A beginner's English windowsill collection

[Grimm]

As a kid I went through a phase of being fascinated by my Dad's cactus collection, but it was short lived when none of the seeds I planted grew and most of the pups died. I now know that almost everything I was doing was completely wrong

I picked things up again a few years ago when my housemate moved in with a Parodia magnifica (complete with straw flower), some kind of montrous "Cereus" with nasty spines (again, with straw flower), and Opuntia subulata monstrose. I still didn't do any reading, but got myself a pair of "supermarket specials" as I now think of them - Gymnocalycium horstii and what was probably Pilosocereus pachycladus or similar. My housemate did some research into soils etc and got herself a Lophophora williamsii because they're cute and interesting.

Fast forward a couple more years to 2012 and I finally listen to my housemate's suggestions and do some reading, but not enough. The Gymno has done very well, and now looks like this:


Gymnocalycium horstii in 2012

Unfortunately I over-pot it. Things were fine for a while and the pups grew to the size of a 20p. Then the over-potting catches up with me, and it also gets recurrent infestations of tiny white things (baby mealy bugs maybe?) It now looks like this, having terminated its older pups:


Gymnocalycium horstii in 2016

It's now a fight to save it When I re-potted it almost all of the roots were dead, I dusted the remains with hormone and now have my fingers crossed.

2012 also saw a increase in the collection, this time from a proper cactus nursery. High hopes were given to Mammillaria zeilmanniana:



Unfortunately I watered too much, too soon, and this happened:



Swollen with odema lesions It is also a favourite of those tiny white bugs, and needs regular spraying. Last year I repotted it in too wet a soil, getting mealy bugs and sciarid, and loosing most of the roots. I also managed to rip out a lot of spines, trying to use gloves instead of wads of paper.


Mammillaria zeilmanniana in 2016

Next on the list of problematic cacti is one sold as Rebutia hoffmannii:


Rebutia hoffmannii in 2012

Fairly soon into ownership it developed brown skin, and it stayed roughly the same size:


Rebutia hoffmannii in 2014

However, I sprayed it for bugs last year along with a bunch of other cacti that lived on the same windowsill and it has since done this:


Rebutia hoffmannii in 2016

So I'm guessing it actually had some kind of bug attacking it?

Things aren't all bad, however. We bought a Mammillaria bombycina that went from this:


Mammillaria bombycina in 2012

to this:


Mammillaria bombycina in 2016

Also a Mammillaria albilanata that went from this:


Mammillaria albilanata in 2012

to this:


Mammillaria albilanata in 2016

And the prize of the collection, even if it does always try to flower in mid-winter:


Mammillaria plumosa in 2012


Mammillaria plumosa in 2016 - note the discoloured spines showing how big it was when we bought it, and the damaged spines where I check for pests.

We have others, and some succulents, that I may post eventually. But for now, a "superstore special" to add to the collection:

[Grimm]

I went to water and feed some of my Cacti/Succulents this evening and found my Cotyledon tomentosa flowering for the first time There's four clusters of buds, only one has opened so far.

[Grimm]

Back to G.horstii - I realised I had watered it too soon, and used inferior compost, so de-potted it again. I also saw that I'd left a ring of compressed peat around the top of the root, dating back to 2008/9 when I bought it; I'm not sure if that is why the base of the cactus is concave A few minutes soak, and cleaning with a wooden pick and toothbrush and I got it clean

As you can see, the root system is very poor. The pup has even put out a root to try to compensate.

[Vipassana]

It's always interesting to look back at pictures from a year+ ago. I often get impatient thinking the plant hasn't done anything (checking it every day/week), but once you look at the old photos, it's impressive how much they do actually grow.

[Grimm]

It's always interesting to look back at pictures from a year+ ago. I often get impatient thinking the plant hasn't done anything (checking it every day/week), but once you look at the old photos, it's impressive how much they do actually grow.

Yes, especially slow growers like my housemate's Loph!

Also useful for comparing reactions to different environments. The following show my Adromischus before and after a few weeks outside in the sun. It started off with green spots, now it has purple spots (and damage from something trying to eat it )

[Grimm]

I've bought three cacti from growers, rather than shops. Here's the first:



It replaces a bicolour seedling we bought in 2012 that died soon after its first potting (watered too much, too soon).

