A small collection: 2015 and beyond

[Steve Johnson]

Gymnocalyciums

My collections have always been small due to limited growing space, so the approach now is the same as it was in my younger days -- concentrate on smaller cacti, but don't limit yourself to collecting just a handful of genera. I've been lucky on both counts because I developed a taste for miniatures early on, and a talent for putting together fairly diverse representation of species being grown. In other words, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Gymnos certainly rated back then, so when it was time to build a new collection, the genus was still on my "radar".

G. ochoterenae vatteri (California Cactus Center, June 2011) -- seen here on 9/27/11:



I remember growing horstii, mihanovichii, and platense, with platense being the one that interested me the most in the '70s. Unfortunately the CCC had a slim selection of Gymnos when I went there in 2011 -- no sign of the species I really wanted, but the vatteri they did have suited me just fine. Sometimes miniatures don't stay that way for long, and little did I know that I was about to grow a big, beautiful monster. Here's the vatteri on 3/16 and 9/27/14:



Okay, not quite a monster yet, but we're getting there! The plant was about ready to outgrow its 4" terracotta Azalea pot, so I moved it to a bigger glazed ceramic pot in March 2015. Per usual repotting practice, the move including changing out "dirty" mineral mix for clean. After the vatteri's first summer in the new pot on 9/20/15, followed by the end of this one on 9/17/16:



Now we have a beautiful vatteri monster! The plant has always been good about sending up flushes in summer, but this is the best I've seen to date. Let's have a closer look:







G. stenopleurum (CoronaCactus Nursery, July 2012) -- seen here on 7/15/12:



We find mihanovichii all over the place, and the species used to be a staple in my first collection. While I've always enjoyed its lovely skin colors, stenopleurum caught my eye as being similar but more interesting. In the stenopleurum's first fall under my care (11/23/13) and at the end of last summer (9/20/15):



The plant undergoes a rather dramatic change as it gets shriveled and stressed in winter dormancy. You saw the beginning of it in the "before" pic, so I'll show you what happens when my stenopleurum comes out of its dormancy and slowly puts on its pretty summertime dress -- 4/3 and 9/18/16:



Unlike vatteri (which does most of its blooming in summer), stenopleurum will produce flowers throughout spring, summer, and fall. A nice big singleton for you on 9/24:





G. baldianum (Sunset Nursery, July 2013) -- seen here on 7/7/13:



This was a rare departure from my avoidance of buying cacti at general-purpose nurseries. Located in the Silverlake district of L.A., Sunset has been around for quite awhile, and I occasionally go there just to check the place out. Cactus-wise, the nursery's variety and quality tend to be hit-and-miss (more miss than hit), but when I came in for a visit over that long July 4th weekend, the baldianums in stock were a hit. And one in particular said "buy me, buy me!" I couldn't resist its lovely form and spiderlike spines, with a beautiful red flower about to pop that sealed the deal. Downside to buying a potted cactus was having to dump out the nursery's mix (totally wrong for desert cacti!) and thoroughly prep the roots so they're squeaky clean before repotting. It was a yucky, time-consuming mess, although worth the effort for what I was getting. The new baldianum with a gorgeous bloom on 7/13/13:



Mineral mix and my acidified water/fert regimen did the plant a lot of good. However, a couple of things still needed adjusting -- get rid of the terracotta and "dirty" mix in favor of a glazed ceramic pot and clean mix. That was done in March 2015, so we'll review the baldianum's progress at the end of 4 summers on 9/22/13, 9/20/14, 9/20/15, and 9/25/16:




Same dates with a view from above:




As well as it was doing before its latest repot, I can tell that DG fines in the "dirty" mix were holding the baldianum back a bit in terms of growth. Maybe not terribly noticeable in the side views, although the improvement we see with the aerial shot on 9/25 is remarkable. And flowers? Oh yes, on par with previous years. This plant is an excellent choice to go with my other Gymnos.

We'll end today's post with a "one-off" species I tried growing in my early collecting years...

Ariocarpus fissuratus (CCN, July 2013) -- seen here on 7/14/13:



I say "one-off" because fissuratus was the only Ario species SoCal hobbyists were going to find in the '70s. Definitely not for beginners either, and my only experience was knowing how to rot them. When I went soil-less in 2012, everything changed, and I started thinking about cacti that seemed impossible in the old-school years of heavy soil-based mixes. Thanks to the online sources we have these days, the selection has expanded beyond fissuratus, but it's still my favorite Ariocarpus. All I required was space for one to try again. The new plant bench I installed in 2013 got me within striking distance, so when I went cactus shopping that summer, a fissuratus filled one of the empty spots. It's probably the slowest-growing cactus I have in the collection, so tracking year-to-year progress is like watching a glacier. (Just kidding, that honor goes to Aztekium .) The new fissuratus came straight from Darryl's greenhouse, so let's see what 3 years of outdoor living have done -- 0n 10/27/13 and 8/13/16:



Growth rate is decent, although I'm keeping the plant in Sun Valley, and it may be getting more sun than it should. Then again, if my fissuratus has a more natural look compared to the GH-grown Arios we usually see, so much the better. One thing worth noting is the whitish cast to the skin when it's dry. If it's part of the natural look outdoors, could this be the fissuratus version of plant mimickry? If so, that's kinda interesting. Now we'll take the "after", turn it into a "before", and see the difference when the skin stayed moist the morning after I watered the plant -- 9/11/16 on the right:



Ah, there's that Sun Valley tan. Being its very slow self, how do we know if the fissuratus is growing or not? We have 2 sure signs -- one is vibrant dark green skin around the growth point. And the other, a beige spot popping out in the middle of that dingy old wool. There we have it, and sign #2 tells us the "living stone" cactus grew a touch to end its summer.

I was thrilled to witness my first-ever Ario flower when the fissuratus bloomed in November 2014. I'll admit that I'm disappointed about not seeing another since then. Not sure why, but if it's healthy enough to keep growing in 2017, we'll have another shot toward the end of next year. Before we move on, here's a souvenir of the Ario fissuratus going from bud to bloom on the 1st, 5th, and 6th of that magic November:

[Steve Johnson]

Rebutias and Sulcos

I had a few in my first collection, although I can't remember what species they were. Certainly not much in the way of choices back then, so with the much wider selection we have online these days, it's safe to say that the following species were a new experience when they joined my current collection...

R. heliosa (eBay purchase, November 2013) -- seen here on 12/1/13:





Of the Rebutias I saw on Cactuspedia, heliosa really stood out. My preferred sources kept coming up empty, so why not give eBay a shot? That's how I found this lovely cactus offered with the "buy it now" option through a nursery in Garden Grove, CA (the name of the place escapes me). Because it arrived as a potted plant, the nursery's plastic pot and overly-rich mix had to go, and we know the drill -- get those roots squeaky clean, then repot it in pure mineral mix. Unfortunately my new heliosa ran into a spot of trouble when 2 of the pups shriveled up and died in early 2014. The situation warranted some cactus surgery. Not difficult, however, and the plant recovered remarkably well. In fact, well enough to grow a brand-new pup toward the end of that year -- here it is on 11/15 and 11/27/14:



So far, so good, but we're forgetting something, aren't we? Oh, yeah -- the "dirty" mineral mix problem. Again. That was corrected with clean mix in a new glazed ceramic pot, repotting day on 2/21/15:



Results after the change on 3/28 and 9/20/15:





Clean mineral mix got the heliosa's roots going in a pretty big way, and it was no coincidence to see the plant's very first flowers under my care in April. A new pup might be nice too, but what I saw exceeded anything I could've expected. Check this out on 6/18:



Woo hoo! I haven't seen so many pups at once, and the heliosa apparently likes what I'm doing now. The view from above on 6/18 and 9/24:



We'll turn the plant around for a side shot:



Aside from some oddness to the parent stem's form, the heliosa is growing nicely overall. With that said, I wish the older spines were all clean and silvery, although I'm sure it's impossible since the plant gets outdoor living 24/7/365. Oh, well -- any ambitions I had in trying to grow show-quality cacti ended a long time ago, and there's still plenty to love as we watch its progress next year.

