Discocactus horstii Adventure

[C And D]

I have a nice batch of seedlings growing now

But in the past, I would either cut off extra heads of my old plant that has several new ones per year

or graft seedlings on to Pereskiopsis, then de-graft, or graft onto a bigger stock.

None of seedlings made it to maturity, they dry up slowly and die one by one
Maybe I will keep this batch going, fingers crossed.

I have been getting seed from frozen pollen.

[BarryRice]

Oh god, this sounds so depressing. The future for my seedlings suddenly seems so dim!

[Brunãozinho]

Those look great James. That species is amazing, they are very rare here too and I have never seen one in person.

Thanks, Bruno. I do envy you for your location -- do you plan a Bahia field trip soon?

Hi James, yes I do, I plan this trip for next year, before the rains get heavy there. Have you ever been there?
Hopefully I will have enough time to go all the way down to the state of Minas Gerais, I will make sure to take lots of pictures.

If you consider cacti in habitat and the threat many of them are suffering, it's a bit relieving that D. horstii are very well protected in their natural place.

[C And D]

As seedlings, they are easy to grow.
These are 2 months old

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These are 5 month old seedlings grafted onto Pereskiopsis

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This is an old Graft that I bought, and I cut off the heads when they get a little bigger, then root them.
Some of the heads are twined, so you can get a two headed plant

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Here is my old plant on it's own roots, I've had it for at least 11 years now, and it just started growing new heads this year.

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[BarryRice]

Simply spectacular!