Offsets and their babies

[RobP]

Hi all

One of my Rebutia Carnival hydrid offets is starting to produce its own flowers. For a sense of scale, it is a 5.5cm pot.

Rebutia Babies

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Rebutia Babies 2

2013-06-12 22.54.38.jpg (42.59 KiB) Viewed 2175 times

[Heather]

And here is my little baby!

P1010006.JPG (77.01 KiB) Viewed 2138 times

[velita]

I didn't know baby plants could produce flowers so quickly? How old should be a plant to bloom? Are offsets not considered babies? (I'm new, sorry if it's a dumb question).

I thought most cacti took around 3 years to be mature and bloom, I guess I'm wrong?

[JamesEG]

I didn't know baby plants could produce flowers so quickly? How old should be a plant to bloom? Are offsets not considered babies? (I'm new, sorry if it's a dumb question).

I thought most cacti took around 3 years to be mature and bloom, I guess I'm wrong?

Rebutia I think normally mature and flower earlier than most cacti, so the offsets flower quite quickly when still attached to the mother plant then carry on flowering when they're removed. Some cacti can take less than 3 years, some can take way more! Rebutia also flower while they're still growing, some cacti only flower when more or less full grown and mature.

Hope this helps! If anything else can be added to this someone with some more experience than myself will help too

[CactusFanDan]

I didn't know baby plants could produce flowers so quickly? How old should be a plant to bloom? Are offsets not considered babies? (I'm new, sorry if it's a dumb question).

I thought most cacti took around 3 years to be mature and bloom, I guess I'm wrong?

Offsets have the benefit of having Mummy's root system and body to nurture them, so they grow much much faster than plants from seed do. 3 years for a Rebutia from seed could be right. Some cacti can bloom sooner and others will only bloom when they're at least a decade old. It's variable.

[greenknight]

Rebutias are famous for blooming young, I've heard of seedlings blooming in their second year. This isn't strange at all.