Contest 62 : Discussion and related Pictures

[Jens]

Please discuss the old men of the collections here.

[Jens]

@cactushobbyman: It is feeling at home in your place!
Great plant.

[tumamoc]

I need some clarification--should these "ancient" cacti be ones we have owned for a long time (even if they are not neccessarily old) or old cacti that we own (maybe came into possession of an old man)? I Hope that makes sense.

[iann]

A new contest to brighten up the New Year

I had the same thought. Oldest plant or longest time under my care? I think I can remember the first one I got when I moved to England, but I'm pretty sure I have plants that are older.

[daiv]

I didn't think of that and just assumed it meant plant that has been in your care the longest. However, I don't want to put up my entry until I find out which it should be.

[Bruce]

How about a picture of an old man holding a cactus? That I can manage.

[John C]

I believe that it is the plant you have had in your care for the longest. Let's see what Jens' opinion is.

cactushobbyman, That is quite a specimen! Beautiful!

[Jens]

Hello all.
It can be read either way : Your oldest plant can be the cactus or succulent that you had under your care for very long time (I would say if the oldest one isn´t the pretiest one you could also post a nicer specimen which germinated from seed a few days later )

Your oldest plant could also be the one that you have reliable record of being the oldest.
Thinking of it some genera do live longer than the average lifespan of a human (e.g. Copiapoa , Welwitschia maybe Carnegia gigantea too?).

I think both aspects would be interesting to look at in this picture contest.

@Bruce: Old man with old cactus would even be better

[Jens]

Nice Ariocarpus (retusus?) Ian, maybe you can estimate how old it is by comparing pictures of when you got it with this recent one.

That really is a good point Daiv - how old is a plant that has been vegetatively propagated by cuttings for decades or even centuries (- like this Schlumbergera clone that you mentioned)?

[iann]

Nice Ariocarpus (retusus?) Ian, maybe you can estimate how old it is by comparing pictures of when you got it with this recent one.

Age is very difficult to judge. It had no roots when I got it (not any good ones anyway) and had been neglected for some time so could be a bit older than expected. Since then, given a year out to grow new roots, it has grown quite quickly which tends to happen when the taproot is removed.

It has moved on from this and even has a small pup on one side, although that it making it tilt over.

[gemhunter178]

Huh, I'm out of this one....my oldest ones have only been around 3-4 years.....no where close to "old"...

[Jens]

Hi Ian , so if you had it for 10 years it might be about 25-30 years old?
Well grown living rock cactus!

[daiv]

Huh, I'm out of this one....my oldest ones have only been around 3-4 years.....no where close to "old"...

This does NOT disqualify you. If your oldest plant is only 6 months, post it. The contest is your oldest so post away. I think seeing the differences in collection ages is another interesting aspect of this contest.

[gemhunter178]

If anyone is wondering why I didn't enter my Ariocarpus that's my avatar here's why:
It died because we forgot to check the weather....It does NOT like frost....

[iann]

Hard to imagine that Ariocarpus was less than 15 years old when I got it. I certainly couldn't grow it to that size in 15 years.

Mammillaria <species>

M. hahniana.