My Queen luethyi

[angelo]

small plant, big flower

_DSC5534.jpg (37.72 KiB) Viewed 1711 times

[iann]

Flowering now? I did get a couple of late summer flowers this year, but they were buds from spring that never quite made it. Plus this summer never really was.

[angelo]

no, it is a bloom of May. first with two flowers and last with 5.

[RichR]

absolutely stunning. wish mine would bloom some day. They kind of remind me of Escobaria minima flowers, but more purplish.

[DaveW]

They are not hard to flower on a graft Rich, but I find them hard to keep since the scion tends to dry up in our winters in the UK even though the stock is still healthy. I was having this discussion at the recent Cactus Explorers Weekend about luethyi and some similar tuberous rooted cacti on grafts as to whether the heads in habitat often die off in the dry season and later regenerate from the tuberous root. Therefore grafts lacking the tuberous storage root can sometimes die off or dry up without the ability to regenerate from the root.

If somebody has found the answer to cultivating them on a graft in winter I would be glad to know since I am now on my fourth grafted plant and they seem impossible to de-graft and root, or find grown from seed on their own roots in the UK.

[Aiko]

Therefore grafts lacking the tuberous storage root can sometimes die off or dry up without the ability to regenerate from the root.

Maybe grafting them with part of the root system?
I wonder if that is possible, once a seedling starts to produce a bit of a tuber, one might graft the tuber and although grafted can still get a plant with a tuber growing. Would probably look hideous once it grows to a large size...

[DaveW]

Trouble is you would need a plant on it's own roots to start with Aiko and I would prefer it on it's own roots anyway. This is a species that has been extensively propagated by grafting since the seed is retained within the body therefore seed or seedlings are hard to obtain and alas de-grafts seldom seem to root, but just shrivel up.

[angelo]

is a plant on its own roots. never tried a graft although the temptation was there to see if he can by tubercle. I have a climate which in winter rarely drops below 7 ° Celsius with humidity never above 40%.

[astro21]

Gorgeous!