A pale Mammillaria tetrancistra

[iann]

I was wondering if this flower would even be pink

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It is

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Much paler than this one

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[keith]

Nice I have seen these plants in the Anza borego desert but found them too difficult to grow. Mojave desert hot in summer and freezing in winter. I guess anza borrego is not really the mojave more like the western sonoran.

[iann]

The plant with the three flowers is from Scissors Crossing. Almost in Anza-Borrego State Park! If I can grow them in England then I suspect you can too. Very touchy about water in summer though, certainly the first half of summer. M. tetrancistra wants winter rainfall rather than bimodal rainfall, so you have to be careful even in late summer. Can easily over-inflate with winter water, then they tend to die when it gets hot. Definitely not easy, but definitely doable if you ignore most of what you ever learned about growing cacti

I'm not sure how much winter cold these really want or need. They are primarily a Baja species, extending only into the hotter lowland areas of southern Ca. True Mojave species such as Echinocactus polycephalus appear to be more hardy, not that I've killed many of either species to test. E. polycephalus is definitely set up for bimodal rainfall and will take on board late summer water (or maybe that's just because they are so thirsty by then?) - even the ones I have from Anza Borrego

[keith]

M. tetrancistra wants winter rainfall rather than bimodal rainfall' Oh Ok I know it can rain in Anza Borrego in Summer but maybe not too much, mostly winter.

I'm trying to keep my last Echinomastus erectrocentrus alive but have mostly stopped trying to grow difficult USA cactus. At least for now. I mean they look so nice in the Mojave and I'm not that far away so I get to see them once and awhile and compared to the sickly ones I try and grow on the coast...

I'm going to try some winter growing succulents see how that goes.

[iann]

Most mesembs will do great provided you're not too far from the coast. I've still got a few Echinomastus and Sclerocactus, but find them more difficult than Echinocactus polycephalus or Pediocactus. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[iann]

I just went out and grabbed a snap of Echinomastus intertextus. Only flowers in spring.

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