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Finally got round to taking a flick of the new plants , including the customised Mandel pots..

We were talking about IKEA in another thread , so I thought I would put my side of the story across.

In the last three months or so they have started to get slightly bigger plants in , much better value for money at £3.00 a piece. The plants come with a clear plastic case with a carry handle in the top , with a male and female popper type closing facility.

Plants are :

New: Mammilaria Matudae

Notocactus ( parodia ) Mammulosus ( custom pot )

New: Echinopsis Subdenudata

Notocactus Buiningii ( custom pot )

New: Stenocactus sp

The Mandel pots are from Ikea too and the compost mix in these is Coir mixed with reclaimed Anerley stone grit. I may yet customise the other three pots at some point.



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=^-^=

Enjoy

Very nice Mammilaria Matudae.

What a nice Mamm.Matudae you have there, Eutow ..I like it
I like the pots too(3 at the back)....

Regards
Hendry

Oh comon !

The three pots at the back are dull , standard Mandel pots. now the ones at the front are something. Done the art myself.

The others might be similar some day =^u^=

Yes i'm hoping for good things from that M. Matudae.

All those plants look great! Good buys, I'd say.

You may have seen a while back in one of my posts not long after I first arrived here on CG that I went to a Garden Centre in merton in the South of London. The same garden centre that had really neglected and some dying plants. I felt so sorry that first time that I felt compelled to buy at least one plant while I was there. Of course we all know that I came way with the Melocactus Amoenus, of which there were at least four of them at the time.

Also nearer the time I mentioned that I had my eye on yet another cactus, but it was a big one and a bit on the very pricey side.

Well my Girlfriend and I went by there today after I decided I would go back and see if that said plant was still available as I had it in my mind to make them an offer they cannot refuse

As I suspected it was still there along with two further Melo amoenus that remained. One of which the Cephaleum was pretty big and the amount of seed pods on top made for a stunning looking plant. Shame it was suffering so much from lack of water..

So I picked up this hooj plant and lugged it to the checkout. Last year when I first saw the plant it was over £70. Today when I looked at it, it had been slashed to £52. I had words with the woman at the checkout at offered her £40 quid for it maybe £45 at a push. Without much hesitation at all she agreed straid off to £40 of which my Girlfriend and I was surprised, as I had asked to see the shop manager.

So I bought myself the big Ferocactus



;D





We did briefly see the Manager but even he couldn't remember which it was.

I even got a free sturdy carry bag with it. They were probably glad to see the back of the thing to be honest it had been there so long




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The soil around the plant itself is very unusual. I initially thought it was destructed brick, but I am now starting to think, was it actually a habitat or outdoor grown plant from the US. The older parts of the plant are quite marked up and the spination looking a bit faded if thats possible.

A photo of the plant with a small amount of original material taken out and some darker compost packed around the top to make the plant stand out a lille better against the dark. With the essential 50P to scale



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I first popped the plant into one glazed pot that was free in my flat, but it was too small and the cactus pot was raised and too wide. I then tried it in a pot that was made available by the Musa Acuminata banana that I recently lost to DREARISM. It slotted in perfectly.



So in the end I didn't repot the plant, but then Fero's and Golden barrels are normally good to be a bit potbound , and in all honesty I think it looks the Dogs hairy sandra's like it is.

All I need to do now is find out exactly what Ferocactus it is. I was thinking wislizenii , but I might be wrong. Anybody care to fill me in on my new purchase



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And one of the two remaining Melo amoenus plants there. How good does this look !



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I hope you enjoy as much as me and the GF are right now . . . .

=^-^= =^o^= =^u^= =^_~=

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Eutow_Int*

The Melo is a beauty, looks very healthy and hardly any spots or scars. And a beautiful cephalium. The pot doesn't really suit the plant, though.

I didn't buy the Melocactus amoenus as I already have one. I just put up the pic to show.

Still trying to find out exactly which one the Fero is, but unfortunately a lot of them looks the same in habitat photo's

Eutow_Intermedium wrote:I didn't buy the Melocactus amoenus as I already have one. I just put up the pic to show.

Still trying to find out exactly which one the Fero is, but unfortunately a lot of them looks the same in habitat photo's

The whiskers on your plant would indeed make one think of a Wislizenii, but a Wislizenii is hookspined, and your plant isn't. I googled "Ferocactus" and got tons of photos, but I couldn't find a good match.

Ferocactus santa-maria, I think. Just with slightly less hooked centre spines.

No I don't think it's Santa Maria * shakes head *

=^~^=

Nice fero you've got there! I have no ide what species it is...

But what I want to say, is that maybe you should repot it. Even if you will keep the original por ater changing the soil. That's because it's roots may be in a really bad condition and will benefit from the fresh soil. A plant kept in a shop for a long time can easily lose it's roots unfortunately and still be a beautiful cactus.

Just some time ago I've bought a similar sized gruzonii. It looks great, but when I unpotted it, I've found nearly no roots. I hope the fresh soil will make him happy.

Not all of my plants are in Coir. I had coir in my flat and in the beginning I was using neat with a bit of Vitax cactus fertiliser in the mix. Then since I found and reclaimed the Stone Grit at Anerley for my use. I have had a mix of Coir and Stone grit.

Last year over the allotment in the Greenhouse I have have been repotting plants with a Soil ( loam based ) John Innes, various grade grits and now the stone grit mixed in. So by all means my plants there should be more on that side.

That fed would be quite a challenge to repot , noir just because of the spines and it's weight. But minty because I don't have any compost in my flat apart from a Coir and Stone grit mix. When I got the plant home I took off the top half inch all the way around and stuffed the Coir/Stone grit mix all around the top and in between the ribs, mainly for visual effect, as the dark compost brings the plant form out a bit better, I haven't watered it since I got it home.

And if I do it will probably be around March time and from underneath. I'll see how it goes, maybe there is a liquid fertiliser I can give it that is higher in Phosphate for roots. But I think I will leave it for now

The hardest part will be getting the Fero in in it's plastic pot out of the top of the Terracotta glazed one. Might have too get a butter knife in under there

I think the customized pots are cool. If I may give a suggestion though, how about a white or grey background? I bet it would look really cool on a cement (concrete) pot. Nice plants too, my favorite is the N. buiningii (edit: if I'm not mistaken; the one in the bottom right custom pot).

I think I am going to have to go with Ferocactus Stainseii for now. That about looks as similar as I am going to get.

Unless a Ferocious family expert tells me what it is first hand, here on CG.

=^~^=