R. pygmaea (Miles' To Go, October 2014) -- seen here on 10/19/14:



With the buying I did to fill space on the new plant bench in 2013, a Sulcorebutia arenacea I selected from CoronaCactus turned out to be not the best choice. Bigger than I wanted (a drawback to buying online), and over time the plant got too big and transformed itself into an ugly crested monster. So off it went to the California Cactus Center on 10/12/14, in trade for some glazed ceramic pots I needed anyway. R. pygmaea is more my style -- a beautiful miniature, and its purple skin highlights were an additional attraction:



The pygmaea went into nothing but clean pumice and granite gravel right from the start, so here are the results after 2 seasons of growing under conditions that are close to ideal -- 10/19/14 and 9/18/16:





I'll say "close to" only because what we're missing is the Arizona heat of Mr. Anderson's greenhouse. Since the coastal climate effect moderates my high temps in summertime, the difference between there and here means the plant won't get enough heat stress to maintain that lovely purple skin it had when it moved in. However, let the pygmaea go all dry and dormant through winter, and I have a feeling it'll get stressed enough to bring some of the purple back. Regardless of whether it happens or not, this gem is definitely a keeper.

If the Sulco arenacea didn't float my boat, we have 2 which did and still do...

S. rauschii (CCC, July 2011) -- seen here on 9/27/11:



Pretty apple-green skin back then, but the plant didn't look so pretty by the end of its first winter (3/10/12):



I wasn't sure if the poor thing would actually survive. The CCC mix dealt a setback to its roots, but when I ditched the "old school" soil approach in favor of mineral mix, the rauschii went through a fairly remarkable recovery in 2012. Then from surviving to thriving the following year, and you'll see some truly amazing progress as we fast-forward to 4/27/14 and 9/20/15:







A familiar sight for those of us with solid experience growing the species -- rauschii looks like it's on the verge of death in winter (3/26/16), then comes alive in spring and summer (9/24/16):





If you treat the plant right, it'll reward you with a new pup or two every year. Here are the newest arrivals doing their summertime thing on 8/14 and 9/24:



S. callichroma longispina (CCC, March 2012) -- here on 4/3/12:



Rarely encountered in US collections, I was incredibly fortunate to find this very attractive specimen with its unusual burnt-orange spines. Even better, the plant was happy enough to pop out 2 brand-new pups that summer. The spiny little bundles of joy on 8/11/12:



Last year was an important time to advance the "terracotta out, glazed ceramic in" project. Such being the case (and in the interest of popping your eyes a bit), we'll skip through 2013 and '14, and view this on 6/28 and 9/20/15:



That was the longispina's first season in cleaned-up mineral mix, so let's see if the change led to better growth -- on 9/20/15 and 9/17/16:





Can I get another "woo hoo" everyone? Simply wonderful, and the longispina's flowers are drop-dead gorgeous as well. Here's what we'll hope to see again this spring:



Aside from one last old favorite I'll cover in a later installment, the rest of this review will concentrate on cacti that were unknown to me prior to 2011. Another post is on the way...

[Steve Johnson]

Part 9 and we're still not done yet. Wow, sure got y'all into the "tall grass", didn't I?

It takes awhile to put these presentations together, and more often than not, I won't know the details of what we'll be discussing until I can review before-and-after photos. Usually good stuff, although sometimes the results won't reveal what we were hoping for. Today's post will begin with a case in point.

Coryphanthas

C. hesteri (M2G, July 2013) -- seen here on 7/14/13:



Miles grows his cacti in a fairly lean mix, but there's nothing leaner than pure mineral. As we've seen before (and will see again), cacti growing in soil-less mix tend to develop a more compact form than they would in a mix containing soil. Is this true for the hesteri? Let's compare -- in its first 2 summers on the plant bench (7/27/13 and 9/21/14):



The answer is yes. The plant didn't have enough time to do much by the end of summer 2013, so let's have a look at what we got out of the following year -- the view from above on 4/5 and 9/21/14:



Good so far, but the plant needed to have its "dirty" mineral mix replaced with clean mix. With a new glazed ceramic pot in hand, the deed was done on 2/21/15. Now we'll compare the roots on the day of its arrival (7/7/13), followed by what came out of its terracotta pot:



Uh oh -- DG fines settled down in the pot, forming a barrier that prevented the roots from growing more fully. Clean mineral mix should open them up for better growth, so we'll find out if it led to positive changes above-ground. The results of 2 years in clean mix -- 2/21 and 9/20/15, then 2/27 and 9/18/16:




The hesteri lost more water last winter than it did in the previous one. Nothing to worry about, and at least we know the roots are working since the plant got some of it back with regular soaks in the 2016 growing season. However, there are a couple of changes I wasn't thrilled with this year -- shriveled tubercles, and skin color that's lighter than I saw prior to 2016. Both could be totally normal, but recent evidence of flat mite damage makes me suspicious about the possibility that they stirred up more trouble on the plant than I realized. These pests come and go as they please, and because they're too bloody small to see without a magnifier, it's impossible to catch them in the act. The hesteri is on my list of mite-prone cacti due for implementation of a preemptive strategy next year. If it works and my suspicions were correct, we'll see unshriveled tubercles and darker skin by summer. In the meantime, there is some good news revealed by the view from above:




The bird's-eye pic from 9/18 shows a wonderfully active growth point on the hesteri, and the best I've seen since it joined the collection. Now to get that flat mite problem under control. Speaking of pests...

C. retusa (CCN, July 2013) -- seen here on 7/14/13:



Space limitations being what they are, I select at least 2 species to represent each genus I collect whenever possible. In this case retusa was the perfect companion to go with my hesteri. There's a first time for everything, and unfortunately it had to include a run-in with scale that suddenly appeared in spring 2014. The infestation went bonkers before I had a chance to nip it in the bud, although an Imidacloprid soil soak effectively ended their nasty little lives. As the 2014 season wore on, there was a consequence yours truly didn't expect. Actually 2, one bad and one good. The bad was the fact that some of the scale insects killed the retusa's growing point before I could kill them. Here's the good on 9/21/14:



The plant responded as cacti always do if they survive pest damage inflicted to the tenderest tippy-top growth -- go "blind" and pop out new pups. Pup #2 emerged a month after #1, so let's check out the progress on 9/21 and 10/25/14, followed by the start of a new season on 3/14/15:



From terracotta and "dirty" mineral mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix on 3/29/15:



I was amazed to see how healthy the retusa's roots were coming out of its terracotta pot. Apparently the plant didn't mind being in "dirty" mix one little bit. With that said, don't forget Steve's mineral rule #1 -- clean is always better! Ooh, I think the pups agree (6/28 and 9/20/15):



And finally, at the end of 2 summers on 9/20/15 and 9/24/16:



This isn't my first experience growing a "blind" cactus, although it is a first to watch the process from the very beginning. When it occurs, we have 2 options. One is to let the pups grow big enough for excision and rooting. The other -- let the plant keep growing as it would if it was in the wild, the only difference being that the plant can be cared for by an attentive grower. Of course we could pursue either or both options depending on preference and how much space you have. My prefence is firmly with the 2nd one, so the retusa's pups are there for propagation only if the blind stem develops rot. Highly unlikely it'll ever happen, but it's nice to be prepared just in case. I'm eager to show you what my other blind cactus has been up to, so it'll come up in the next installment.

Cumarinia odorata (M2G, December 2013) -- seen here on 12/31/13:



Used to be Coryphantha until taxonomical research classified it as a monotypic genus. (FYI, a good number of places still list it as Coryphantha odorata.) The combination of plant form and long red hooked central spines made this unusually interesting cactus an easy choice for selection. They're easy (albeit slow) growers too. The species is known for its fairly generous offsets and flowers, and mine wasn't shy about either in its first year on the bench. A few highlights from 2014 -- 4/19 and 9/21/14:





At the end of the Cumarinia's first summer under my care:





Adding 2 years of growth under its spiny belt -- 9/21/14 and 9/25/16:





One day of many in a constant spring-summer blooming display (5/30/16):



While those flowers aren't much to look at, it's fun to see the long fruits coming out of them. The species can be a real handful for 2 reasons. First, the fruits are a sticky, gooey mess. Give them a good long time to dry out, and you'll avoid the messiness when you extract the seeds. And the second -- the hooked central spines are grabby, so be careful about that when you harvest the fruits. This challenge also applies (and especially) to...

...Repotting. The Cumarinia was on the verge of outgrowing its original pot, so I moved it into a bigger pot around 8 months ago. I usually enjoy repotting, but this little project I was not looking forward to. Oh, well -- it needed doing, and so did the change from "dirty" mineral mix to clean mix. The absence of new pups after 2014 has been a bit disappointing, although a year of growing in clean mineral mix may be sufficient to prepare the plant for a resumption of new offsetting activity next year.

