Turbis and Pelecyphorae

[TimN]

A couple of pictures from last weekend.

Turbinicarpus booleanus and some others

T booleanus.jpg (94.19 KiB) Viewed 1208 times

Pelecyphora strobiliformis with flowers

P strobiliformis.jpg (103.09 KiB) Viewed 1208 times

Pelecyphora asseliformis seedling. I cut the top off it as a seedling to graft it. The graft failed, but the base of the plant put out an offset.

P asseliformis.jpg (87.74 KiB) Viewed 1208 times

Geohintoni mexicana I've had this for a while it's in a 2.25" pot.

G mexicana.jpg (71.01 KiB) Viewed 1208 times

[Mark]

Very nice plants and flowers Tim! How big is the first turb?


Mark

[Steve Johnson]

A couple of pictures from last weekend.

Very nice-looking cacti, Tim! The Pelecyphoras just get me, and I'm really glad that I was able to snag the better of those two you had up on eBay. Just had a couple of questions for you:

1. You mentioned that the subadult heads should be ready to flower soon. Any guess at to whether it would be next year?

2. Do you have any history behind the strobiliformis I got? I was just interested to find out if you know what caused the original plant to go blind. Not that I'm complaining, mind you -- I love those heads, and it was so nice to discover a tiny new offset when it came out of the box.

By the way, I love that Geohintonia too!

[Arjen]

great looking plants and flowers! is that booleanus leaning against that other pot, or is that base strong enough to stand up straight?
I have a turbi that is also sprouting from the base like that, looks a lot like that Pelecyphora!

[Aiko]

By the way, I love that Geohintonia too!

Me too.
In what soil mix is it sitting / standing?

[TimN]

Very nice plants and flowers Tim! How big is the first turb?

It's in a 2.25" pot so it's probably a around 2" across and 3.5" tall. The scrawny little stem seems to hold it up just fine. I had to prop it a little when it was young. The top is packed with flowers, too.

[TimN]

Very nice-looking cacti, Tim! The Pelecyphoras just get me, and I'm really glad that I was able to snag the better of those two you had up on eBay. Just had a couple of questions for you:

Thanks for bidding and congratulations on winning!

1. You mentioned that the subadult heads should be ready to flower soon. Any guess at to whether it would be next year?

Mine have flowered in both the spring and fall, so you might get some in the fall.

2. Do you have any history behind the strobiliformis I got? I was just interested to find out if you know what caused the original plant to go blind. Not that I'm complaining, mind you -- I love those heads, and it was so nice to discover a tiny new offset when it came out of the box.

I bought both of the auction plants (plus another that died in the intervening time) on ebay. When I got them they had completely stopped growing at the points you could see on both plants, and looked like it had been some time since there had been growth. I had no idea what I was looking at in the pictures at the time. Knowing what I know now, I'd probably have passed. I took care of them for probably 2 or 3 years at least where they did very,very little growing, but I could tell they weren't dead. Your plant made one head smaller than the smallest current head and tried to graft it with no luck. It sat around for more time. Then about two years ago they both started to grow again in fairly robust fashion. I was pleased to say the least.

I know my skill at cactus culture has improved significantly over the years, but I can't point to any one thing that caused them to grow again.

I've seen the same seller with similar looking plants recently. I don't even want to know how he does it!

By the way, I love that Geohintonia too!

I bought that on ebay a number of years ago. I haven't had any trouble with it. It's grown steadily, if very slowly, since I've had it. The flowers on it are similar to the P. strobiliformis. I haven't had flowers on any of the P. asselliformis yet.

[TimN]

great looking plants and flowers! is that booleanus leaning against that other pot, or is that base strong enough to stand up straight?
I have a turbi that is also sprouting from the base like that, looks a lot like that Pelecyphora!

Thanks! It really is a handsome plant. The plant is not leaning on the other pot, but the pot is leaning on its neighbor. It's a little unbalanced, but it supports it's entire weight.....so far.

I had to prop it up when it was younger. And it doesn't stand straight, it has a gentle curve to it.

Whenever I look at it I marvel that the tiny stem holds up that fat top.

[TimN]

in what soil mix is it sitting / standing?

I use about 50% TurfaceMVP and 50% coir. I think I added some gypsum to that soil too. It's very free-draining and the only organic is the coir which breaks down slowly.

[Steve Johnson]

Thanks for the info, Tim! My strobiliformis is still settling in after the repot, but it'll get first watering of the year on the 27th. Hope to see a little new growth out of it over the rest of the growing season. If I see my first flowers in the Fall, then I'll know I'm doing something right. And now in search of an asseliformis...

[DaveW]

Turbinicarpus subterraneus has an even slenderer neck than booleanus:-

subterraneus2.jpg (98.94 KiB) Viewed 1149 times

I grew both Aztekium hintonii and Geohintonia mexicana from seed at the same sowing, but whilst the Aztekium is now about twice the size of the Geohintonia and has flowered the Geohintonia has sulked so far. Hopefully it will now get a move on again. I don't find Pelecyphora or Encephalocarpus that difficult on their own roots (famous last words!) so still would be inclined to root one of those spare heads down to get a normal plant eventually.