[Grimm]

One of my latest buys, Mammillaria herrerae, very good size considering how slow growing it is - EDIT this refused to "wake up" after winter and eventually died



I also decided to try my hand at de-grafting, so picked a cheap but interesting cactus from the store - Sulcorebutia rauschii on ?Hylocereus? It's cheap, and the offsets seem to be a little etiolated, so it doesn't mater if it dies. The Hylocereus was obviously very unwell, and so the whole plant would likely die soon anyway (not the best choice to experiment on, perhaps?). The Hylo died soon after the de-grafting.

I cut off three of the largest offsets and planted them separately. The Hylocereus was imbedded into the bottom of the Sulco, or rather the Sulco had overgrown the Hylo, so I left a stub in place (I wasn't brave enough to dig out the remains of the Hylo). So far the Sulcos are still alive, though they haven't been watered yet (and may not be until spring).









Potted up after drying and calousing:

[Grimm]

Well the de-grafting failed, rot set in from the remains of the Hylo. I've cut off the remaining offsets that aren't obviously rotten and will see how they go. I can't be sure if it was doomed from the begininning, because the Hylo was in poor condition, or if it was something I did wrong.

[7george]

Sulcorebutia is hard to root. It is better to cut off entire rootstock and the bottom of the scion...

[Grimm]

Sulcorebutia is hard to root. It is better to cut off entire rootstock and the bottom of the scion...

Thanks

A few more additions:



Thelocactus tricolour, from the same seller as my bicolour. Spoiled somewhat by soil getting stuck in the areole fluff, but with a bud waiting to open up (hopefully it will nurse it over winter, rather than opening it too soon).



Mammillaria mammillaris, one of a few that I'm trying in plastic pots and more mineral based potting mix (got to keep an eye on watering!)



An unknown cactus, found between the pot and pot-cover that the mammillaris came in. Sickly and difficult to identify, possibly Echinocereus reichenbachii.



An unlabelled cactus, possibly Lobivia ferox (judging by the curved spines), but there are a few cacti that looks very similar when young especially the Ferocacti. It had long, thick roots.

Edit:

Also, Cotyledon tomentosa continues to flower (and looks much happier for new compost and pot). Oddly it smells of honey, even when not in flower, and the leaves are slightly sticky - I wonder if this is because it was unhappy, or just a normal thing for them? I've tried searching the web and no-one mentions this

[Grimm]

Brightening up the holidays, a Schlumbergera from my Dad's collection. Unlike the ones I have bought from stores, this one is a vigorous grower with big root system, although it's not as keen to flower:

[jfabiao]

Sulcorebutia is hard to root. It is better to cut off entire rootstock and the bottom of the scion...

While I don't have much trouble rooting cuttings of Sulcorebutia, that particular clone of S. rauschii (I assume it must be the same clone that shows up everywhere grafted to Hylocereus) is very stubborn. Not the best choice to try your hand at degrafting - or, to put it differently, don't draw too many conclusions if you fail.

[7george]

Sulcorebutia is hard to root. It is better to cut off entire rootstock and the bottom of the scion...

While I don't have much trouble rooting cuttings of Sulcorebutia, that particular clone of S. rauschii (I assume it must be the same clone that shows up everywhere grafted to Hylocereus) is very stubborn. Not the best choice to try your hand at degrafting - or, to put it differently, don't draw too many conclusions if you fail.

It's true - degrafting is harder then rooting the offsets. Many make roots still attached to the main plant and gradually become separated with no troubles.

[Hanazono]

I saw the photo posted on 10th September.

It seems the degrafting was not carried out correctly.
Soft tissue and vascular bundles were remained on the scion.
You have to remove any elements of the stock completely because the stock seems very weak.
The joint of the scion and stock is embedded deeply into the scion when you use Hylocereeus stock.
The removing soft tissue is easy but you have to cut the scion deeply to remove the vascular bundles.
A large cavity will be formed on the bottom of scion if you degrafted correctly.

I think rotting started from the remained stock.

A small cutting face makes an easy rooting.
A degarfed scion has larger cutting face than that of off-set and so it is harder to root than off-set.

I experienced the degrafting and rooting of S rauschii.

[Grimm]

Thanks for the advice on Sucos. Unfortunately the offsets I cut off at the beginning died as well, they shriveled down and were all fibrous and black inside. I assume I either didn't clean the blade properly, or the whole plant was infected with something.

I may try to degraft another plant this year, but not yet