Another Melo

[oldcat61]

Another melo followed me home - it was in with a bunch of ferns at the local garden center & begged me to rescue it. Once I scrapped off the moss, the soil was the usual wet peat/perlite with the dry hard center. When I got it all cleaned up, the roots were awesome - I've put it in an 8inch azalea pot until I find a nice glazed one. My kind of deal - big, cheap & very spikey. Any ID guesses or do I just call him Unknown #6? Thanks, Sue

[sabotenmen]

It's very difficult to ID a Melo cactus, especially without cephalium. I don't think it will take long to get the cephalium with this one, though. Congrats on a nice addition to your collection.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

A very nice looking plant =^_^=

[Steve Johnson]

Sure looks like a Melo -- the spines make me think matanzanus. Sue, if you have the cactus in a 4" pot and it starts growing a cephalium soon, I think that would confirm it as matanzanus. The species takes about 5 years from seedling to maturity, so they take less time to develop cephalia than most (maybe all?) other Melos. I'd be really interested to see your progress on this one.

[oldcat61]

Steve - see first post; it's in an 8inch azalea pot. This puppy is big! I have a matanzanus with a ceph which is much smaller. I brought all the melos into the GH & they looked so cute I took a family portrait. He's the big guy on the right rear. Sue

[Steve Johnson]

Steve - see first post; it's in an 8inch azalea pot. This puppy is big! I have a matanzanus with a ceph which is much smaller. I brought all the melos into the GH & they looked so cute I took a family portrait. He's the big guy on the right rear. Sue

Ooh, definitely not matanzanus then! Sabotenmen is correct about the difficulty of getting proper ID unless and until a cephalium starts growing. I'm still pretty confident that you do have a Melo, though. It'll be interesting to find out how things progress here.