We're a wrap for the moment, so I'll leave you with this photo taken on 9/25 -- evening catches the sun at just the right angle for nature's version of fiber-optics:

[Steve Johnson]

We'll begin today's post with a quote from the CactiGuide Pelecyphora page:

"Plants of this genus grow low in the soil in their habitat of Northern-Central Mexico. In cultivation, the plants often exhibit a club-shape resulting from the transition between seedling and mature growth. Neither of the two species of this genus are mass-produced in cultivation, but they are much sought after by serious cactus enthusiasts." Pelecyphoras are some of the most fascinating cacti you're bound to see, although their very slow growth explains why they're rarely offered for sale as grown plants (at least here in the US). And if you do find one, odds are that it'll be grafted to speed up its growth. Good luck trying to find them on their own roots. Ooh, sound like a challenge, huh? Since I won't keep grafted cacti in my collection, I was serious enough to take it up, and surprisingly it didn't take long to net examples of both species in spring 2013...

P. strobiliformis (eBay purchase, April 2013) -- seen here on 4/13/13:



A forum member in Cave Creek, AZ was thinning his collection, so he put a few strobiliformis up for auction through eBay. To name names, that was TimN, and I'm really glad that he gave me the opportunity to go after a very rare 4-headed beast. Pricey, yes -- but IMO worth every penny for what I received. Tim gave me some history on the plant, so here's what we know going into this discussion. First, he acquired the plant from someone who had already put a lot of years into growing it. Second, the strobiliformis obviously led a hard life during those years. What caused it to go blind is anyone's guess, although neither here nor there as long as the plant is healthy enough to keep soldiering on. And third, he said that it took him 3 years to see new growth after he brought the strobiliformis into his collection. A soil-less mix won't work in Arizona because the climate there is too hot and dry for that, so I'm sure Tim had to include soil in his mix. However, the climate in my part of L.A. is perfect for pure mineral mix, and I have a feeling the change was enough to beat his record for initial new growth by 2 years. Now we'll evaluate round 1 of the before-and-after pics -- here on 5/4/13 and 9/21/14:





The strobiliformis lost the suntan it had in Arizona, but it picked up some nice new growth in the bigger heads. (By the way, they're in the subadult stage. They'll become full-fledged adults when the areoles go bye-bye and the oldest tubercles exhibit a bare, blunt apex.) Too bad the good stuff was offset by corking that made its way up a lot further than I would've expected. I hadn't a clue regarding possible causes, but since many problems start in the roots, I finally determined a very likely one -- DG fines in "dirty" mineral mix. I moved the plant from terracotta and "dirty" mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix in February 2015, so we have the chance for a before-and-after comparison of the roots. Bare-nekked on 4/10/13 and 2/14/15:



Oy vey, no wonder my strobiliformis wasn't happy! We need to get those roots growing again, so 2 seasons after correcting the big dirty boo-boo, let's see if there's any improvement. The dates are 9/21/14, 9/19/15, and 9/24/16 as we zoom in on the subadult heads -- first the north-facing one:



The corking has retreated just a smidge. It would be nice to see it going in reverse, but I won't hold my breath. New activity on the growth point is rather intriguing, as the head is apparently sprouting 1 (or possibly 2) new heads. Next, we'll examine the south-facing subadult:



Nice and active 3 summers in a row -- excellent, although the signs of a new head I saw last summer didn't go anywhere this year. That's okay, and it'll be interesting to find what the south-facing head wants to do next summer. We shouldn't ignore the juvenile heads either:



A bird's-eye shot of the entire plant on 9/21/14 and 9/24/16:



Both juveniles started showing subadult features last year, and the one with apical wool is making a fairly impressive amount of progress. While the other juvenile seems to be shy at the moment, I'll observe something I've noticed on my other multi-head plants -- the heads will often take turns growing, and it's kinda fun to see how they distribute their energies throughout the active months. When you think about it, this is a sound strategy for cacti that are genetically hard-wired for survival under harsh conditions in the wild. Worthy of bearing in mind here, and it also applies to my other Pelecyphora...

P. aselliformis (C and D Plants, May 2013) -- seen here on its day of arrival (5/20/13):



Craig Fry degrafted several aselliformis, then rooted them before they were ready for sale. He's a really talented grower, and I didn't think twice about jumping on whatever he had before another rare opportunity slipped away. Although cristate cacti aren't usually my thing, I couldn't resist the rarest of his rare offer -- 1 crested head and 3 normal heads on the same plant. The aselliformis went into a 2" pot, the smallest I had. Even so, it's a tiny thing, and according to conventional cactus wisdom probably overpotted. One of the benefits of mineral mix is being able to get away with it if we don't go overboard. Besides, seedlings (which my aselliformis essentially is) don't seem to mind some extra "leg room" to let their roots grow. I still needed to give the plant a potful of clean mineral mix to replace the "dirty" -- 2/14/15 was "repot the Pelecyphoras" day set up for the aselliformis with a glazed ceramic pot that was narrower and a touch deeper. Do we dare look at the before-and-after root situation?



Yep, DG fines mucking up the works kept the roots from getting down into the pot. Since the tiny aselliformis is a very slow grower, a year may not be enough to show decent progress in before-and-after pics. So let's give it 2 -- on 9/20/14 and 9/25/16:



Not bad! The change from Craig's greenhouse to outdoor living in Sun Valley is pretty significant. Okay to keep it there, or edge the plant into Shady Glen? Hmmmmmm, I'll have to ponder that. The only bit of disappointment worth talking about was to have the aselliformis ending its summertime growth before I did the big photo shoot toward the end of September. These pics going from 5/20/13 to 9/20/15 are a neato display of growing activity, and I was hoping for a repeat performance of what we see in the "afters":





August and September are normally the hottest months of the year, but the blasting heat stayed inland and gave the more coastal residents a break this summer. Good for us humans, not so good for an aselliformis wanting that heat in September. Oh, well -- some years are hotter than others, and least we know what the plant looks like when it's growing. (If I'm observant enough to remember, I may give you a demonstration of those heads taking their turns to grow next summer.)

As we proceed, here's a fun little game we haven't played in awhile, and it's called...

Is this cactus growing?

That's what I kept asking myself ever since Kyle Williams (AKA Saxicola) provided a lovely Uebelmannia pectinifera multicostata I was keen on getting. (2013 was a great year for catching what I wanted through the forum.) Here it is all potted up and ready for action on 5/3/13:



Or not, as there was no action at all by the end of that summer. Maybe just slow to establish, I suppose. The plant should've had plenty of time to put on some new growth the following year, but no, things went in the wrong direction. The view going from 5/3/13 to 9/20/14:





Uh oh, not good -- the Uebelmannia may be surviving, but it sure ain't growing. Before that summer was done, I was getting suspicious about what DG fines in the "dirty" mineral mix might've done to its roots. Although I covered the story in detail here, we'll review a couple of facts that'll bring us up to speed. First, my suspicions were confirmed when I repotted the plant in glazed ceramic early last year. A before-and-after comparison of the roots on 5/3/13 and 2/21/15:



Gut instinct told me that the Uebelmannia might need some soil in the mix to build the healthy root system it didn't have sitting in 2 years of dirty mineral mix. DG "play sand" fines are a lousy substitute for soil, so why not give the plant some actual soil? My prescription, 80% pumice and granite gravel mixed with 20% soil culled from the bag of California Cactus Center mix I bought there in 2011. Let's see if there's any improvement -- here on 2/21 and 9/20/2015:





No new growth yet, but the plant is finally taking up water. That means we have roots! Because the Uebelmannia had to build a fibrous root system from scratch, it would explain the lack of new growth on top as the plant concentrated its nutritive energy on growing the roots. Of course we don't know what's been going on below-ground, but there's only one definitive way to put this theory to the test. Here it is on 3/26 and 9/17/16:





Yes indeed, this cactus is finally growing! U. pectinifera is a slow species, and a year may not be sufficient to gauge the growth rate on mine. At least we have a promising start, and if the improvement continues, the plant could rate a follow-up entry in next year's end-of-summer review. Now back to this one...

