Chopped Mammillaria carmenae

[cantharis]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing .

[iann]

Here's two pups. There are some more but they aren't developing very fast. The larger pups might be suppressing them.

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[iann]

I love it when a plan comes together.

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Now if the top half would just grow some roots ...

[DaveW]

Interesting to see if they get redder later Ian since so far they almost look like a reversion, if so it could presumably explain how the red form originated in cultivation?

[iann]

I think it is going to become a nice plant.

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[DaveW]

Interesting to see if the white offsets fully change to brown. If not it could indicate the brown form was originally a cultivated sport and has reverted?

[iann]

Plan B, just in case the top ring of pups doesn't make it ...

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[C And D]

M. carmenae usually has no problems sending off clustering heads, and rerooting.

But not all Mammillarais are the same....!!

I cut the top of this M. polythele nudum off last summer hoping to get some heads off it.
it was too tall, almost a foot, it was getting kind of ugly, so I thought I would restart it.

Well still nothing, and the top still has no sign of roots after being buried for the last month.
I pulled it out for the photo.

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[iann]

I've never had on offset on M. polythele. I haven't chopped any though.

[DaveW]

Cacti can hang around for a year or two and even shrink quite a lot before rooting, the same for offsetting. I used to have part of a bed in my old greenhouse where I just threw surplus, cuttings and it was surprising some just languished for a few years before they rooted. Surprising how hardy our plants are.

[C And D]

I have a Mammillaria carmenae, reddish spined form that has been starting to bend over, hence desperately needing a hack job, a la Ian advice.

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The inner flesh is pinkish.

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I cut at the low skinny section.
Then beveled the edges on both sections, it helps when the section dries, less swiveling around the edges.

[iann]

No pink flesh on mine. I've seen it on other Mammillarias, sometimes to the point of being bright red.

[cactidan]

Mammillaria glassii has very pink flesh, the birds in my garden kindly showed me by pulling a rather nice clump apart for their nests a few weeks ago! Guess those hairs looked too tempting, perils of no greenhouse. Managed to save most of it though so I wasn't too upset.