Hello Charles, I did download your latest images and tried to magnify them, in order to see more features of the lesions. Unfortunately, that did not help much either, because the images became too blurred when electronically enlarged. So, a diagnosis of this problem cannot be done with any degree o...

Hello Charles, those are interesting looking lesions indeed. It would be interesting, to look inside those blisters, in order to find out what caused them. While rust fungi do produce blisters, I would not agree with that diagnosis. Going through our extensive database - going all the way back to 19...

Hello Cactus Friends, this weekend not much did flower, perhaps due to the extreme heat wave we are experiencing at this time. Today, the mercury reached 109 degrees Fahrenheit! I did have one blossom on my Echinocereus reichenbachii and another one of one of my Astrophytum capricorne plants (see at...

Hello Gabriel,
you do have a nice Mammmillaria collection. I do like the Mammillaria mazatlanensis plant in bloom you are showing.

Harald

Hello Cactus Friends, not much has been going on for the last week. There was a final flower on my lager Echinocereus reichenbachii on June 10th. Today, I did notice the first blossom on my recently transplanted Opuntia engelmannii. That plant had become rather large and developend a tendency to fal...

Hello Mrs. Green, the pencil cholla is one of the most common cacti growing in the wild around where I live, exceeded in numbers by only the pad-forming prickly pear Opuntia cacti. Whenever my cactus club participates in a "Plant Rescue Mission", nobody saves that plant, because even we co...

Hello Mrs. Green, Spence is most likely correct with his assessment of the cactus problem. Most likely, your two cacti belong into the category of "jungle cacti", like Rhipsalis, Epiphyllum, Schlumbergera, etc.. Those do best in filtered light. I am only slightly concered about the region ...

Hello Frank, I have never seen such an oddity in my life! Were there actual spines (thorns) on the offset, which looks more like a Mammillaria than an Astrophytum? Now, what would this plant with 10 ribs be called? Do you know, if this phenomenon has been observed before? How many ribs have been fou...

Hello K.W., the images shown from your last post, numbers 513, 515, and 516, are they showing a flowering Echinopsis bruchii (Lobivia bruchii)? I do have a large plant with that name, that I purchased a while back in a small 2 1/2 inch (6 cm) square pot. That cactus grew really fast and is now my la...

Hello Cactus Friends, over this weekend there was an almost total lull as far as anything of my cactus collection being in flower. Today though, at least one of my Turbinicarpus plants produced a blossom. This T. schmiedickeanus ssp. klinkerianus is blooming the second time, the first time was on Ma...

Hello Mrs. Green, with cacti there is a big discrepancy when it comes to rooting them. Some do root very easily, like most prickly pear members. Others are not that easy to root. I was told by an "oldtimer collector", that the Queen of the Night (Peniocereus greggii) is considered a diffic...

Hello Mrs. Green, like you, I am a person, who does not like to destroy or throw away plants, even if they are not healthy. So, in my opinion, you could possibly save most of these plants. I am concerned about the holes near the soil line, visible on several plants. If they are open wounds and have ...

Hello Gabriel,
the Gymnocalycium baldianum is a cactus worth having. I do love its bright red flowers and its repeated, profuse flowering.

Harald

Hello Cactus Friends, I have already missed two times this year the flowering of one of my Astrophytum capricorne, but not to worry, the plant will most likely bloom at least two more times this season. Today, one of the not so showy cacti was in flower. It is the "pencil cholla" Opuntia l...

Hello Gabriel, I do like that Acantocalycium violaciflorum plant with its lavender colored blossoms. Do you have a flowering-size Ferocactus latispinus? That plant does produce a beautiful purplish flower. However, that light purple (lavender) is also a pretty and not very common blossom color. Harald