious to see whether this was a pattern that would be repeated if I planted another selection of species. I knew that the seed was freshly produced last summer, so  all that remained was to get them sealed in their plastic bags and wait.

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1January2009

Simple seed-raising guide now online

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

While preparing to sow some seeds today I decided to photograph the process and document what I do when sowing, in the hopes that a visual account of it might help some beginners out there. I’m no expert, but have made plenty of mistakes in the past year or so since I started growing these amazing plants from seed in earnest. You’ll find the link to the guide in the menu at the top of the page. I hope some of you find it useful.

1January2009

New header image

Posted by Stuart under: Cacti.

New year, new banner photograph – and I must admit that the rather nicely-flecked Astrophytum myriostigma I’ve chosen for 2009 isn’t even my own plant. It belongs to my mum, and is a nice solid plant of a good few years’ standing.