In Part 7, I referenced Aztekium ritteri as being the hands-down slowest grower in the cactus family. For the connoisseur of unusual cacti, this species is also the most fascinating, yet elusive of plants we'll encounter in collections. Given their extreme difficulty in maintaining on their own roots, A. ritteri is the one cactus I wouldn't even think of trying. (The most experienced growers have a lot of trouble keeping them for more than a few years.) What about Geohintonia mexicana? A very acceptable substitute because A. it's closely related to Aztekium, B. relatively easy to grow on its own roots, and C. not so bloody impossible to find. I found mine from Tee Dee Cacti through an eBay auction in December 2013. The new little Christmas present hit my doorstep at the very end of that year. Since it came as a potted plant, I didn't want to chance a repot during wintertime. Best to wait for the new growing season (which I did), and we'll see what came tumbling out of Tee Dee's plastic nursery pot on 3/15/14:



Yeow, a sea of perlite and composted soil -- what a mess! We'll replace that crap with mineral mix and an attractive glazed ceramic pot, here on repotting day 3 days later:



I wasn't hip to the "dirty" mineral mix problem back then, although it didn't take long for me to realize the importance of cleaning it up. (This was a problem of my own creation, and I could've avoided it right from the get-go. I'll explain later.) Changing the mix from dirty to clean was a gradual process involving the long "terracotta out, glazed ceramic in" initiative, and the cacti starting in glazed ceramic and "dirty" mix came last. The Geohintonia grew well in 2014 and '15, so there was no sense of urgency. In fact, the plant grew well enough to warrant a bigger pot, and it was repotting time again in May. Here's an obligatory review of the roots -- 3/18/14 and 5/15/16:



I'm pleasantly surprised by how good the roots looked as they emerged from 2 years in "dirty" mix. The Geohintonia will get clean mix anyway, its latest repot on 5/15/16:



With Steve's mineral rule #1 in operation, we'll evaluate the results and see if the change made any difference. On 7/18/14 and 9/24/16 -- there might be a "wow" factor here:





Wow! Overall, the Geohintonia's growth was much better this year. There's also a small, but important observation to point out -- the absence of tiny stubby spines around the upper part of the plant. They should've presented themselves in the 2014 and '15 growing seasons, but they didn't -- the consequence of DG fines in the "dirty" mix, or just a coincidence? The appearance of robust new spines on the growth point suggests that it was no coincidence. This gives us another theory we can test, and I have a nice feeling it'll be proven over the course of 2017.

What do we have for the next installment? Here's a hint:

[Steve Johnson]

That teaser pic I just showed you means we'll be looking at...

Copiapoas

They're described as "earth cacti", appropriately named because most of the plant lives below-ground. I'll have 3 examples for you today, and the first was my introduction to the genus when I purchased a C. hypogaea at the California Cactus Center in July 2011. The plant had lovely bronze skin when it joined the collection -- here it is sporting a pretty flower on 7/16/11:



Not so hot 3 months later:



That was the result of growing in the CCC's heavy soil mix. The hypogaea did fairly well after I moved it into mineral mix, although a serious mistake ultimately bit me in the backside when the poor thing rotted in August 2013. (Sad story with a teachable moment that's stayed with me ever since. If you'd like to get the details, you can find it here.) At least I was able to rescue all of the pups, but due to limited growing space, I had to keep the "pick of the litter" while the rest went to a good home. And a nice pick it was too -- instant parent with a big healthy taproot, potted up on 8/18/13:



That was one heck of a save, as the survivor blessed me with issue the following March. The new pup on 3/16 and 3/29/14:



If the mineral mix did its job, strong root growth in 2014 should tell us that the hypogaea was in need of a bigger pot. Let's have a look -- repotting day on 2/15/15:



Oh yeah! To get the full effect of our before-and-after progress, here's a side view on 3/29/14 and 9/18/16:



A bird's-eye view (3/16/14 on the left so you can see the new pup just starting to pop its little head up):



Since we're continuing to investigate the effects of "dirty" vs. clean mineral mix, we'll run a before-and-after comparison of the hypogaea at the end of its 1st and 2nd summers in clean mix. 9/19/15 and 9/18/16:





Just to remind y'all, residual DG "play sand" fines in the dirty mix were clogging up airspaces that should've been open for optimal root growth. The improvement with clean, open mix is exactly what I hoped for -- after putting most of its energy into the roots last year, the hypogaea produced its best year of growth above-ground in 2016. A couple of noteworthy observations here. First, when you view the photo of the old parent on 9/27/11, you'll notice how flabby and pale it became in only 3 months. It got even flabbier in 2012, a direct consequence of the mistake that finally killed it. Like night and day, really -- the hypogaea we now see before us is nice and firm, with a proper abundance of well-defined tubercles. And the plant's healthy skin color comes right from equally healthy roots efficiently taking up water and nutrients. Overall, the results are excellent, although the parent stem's shape does look a bit odd. Since I'm kind of an oddball myself, I actually enjoy the touch of uniqueness we may not see elsewhere. More pups would also be nice, but given hypogaea's slow-growing ways, we can't expect much beyond the occasional pleasant surprise. March and October are the months to watch, so we may have one coming up soon.

My other 2 Copiapoas came from CoronaCactus in July 2013. Ooh, there's a big 'un -- C. tenuissima fitting comfortably in its 4" pot:



I use a patio table in the back yard for repotting, so not the best lighting in that shot. We'll bring it up to the plant bench for a better one (7/28):



I'll mention some commonality among the sellers I deal with -- none of them are soil-less growers. Neither better nor worse than what I do, just different. With that said, we can't help noticing the benefits of pure mineral mix when we see what it'll do for the roots of our cacti. The tenuissima when it arrived on 7/7/13, then after 2 years of soil-less living (5/25/15):



Earth cacti need deep pots, and a standard 4" x 4" terracotta pot for the plant wouldn't do anymore. Howzabout this handmade "long Tom" from San Diego potter Joe Wujcik?



Good match both functionally and aesthetically! What else? You guessed it, replacing "dirty" mineral mix with the clean stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't take any benchmark photos at the end of summer 2014, so I can't show you what happened while the tenuissima was sitting in "dirty" mix. (Trust me, the plant wasn't too thrilled about it.) Now let's see if the plant follows the example set by my hypogaea. 5/25 and 9/20/15, then we'll turn the "after" into a "before" and match it with a pic on 9/17/16:




Once again, exactly what I was hoping for! Next we'll zoom in on those 3 pups, here on 7/28/13 and 9/17/16:



The pup on the right has been happily going at it since the tenuissima's repot last year. The one on the left looks pretty good too, although I'm not sure what's going on with the pup in the middle. No worries, merely something to keep an eye on next summer. In the meantime, I couldn't resist posting these aerial pics side by side -- with a bud on 5/25/15, and something I hadn't seen before on 8/28/16:



Okay, tenuissima is self-fertile, and I didn't know that until a spontaneously dehisced pod revealed shiny black seeds which are no doubt viable. Wish I could've snagged them for someone (I don't have an adequate setup for my own seed-growing operation), but a bunch of enterprising ants did all the snagging. As more seeds come through, I'll try to get to them before the ants do. Regarding flowers -- well, it was an amazing year with way more blooming than I could've expected. On 9/17, you saw this flower from the side, so here it is from above:





For my 3rd selection, I chose C. laui because it's the smallest of the genus. A true miniature, and I was pleased to have this gem on the bench as it began its first summer under my care (seen here on 7/14/13):



Oddly enough, the smallest is also one of the most prolific of the offsetting Copiapoas. The major news in 2014 was the laui's first (and thus far only) flower (you'll get a kick out of seeing the event here). Then a different kind of magic suddenly appeared on 2/6/15:



Awwww, aren't those furry little pups cute? But wait, there's more! A neat trick earth cacti do is hide brand-new pups under the surface. The laui was ready for the move from a terractta pot and "dirty" mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix. Before we bury the roots again, here's what I found when I unpotted the plant on 2/15/15:



Yep, 2 tiny new pups were about to emerge. Not quite yet, though, so we'll let them hide a bit longer:



Unlike my hypogaea and tenuissima, laui isn't your usual slow-growing Copiapoa. Not bad for one growing season -- 2/15 and 9/20/15:





Another season in the bag, and this is even better -- 3/26 and 9/18/16:





Marvelous! The laui has 2 more surprises in store, but I'll wait to show you the photos after my end-of-summer review is done. Speaking of...

Christmas is a week from tomorrow, but we still have some "virtual summer" left. It's a pleasure to share the rest of it with you over the holidays.

[Steve Johnson]

Fraileas

We'll begin today's post with a species that caught my eye the moment I saw it on Cactuspedia's Frailea page...

