Latest arrival!

[Steve Johnson]

In a rare miscalculation, I got a cactus for my new plant bench last summer which turned out to be bigger than I thought. CoronaCactus sent me a nice Sulcorebutia aranacea, but even in its 5" diameter pot, I knew that it could easily exceed my 5" limit before I'd have to decide on keeping the plant or giving it away. (It's a decision I try to avoid as much as possible.) Unexpected growth on the aranarcea's main stem this summer didn't help its cause. Here we are going from March 16 to September 21 -- oh no, I created a monstrose!



Sorry aranacea, you weren't floating my boat anyway, so time to place you with someone else. Guess my subconscious was telling me something, because I decided to check out the M2G website just to see what Miles had these days. In his list of new selections, up came Rebutia pygmaea. When I looked at the photo, I knew that the species is more my style -- a miniature, with lovely form and spination plus big orange flowers which I'd prefer over the small orange blooms on aranacea. (Prolific or not doesn't matter to me.) The limited space I have on my plant bench meant that the aranacea would have to go first. But where?

Well, my friends, I've had good luck finding glazed ceramic pots at the California Cactus Center. So bringing the aranacea with me last Sunday, I went out there -- maybe a donation, or something in trade if they had any in the right sizes I was looking for. My luck held again, as I found a few tiny pots that would be perfect for tiny cacti currently sitting in waterproofed terracotta. There was also a bigger pot I could use to occupy a plant I had in mind for terracotta replacement. Sulco aranacea out, empty glazed ceramic pots in, and I placed my order with Miles on Tuesday. The new R. pygmaea arrived Friday, so let's have a look. Here it is coming with bare-nekked roots:





Looks like my subconscious was thinking for me, because the bigger pot I found at the CCC happened to be perfect for the pygmaea's new home:



Here's a closer look at the other side of the plant:



And a view from above:



The back row of Shady Glen is a great place for sun throughout the day in spring and summer. Uh oh -- here comes the neighborhood:



While that spot may not have been the best for the big aranacea, it'll certainly work just fine for the pygmaea. My Rebutia heliosa will get moved over into Sun Valley toward the end of winter, and the empty space back there? It's reserved for a Discocactus horstii that'll move in when the 2015 growing season starts. My timing has been wonderful thus far, and the new arrivals now and soon to come should be happy as they take their positions in the sunny little region of Shady Glen. Oh, yeah -- my Turbincarpus jauernigii could use more sun, so it'll go back there too.

Cheers, everyone!

[iann]

Admit it, you just thought with that name you'd be able to home it for many years

[DaveW]

Most Rebutia's and Sulcorebutia's will form reasonable sized clumps in cultivation given time Steve.

http://cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus=Reb ... es=pygmaea" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Fa ... ar._minima" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Can't think of many cacti that cannot eventually clump and exceed 5" pot size, even the Turbinicarpus in your pictures, unless it be Frailea's or Blossfeldia's.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/288451/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Remember you can always break clumps up and start again, swapping the spares for other plants

[Steve Johnson]

Remember you can always break clumps up and start again, swapping the spares for other plants

Yep, I'm already thinking ahead when I consider what could happen with my clustering cacti. The R. pygmaea is in a 4" pot right now, but I can upsize it to a 5-incher when the brood increases. I'll be in a similar situation with a number of my other clustering plants, so I'm happy if I can pass "excess inventory" pups along to keep these cacti within the pot diameter ranges I can deal with. Great for beginners and people with more growing space to expand their own collections. I have enough local contacts now to where drop-offs are just a drive away, but shipping to other forum members here in the US could be in our future too. This is a fun aspect to the hobby I haven't been able to participate in yet (at least not much), but certainly something I'd enjoy doing for other cactus fans over the years!