F. castanea (CCN, December 2012) -- seen here on 12/21/12:



After a fruitless search throughout most of 2012, Darryl Craig offered a 2-year-old seedling for sale toward the end of that year. This tiny gem is the 3rd part of the December trifecta which included my Echinocereus rubispinus and Gymnocactus ysabelae covered in Parts 2 and 4. I moved the castanea from its initial 2" terracotta pot to a somewhat deeper glazed ceramic pot in February of last year. Before I show you the above-ground growing progress, let's have a look at what was growing under the surface -- here on 2/21/12 and 2/14/15:



Those roots sure like mineral mix, don't they? Okay roots, put some clothes on!



Spanning 4 years of growth on 5/21/13 and 9/17/16...



...followed by an aerial view (5/12/13 on the left):



Fraileas are real sun-lovers, so I've been giving my castanea as much sun as it can get. The skin color is beautiful -- put that together with a plant which is flat and low to the ground, and IMO you'll have castanea at its best. Unfortunately the species needs a lot of heat to have it flowering, so it's unlikely I'll see mine in bloom since the summers here may not be hot enough. The plant is basically "cutting out the middle man" when it goes straight from buds to seed pods, although I do get a lot of seeds out of it. The pod you just saw wasn't ready to dehisc yet, but if we go back in time a little bit, we'll see a good shot of the growth point going from 3/26 to 7/30/16:



The only problem with the castanea being so low to the ground is that dust builds up on the skin and spines. I don't mind, although it's kinda unsightly (mostly a summertime thing, by the way). More often than not, I'll give the plant a little spritz when I photograph it. While the dust may not be attractive, at least the dry look in this "after" pic highlights a nice contrast on the skin as the castanea pushes out new growth in summer. A drawback to outdoor living, I suppose -- if it's happy enough to continue growing (and popping more seed pods), I can live with the dust.

My other Frailea presents a different problem, albeit a nice one to have...

F. grahliana (C and D Plants, March 2014) -- seen here on 3/18/14:



It was a pleasure to spend time with Craig and Denise Fry, memorable hours viewing their fantastic collection captured in words and pictures here. It was also a rare occasion to photograph a cactus in its nursery environment before it came home with me:



Quite a transition going from the fairly subdued light of C and D's greenhouse to full sun in "Casa de Jefferson Park", and the grahliana seemed angry about it -- 3/18 and 4/17/14:



But the plant got over it -- at the end of 2 summers on 9/20/14 and 9/19/15:







Not angry, just beautiful, and its top-shelf treatment suits the plant well. The grahliana was about to burst out of its pot (figuratively speaking). Luckily I planned ahead when I was able to do some pot shopping at the Inter-City show last year. Repotting day was 8 months ago, so we'll compare the roots in their bare-nekked state on 3/18/14 and 4/24/16:



Ooh, that's a really nice problem! "Dirty" mineral mix didn't bother the plant one little bit. In fact there were hardly any DG fines coming out of the pot, and one has to wonder if the roots actually ate them. Or maybe the dose of mix I spooned out wasn't that dirty. Either way, the grahliana is getting a potful of clean mineral mix now:



Results for the 2016 growing season -- 4/24 and 9/17:



The species is generous about offsetting, and this before-and-after bird's-eye shot shows us how much wiggle room there is for more pups:



There were a few new ones appearing this summer. However, it's merely the beginning of what's bound to happen over the next few years -- that big root system got bigger as the grahliana exploited its wide open airspaces in clean mineral mix, so we shouldn't be surprised to see the plant eventually filling its pot above-ground.

Alright, we're looking at a single-stem cactus and one that loves to offset. To keep the symmetry of this presentation going, we'll move on to...

Discocactus

I joined the Sunset Succulent Society right after New Year's Day 2015, and I made a point of attending my first meeting that January. New members are invited to choose a plant from the donation table -- a lot of it was run-of-the-mill stuff, but I zeroed in on one unexpected and rather exotic specimen. I'll let its plant tag do the introducing:



I was content to leave the crystallophilus alone before I repotted it at the start of the growing season, which would've been March. The plant had other ideas, when I suddenly noticed a small black patch on the base in February. Uh oh, not good. Time for an emergency unpotting to see what's going on -- 2/28/15:



A cold Arctic air mass reached all the way down to SoCal right after Christmas 2014, and the donating grower wasn't able to protect the crystallophilus from a couple of freezing nights. Delayed reactions like this have a bad habit of sneaking up on us -- that, my friends, is necrosis. (I was caught in the same freeze, although I brought my frost-tender cacti indoors beforehand.) While we're at it, another observation -- no disrespect to the donor (he's generally a good grower), but there would've been more in the way of roots if his mix wasn't so rich. I'd go lean, and for the cacti that need some soil in their mix, I've found that an 80% mineral gravel/20% soil mix works well. Because all members of the genus are known for their shallow root systems, this pot should be a good match for the plant:



2015 was a promising year of recovery, as the crystallophilus took up water (we know the roots were working), and the cephalium added a small but noticeble amount of growth. Better yet, the plant gave me a pleasant surprise when it produced 2 lovely night flowers thanks to an unseasonably hot October (you can check it out here). Things apparently took a turn for the worse this year, so we'll investigate the situation in the following pics on 9/20/15 and 9/24/16:





The crystallophilus has been making a valiant effort to heal necrotic tissue by callusing, but the necrosis is gaining on it. Furthermore, the cephalium has retreated, with not even a hint of buds that should've been announcing themselves in August or September. I won't give up on any cactus in trouble until it's clearly beyond saving, and while we're not there yet, what we're seeing doesn't exactly fill me with confidence about the plant's longterm survival. In a drier climate, I believe its prospects would be better. However, in my fairly humid semi-coastal climate, further necrosis may ultimately kill it. There's one thing I can try, and it's an experiment that'll have to be played out in 2017. Regardless of whether it works or not, I'll share the details with you then.

This isn't my first experience with Discocactus, and what I'm about to post will more than make up for the "tale of woe" I just described...

D. buenekeri (M2G, December 2013) -- seen here on 12/22/13:



Discos have a notorious reputation for being difficult to establish when they're transplanted. Getting a Discocactus in winter isn't the best idea -- but what the heck, I'll try anything once. If you think that busy pot looks like downtown Los Angeles in the middle of rush hour, I'll show you the buenekeri version of a slow-motion traffic jam building over the course of 3 seasons. The dates are 3/8/14 and 9/24/16:






Normally I don't yell, but I'll make an exception for this. WOW! HOLY S**T!!! Okay, calm down, calm down...

With so much activity going on, I'm not sure where to start. Howzabout the cephalium? I've been keenly interested and more than a little curious ever since I noticed tiny new growths around its perimeter in summer 2014. They're not quite so tiny now, and it's pretty obvious that we're getting a ringside seat of the cephalium growing in stages as it gets wider. Progress looking right at the parent stem's top (7/27/15 on the left):



One growth looks like it could be an adventitious pup. Odd place for it, although fascinating if it turns wooly and joins the cephalium. Going back over to the buenekeri's right side in the 3/8/14-9/24/16 before-and-after pics, the largest pup may be on the verge of growing a cephalium of its own. Perhaps I'm being a bit premature in that assessment, but there's something about the "chief" pup's growth point which would give us a new item of interest next summer.

It was amazing to see the pot literally filled with pups. A wider pot would alleviate the overcrowding situation, although it's simply out of the question given my limited growing space. Probably for the best if I thin out the brood, so I'll pluck out the pups which will clear a margin around the existing pot. Since I don't want to disturb the buenekeri in winter, I'll wait until March as their somewhat shriveled state makes them easier to pluck. (Try doing it in the height of the growing season when they're all plump, and man, those pups don't want to let go!) While I'm in for a challenge, it needs to be done. And since I'm not one to throw away perfectly good plant material, I'll find a good home for the pups -- I know a few local growers who'd enjoy having them.

We're close to the end of our "virtual summer" -- only 2 more installments to go!

[toadstar]

Beautiful Gymnocalyciums!

[Steve Johnson]

Eriosyce

In today's post I have 3 members of the genus to show you, and one is very much not like the others.

E. senilis (California Cactus Center, June 2011) -- seen here on 9/27/11:



This species is popular, and for good reason -- a lovely thick tangle of spines, with gorgeous Day-Glo flowers to die for. Oddly enough, my senilis was the only cactus that did quite well in the CCC's straight-up "uncut" mix. The only boo-boo I made was keeping it dry during that winter, but as a veteran member told me back in 2012, they're remarkably tolerant under cultivation. (I'll explain further in a bit.) From winter shriveling to spring plumping on 3/31 and 4/16/12:



The senilis was part of the "terracotta out/glazed ceramic in" project last year -- repotting day on 3/22/15:



A wonderful before-and-after going all the way from 10/26/13 to 9/24/16:



The senilis gave me its first beautiful flowers at the beginning of March 2012, and I've seen them every year since then. Buds start appearing in February -- we'll keep an eye out for them in about 2 months. Then it'll be buds-to-blooms time, and I'll make sure to capture the proceedings on camera for you. While we wait, let's look at a bonus surprise the senilis had in store. A tiny spiny surprise that suddenly popped up in September 2012, seen here on 9/15/12:



Yep, that's a seedling volunteer! How long the seed was in hiding before it sprouted, well that's a mystery. No matter -- it was just thrilling to find the unexpected little pleasure. (For reference purposes, we'll call the senilises Jr. and Sr.) 2 years before I gave Sr. a new glazed ceramic home, I decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to lean out the mix some. 50/50 pumice-CCC soil mix should be about right. I was hoping to keep Jr. and Sr. together in the same pot, but unfortunately that didn't work out. No problemo, at least we can see the whole shebang roots and all -- here on 3/17/13:



Jr. getting a home of its own:



A 2" pot was the smallest I had. Overpotted? This is a seedling, so we can get away with it, especially when we're using pure mineral mix. On 3/18, 4/9, and 5/14/13 -- wow, that was fast!



On 9/21/13, then 4/17 and 9/20/14 -- double-wow!



Sr. wasn't the only one getting a glazed ceramic pot last year -- 3/22/15:



A senilis family portrait:



Before-and-after of Jr. on 3/22/15 and 9/24/16:



The seedling's growth has slowed down quite a lot, my guess being that its roots are crowding the current pot. I'll give Jr. a bigger pot to let those roots grow out more, and the same "big boy" mix that Sr. gets should be in order. On tap for repotting in March.

If you know the old names, you may recognize the species as Neoporteria nidus var. senilis. Native to the Coquimbo, Valparaíso, and Metropolitana regions of Chile, E. senilis favors a Mediterranean-type climate, and they do best with deep watering once a month in winter. While they are frost-tolerant down to 25F, any moisture in the mix will kill them if it freezes. Generally not a problem in my part of L.A., although on the odd occasion when it happens after I've watered Jr. and Sr., I'll bring them into the apartment until the mix is dry again. If your winters are more problematic, I'd highly recommend that you keep it (or them) indoors until the weather warms up in spring.

My other Eriosyce are native to a different region of Chile, the Atacama desert...

E. napina glabrescens (CCN, July 2013) -- seen here on 7/14/13:



It's a very slow-growing species, and to the point where it may take some rather keen observation if we see any noticeable progress. We'll begin with a look at growth in the roots, as we compare them when the glabrescens arrived (7/13/13) and then moved from terracotta to glazed ceramic on 5/9/15:



The roots look great, but I think the plant's 4" x 4" terracotta pot was too wide and not deep enough for it. This earth cactus could sure use a "long Tom", and I found the perfect pot at the Sunset show last year:



Since we've been critiquing the effects of "dirty" and clean mineral mix, let's examine any differences we might see -- 8/3/13 and 9/21/14 ("dirty"), followed by 9/20/15 and 9/18/16 (clean):



In this aerial view, the dates are 9/21/14, 9/20/15, then 3/26 and 9/18/16:



Of the pics we're viewing in this set, the shots on 9/18/16 look the best. Conclusion -- clean mineral mix led to a fairly substantial improvement. For all of my very slow-growing cacti, I've found that it takes them a year to concentrate their energies on new root growth once I replace the "dirty" mineral mix with clean mix. Therefore, the positive changes happened this year. Now the glabrescens is on the right track for better growth, and I have a good feeling that further progress won't be so difficult to spot next summer.

E. odieri (CCN, April 2012) -- seen here on 5/6/12:



I wasn't consistent about benchmarking prior to 2014, so we'll go with the earliest ones I have for the plant on 4/12 and 9/20/14:





Pretty good after 3 seasons under my care, although disappointing to see a bunch of shriveled tubercles around the odieri's base. I originally put the blame on flat mites. Or could it be the plant's way of complaining about being stuck in "dirty" mineral mix? We'll find out easily enough -- terracotta and "dirty" mix out, glazed ceramic and clean mix in on 4/18/15:



The winter of 2014-15 was unusually warm and dry, which made the odieri go "splat". On 4/18 and 9/20/15, did the plant go from splat to fat?



Nope. In fact it went in the opposite direction, and I might be concerned about whether or not the roots were working. However, there's an interesting little observation worth noting -- a change in the odieri's skin color from brown coming out of winter to brownish-green in summer. The only thing that'll do it is a healthy root system taking up nutrients through regular applications of fertilizer. If the plant lost something height-wise, this view from above tells us that its roots were taking up water too:



Remembering what I just said about the glabrescens, last year was the odieri's time to work on its roots in clean, wide-open mix. Let's see if there's any progress above-ground this year -- 9/20/15 and 9/25/16:



Still no "splat to fat" change yet, but the plant gained a little bit of its height back. We'll check out the situation topside:



Ineed, the odieri's growth point is more active now than it's been in previous summers, precisely what I was hoping for! There is a small downside, though -- shriveled tubercles on the west-facing side of the plant. Since we can take "dirty" mix off the table, the cause must be flat mites. I really need to do something about those effing pests.

Speaking of old names, napina and odieri used to be among the genera classified as Neochilenia/Thelocephala before the taxonomists lumped everything into Eriosyce. Considering the harsh conditions of their native Atacama, it's interesting to note that they're easier to grow under cultivation than one may think. With that said, their watering needs differ with E. senilis. The trick to keeping them healthy and happy over the long run is -- water only when the weather is hot and sunny, and let the mix dry out completely top-to-bottom between waterings.

I miscalculated the number of photos I have left, so we'll have 2 more installments to wrap this puppy up. The next one should be relatively short.

[Steve Johnson]

As another new year is just around the corner, I thought it might be nifty to end this one with a last big blast of "virtual summer". Before we get there, I'll ramp us up with a couple of "one-off" species. Here's a small Christmas present for you...

Strombocactus disciformis (CCN, July 2013) -- seen here on 7/14/13:



The rest of that summer wouldn't have given the Strombo enough time to do much, so let's give it a full growing season -- 7/14/13 and 9/20/14:



Okay, looks like the roots are working, but do we see any growing? From the top -- 4/12 and 9/20/14:



Yuppers, that was a fairly decent crop of new spines. However, I'm mindful of the fact that "dirty" mineral mix may have been holding the Strombo back from reaching its optimal growth potential. The plant was due for a change from terracotta to glazed ceramic -- that gives us the opportunity to compare its roots on 7/13/13 with what came out of the pot on 2/1/15:



What I was afraid of -- a potful of very dirty mix turned the DG fines into a brick that no cactus roots could penetrate. At least the Strombo had enough of a root system to keep itself going. But I'm sure it could do a lot better in clean mix, so we'll put this to the test -- phase 1, repotted on 2/1/15:



Phase 2, see what happens over the course of 2 growing seasons -- 2/1/15 and 9/25/16:



The view from above on 9/20/15 and 9/25/16:



Compare these before-and-after pics with the ones from 2013 and '14 -- indeed, the change to clean mix was a success! Maybe too successful? The tubercles on one side are almost flat when they should be more prominent. If the plant's roots have grown in that well, we have an overly plump Strombo in need of less frequent watering next year. I'd normally give it occasional sips this winter, but I'll hold off and let it get as shriveled as possible before the new growing season begins. Then the Strombo will get soaks every 2-3 weeks in spring and every 2 weeks in summer.

Escobaria minima (September 2013) -- seen here on 9/24/13:



This was given to me through the kindness of a friend with the Long Beach Cactus Club, and my first-ever Escobaria. Came with its own glazed ceramic pot too, and that motivated me to get away from terracotta sooner rather than later. In the plant's new growing season under my care (3/16 and 90/20/14), then the following summer (9/20/15):



Ooh, very nice! There's only one problem -- the fellow who gave me the plant grows all of his cacti in perlite and a special compost he gets in San Diego. While the mix works well for him, I'm taking a very different approach with mineral mix. Many cacti will grow more extensive roots in pure mineral, and such being the case, I had a hunch that the minima's shallow pot was probably crowding its roots. As we compare the root situation on 9/14/13 and prep for transplanting in a deeper pot on 3/19/16 -- was my hunch correct?



In a word, yes. I purchased an attractive high-fired ceramic pot at Desert Creations, specifically with this plant in mind:



"Dirty" mix didn't seem to bother the minima. But as I've said in earlier posts, clean is always better (Steve's mineral rule #1), and the plant has been concentrating most of its nutritive energy on letting those roots "stretch out their legs" as they grow in wide-open mix. We can't expect much in the way of new activity above-ground yet, so this'll have to do -- 4/16 and 9/17/16:





There is a little bit, though -- don't those new spines look pretty? Even prettier, the minima produced its very first flowers this spring:







The species is known to be good about offsetting, so I'm not sure why I haven't seen any new pups. Could be that my minima didn't like its cramped quarters in the old pot -- if the plant is happier with its new home, perhaps we'll see a brand-new pup or two next year. If not, there's no reason for disappointment as long as it continues growing and blooming in the 2017 season.

I'll post my final installment either tomorrow or Tuesday. In the meantime, Merry Christmas, everyone!

[Steve Johnson]

As our "virtual summer" finally comes to a close, it's a fitting way to wrap it up with this post devoted to my selections representing the largest genus in the cactus family.

Yes, Mamm!

You guessed it, that's Mammillaria. With so many wonderfully diverse species to consider, it was a challenge picking out the relative handful that interested me the most. I showed you 2 columnar Mamms way back in Part 1, and I think you'll enjoy the 5 others I chose for this small collection...

M. deherdtiana (California Cactus Center, May 2012) -- seen here on 5/6/12:



The species is rarely encountered in US collections. Not sure why, because they're beautiful plants with big showy flowers that'll knock your socks off. (They're also one of the slowest-growing Mammillarias you'll find, so maybe that's it?) Anyway, I didn't expect to see this specimen at the CCC, but I'm sure glad I was there to bring it home before someone else snagged it. For being such a slow grower, the deherdtiana established rather easily, as it blessed me with buds and pups the following spring. The buds turned into flowers, the pups kept growing, and here's the brood on 12/15/13:



Something I didn't know about deherdtiana at the time -- while they grow as solitary plants in the wild, they tend to offset freely under cultivation. Man, isn't that the truth! You'll witness an amazing demonstration of pups gone wild, although to set this up properly, I'll first mention the fact that a change from terracotta and "dirty" mineral mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix had a lot to do with it. Repotting day on 1/31/15:



And now the deherdtiana doing a "runway turn" on 9/20/14 and 9/17/16 -- the plant facing south...



...west...



...north...



...and east, so you can have a good look at 2 new pups filling that hole on the base:



A bird's eye view:



Another fun fact about deherdtiana -- they can be very prolific bloomers, and if you treat them right, you'll get flowers throughout spring and early summer.

M. guelzowiana (M2G, July 2013) -- came with a ready-made bud that bloomed the week after it arrived (7/14/13):



There's something irresistable about lovely puffball Mamms with colorful fishhook spines. I rarely make buying decisions based on flowers, although since I had to choose between bocasana and this species, guelzowiana won hands-down. Let's check out the plant's growth rate -- 7/27/13 and 9/19/15:



Hmmmmm, not bad. I had the guelzowiana in a 4.5" terracotta azalea pot, and by the end of that summer it was looking a bit cramped. Good timing to find a wider pot for it when I went pot-shopping at the Inter-City show last year. Repotting day was on 3/12/16, so you know what we need to do -- unpot that plant and inspect the roots coming out of the "dirty" mix (7/7/13 on the left for comparison):



Well, that was kinda disappointing, but not terribly surprising given the DG "play sand" bricks I'd seen sitting in too many of my other pots over the course of the "terracotta out, glazed ceramic in" project. We'll rectify the situation straight away:



The new pot's depth shouldn't be a problem -- if the guelzowiana had a better, more extensive root system. Unfortunately it didn't, so I had to devise a strategy for promoting new root growth through careful watering. I usually avoid quoting myself, but we'll make an exception as I explained the strategy on 3/21:

The guelzowiana is quite capable of growing a more extensive root sytem in clean, open mix. Right now the pot seems too deep for the plant, and since I haven't a clue about the growth rate of its roots, I'll have to be careful about how I approach watering. If there's not enough of a root system to take full-on soaks yet, the water won't have anywhere to go, and it'll sit in the mix before it has time to dry out as it should. Every 2 weeks is the correct watering frequency for the growing season, but I'll use some intuitive thinking and go with sips instead of soaks. If this approach lets the mix dry out completely between waterings, the idea is that the guelzowiana's roots will grow out and down in the pot as they seek out water. My guess is that by the end of May, the plant's root system should be healthy and extensive enough to accept deep watering.

And so it was, soaks every 2 weeks from the beginning of June through the end of summer. Results, ladies and gentlemen! 3/12 and 9/18/16:





Wow, that really worked -- my guelzowiana grew as much this season as it did in the previous 2! I honestly wasn't expecting any flowers out of it this year, so it was a pleasant surprise to see the plant suddenly bloom in early July. Certainly better late than never, and a happier guelzowiana means that it should be back on track for normal blooming in May.

M. crucigera (Mesa Garden, July 2013) -- seen here on 7/9/13:



I moved the plant from terracotta and "dirty" mix to glazed ceramic and clean mix on 4/4/15. Here's what emerged from the crucigera's 3" pot:



Worth noticing pot-shaped roots because I rarely saw this during the initiative, although it stands to reason that smaller pots should have a smaller amount of DG fines to potentially clog up the works. However, Steve's mineral rule #1 still applies:



Let's find out if there's any difference going from "dirty" (9/22/13 and 9/20/14) to clean (9/26/15 and 9/25/16):




It appears that the crucigera was "sulking" last summer, but it tells us nothing about what was happening below-ground. While it may be difficult to pick up on, there is a small qualitative improvement between what we see on 9/14/14 and the end of this summer. But here's an improvement you can't miss -- the view from above on 9/22/13 and 9/25/16:



M. theresae (M2G, May 2015) -- seen here on 5/16/15:



We have a rare case when I did everything right -- glazed ceramic pot and clean mineral mix from the get-go. The theresae's first growing seasons under my
care -- 5/16 and 9/19/15, followed by 3/26 and 9/17/16:







M. theresae is an absolute gem, and if you don't already have one, I highly recommend the species for your own collection.

This brings us full circle to the last old favorite I have for you in my 2016 review...

M. spinossissima (Armstrong Garden Center, May 2011) -- seen here with my new Espostoa lanata on 9/27/11:



Ah, the famous "red-headed Irishman" -- one of the very first plants that made me fall in love with cacti as an aspiring young collector way, way, way back in 1970. How appropriate it was to begin my current collection when I found this tiny guy to go along with the Espostoa you saw in Part 1. The CCC wasn't on my radar screen yet, so being a complete newbie all over again, I started the Armstrong cacti on the mix they were selling. Yep, E.B. Stone Cactus, Succulent, and Palm (!) mix. EEK! To this then-untrained eye, the poor thing looked like it probably wouldn't survive unless I could give the plant something better than the E.B. Stone crap it was stuck in. Thanks to the crash course in good cactus education I received on the forum, 2012 was a major turn-around year when I decided to go soil-less with pretty much every plant. Here's a healthy Irishman responding to its first summer in pure mineral mix -- 9/22/12:



"Graduation Day" when the Irishman went from its original 3" pot to a 4-incher on 3/24/13:



It was wonderful to watch the plant keep growing and growing -- continuing progress on 9/21/13 and 9/20/14:



Time for an even bigger pot in 2015, so here's what came out before I moved the plant into its new glazed ceramic home on 5/23/15:



Ooh, another great example of pot-shaped roots! Clearly the Irishman didn't mind being in "dirty" mineral mix, although it'll get a potful of clean mix anyway:



And the Irishman still keeps growing -- 9/19/15 and 9/17/16:




Now we have a problem (albeit a nice one!) -- this plant needs to be on the top shelf of the bench, and limited growing space up there doesn't give me much wiggle room for a wider pot. The Irishman is totally fine in its current one, so as long as it grows up and not out, no change in pot size is required. However, if the plant pushes the rim, I'll need to figure something out. What could that something be? I've got a sweet idea in mind, although I won't divulge any details unless and until I'm able to execute a plan to give some wasted space gainful employment next year. In the meantime, I have a few spinossissima flowers to show you. A small part of what's coming up, as I'll share some photos for a follow-up presentation covering the last 3 months of 2016.

Conclusion

Of all the summer reviews I've posted since 2012, this one has been the most comprehensive and detailed. A lot of my commentary was taken up by the "dirty" vs. clean mineral mix issue, so for those of you who may be curious about why I made such a big deal out of it, you'll find a good explanation here. After completing the big "terracotta out, glazed ceramic in" project earlier this year, there's only one cactus that hasn't responded to its change from "dirty" to clean mix yet. Given the fact that the species involved is a very slow grower, and has a root system that really took it on the chin, I was not at all surprised to see the complete lack of any new growth above-ground in 2016. If the one season of TLC was sufficient to get its roots growing strongly in clean, wide-open mix, we should see some promising results by next summer. Then this tough case of mine would definitely rate posting a progress photo or two. For all the cacti that did respond, the point was well-proven, and I don't think we'll be talking much about "dirty" mineral mix as we forge ahead. I'll leave y'all with 2 brief common-sense tips for our less experienced cactus growers:

1. Regarding good cactus mixes, mineral gravels like pumice and granite are the hobbyist's best friend. Just be sure to thoroughly rinse the gravel before you start using it.

2. Make your mix as lean as possible. Don't go overboard with the soil component, and avoid soils that are overly rich in organic material. I realize this piece of advice is a tad thin on content, but if my experience might be helpful to you, I'll be happy to pass along what I've learned. Not here, although there may be a tutorial waiting for you on the Cultivation forum next year. (Yeah, delusions of grandeur, huh? )

I hope you found the latest end-of-summer review to be entertaining, interesting, and (at least a little) informative. Up next, we'll look at what this small collection was doing as it eased itself into winter dormancy.

[mmcavall]

"I hope you found the latest end-of-summer review to be entertaining, interesting, and (at least a little) informative. Up next, we'll look at what this small collection was doing as it eased itself into winter dormancy."

Sure! Very entertaining, interesting and informative! I'm following.I'm particularly interested in the "clean mix" thing. Thanks for sharing!

[Steve Johnson]

Ah, weather -- not the most interesting subject, although mine was interesting enough to rate a brief mention here. We usually get hit with a heat wave around late August/early September, but it appeared that the residents of coastal L.A. would dodge a proverbial bullet. Nope, just delayed -- 101 on 9/25, 111 on 9/26 (think it broke a record), 104 on 9/27 (above the century mark 3 days in a row, that's a new record!), 96 on 9/28, and 97 on 9/29. A shorter one followed the next week, upper 90s 10/7-10/9. By then, I'm sure most of you probably stopped watering your cacti for the year. Here, I kept it going until the overnight lows dipped below 50 in early November. That was a decently hot month too, so let's see what fall had in store for us on the plant bench...

10/8 -- Gymnocalycium stenopleurum just loving the heat:



A fun group shot -- it's like the Mamm perezdelarosae says "hello there!":



Obregonia denegrii -- I was lamenting the crappy lighting of the pics I posted for my end-of-summer-review, so I have a more photogenic one for you here:



10/15 -- Copiapoa laui with 2 brand-new "hot off the grill" pups:



A Copiapoa that doesn't want to stop flowering:





My 3 summer-blooming Turbs can sometimes flower well into October. This year, it was just the young one I got at the Sunset show in April:





10/22 -- Epithelantha micromeris dickisoniae flowering out of season. Sweet!



The Gymno vatteri was too busy blooming to show us its growth point for the end-of-summer-review. With the dried-up flowers cleared away, now we can look:



10/26 -- C. tenuissima blooming. Again.





I'm both amazed and impressed by how prolific the plant has been in 2016. Chalk it up to unclogging the mineral mix.

Melocactus matanzanus with a pretty fruit crop. Okay, Mr. perezdelarosae, are you eyeing that Gymno? ("Ooh, nice buds, baby!")



Now we're into November...

11/12 -- Mr. perezdelarosae looks like he's had a few too many:



(What about the photographer? )

Some November growing -- C. laui:



Mammillarias being their opportunistic selves -- give them some heat, and it's not unusual to see these 2 species put on touches of new growth in November:



M. spinossissima -- my red-headed Irishman normally doesn't set buds before mid-December. Wow, a month ahead of schedule!



Turb jauernigii -- so reliable, you can set your clock to it. (Well, your calendar anyway.)



Give it a day -- and man, that was a hot one!







11/19 -- the Irishman with the first flower of its winter blooming season:





I count 4 new buds. Only 4? "Look on the other side of the plant, Steve."



Ah, that's more like it. You'll see those Irish eyes smiling soon. Before then, we'll end my fall report with a view in Shady Glen the day after Thanksgiving:



3 things worth noting in this shot. First, the Melo fruits you see here are only the first crop. It's a "first in, first out" phenomenon, so the flowers from summer will slowly produce more fruits over the next 3 months. Second -- if you think the Mamm perezdelarosae has gone as horizontal as it'll get, wait until the plant shrivels more over the course of its winter dormancy. Give the plant its first deep drench of spring, and it'll be fun to see Mr. perezdelarosae suddenly come to attention. My next big presentation will be called "winter shriveling/spring plumping" (the 5th annual, by the way), so I'll be sure to include before-and-after pics of the event. And third, talk about reliable -- my stenopleurum is the only Gymno which has a wonderfully long blooming season. Those are the plant's last flowers of the year, and I can guarantee you there are new buds coming in behind. Here's a closeup, and Thanksgiving weekend was hot enough to give us the following:





Since I got it in 2012, the stenopleurum hasn't failed to set buds in fall, winter them over, then have them bloom in the spring. Figure on April or May, and the plant will start flowering all over again.

Not much to report for the last month of the year, but I will have a few items of interest for you shortly.

[Steve Johnson]

After a dry November, the last month of the year was (believe it or not) -- rainy! I mean really rainy, and this is the wettest December I've seen in a very long time. The front of portable GH 3.0 had to be on more often than not, which meant that anything happening on the plant bench was for the most part hidden from view. Luckily, December doesn't offer much in the way of activity, although just enough to show you a few nice things that were revealed when the front came off right before Christmas weekend...

12/26 -- my Copiapoa laui turned out to be more of an opportunist than I realized. Give the plant some heat here and there (thanks to 3.0 when the clouds clear out), and here's what we see the day after Christmas (11/12 on top for reference):



Cristate cacti are usually not my thing, but I love the crested pup in amongst the "normals". (I think the one sitting next to it may be going cristate too.) When we look at the new pup on the left, you may notice an interesting change in its growth. We'll zoom in for a closeup:



If your powers of observation are good, you'll see a 2-headed pup in the making. My laui is a gift that keeps on giving, and this fascinating cactus should be an especially good one to watch over the spring and summer.

Christmas cactus of a different sort:





SoCal's winter weather can be fickle. While our Christmas was sunny, the tail end of a cold storm made for a seasonably cool day. And then we got heat -- daytime high of 88 on 12/28:





What have we here?



This is actually my Turb jauernigii's 2nd flower in December. Totally normal for the species, but it was an unexpected pleasure to see the Copiapoa tenuissima bloom so late in the year. What a difference a day makes -- daytime high of 91:




A pretty good way to end 2016, and on that note I'll say -- very best wishes to your and your families for a happy, healthy, and safe New Year!

[keith]

Hi Steve we are getting allot of rain now keep the plastic up I had a windy then rainy event so my collection got a bit of rain. should be OK its not very cold.

Waiting for march then I let them get rained on a bit.

[Steve Johnson]

And coming off a string of unusually warm, dry ones, SoCal finally has a winter worthy of the name. The upside -- rain, and lots of it. Yeeahhhh! The downside -- if the rest of this winter continues to be as rainy as it's been thus far, there won't be much in the way of opportunities to look behind portable GH 3.0's "curtain" before the growing season begins. California desperately needs all the precipitation we can get, so that downside is one I'll be happy to live with!

Since last weekend gave me a good weather window to raise the curtain, I have a few items of interest for you as we begin 2017...

Turbinicarpus pseudopectinatus with a new bud:



Melocactus matanzanus working on its 2nd fruit crop:



Turb jauernigii with a funky-looking flower:



More winter blooms on the red-headed Irishman:





Dormancy being what it is, there won't be much to report on between now and the beginning of March. But just when I thought we might be in for a boring January, a completely unexpected and wonderful surprise came my way. What could it be? You'll find out before the month is over, so stay tuned, my friends!