Does anyone know of any Cacti species from Colombia or Argentina that are good for beginners ?

[Nopaltzin]

Hi everyone ,

I appreciate this might sound like a bit of an odd question , but does anyone know of any cacti or succulent species native to Colombia or Argentina particularly that are good for beginners ( care requirements that are manageable for a novice ) ??


I would appreciate any suggestions and thank you for your time

[cactushobbyman]

Echinopsis oxygona is a tough plant.

[7george]

There are many species from Argentina that are easy to grow: Echinopsis oxigona, Rebutia minuscula, R. krainziana, Gymnocalycium baldianum.

Also Stetsonia coryne, Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis & many others but it depends what are your climate and home conditions.

[Nopaltzin]

Echinopsis oxygona is a tough plant.

Thank you for the suggestion cactushobbyman , it looks like a beautiful plant too .

[Nopaltzin]

There are many species from Argentina that are easy to grow: Echinopsis oxigona, Rebutia minuscula, R. krainziana, Gymnocalycium baldianum.

Also Stetsonia coryne, Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis & many others but it depends what are your climate and home conditions.

Thank you for your suggestion George , really appreciate it , from the plants you mentioned , Rebutia minuscula and Rebutia Krainziana fit the requirements perfectly , I love the red flowers they produce. On that note I will begin looking for where I can purchase one of those two species , I imagine it might be a bit of challenge to find some though.

What about Colombian cacti / succulents ?? Do you have any suggestions ??

[Nopaltzin]

There are many species from Argentina that are easy to grow: Echinopsis oxigona, Rebutia minuscula, R. krainziana, Gymnocalycium baldianum.

Also Stetsonia coryne, Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis & many others but it depends what are your climate and home conditions.

Stetsonia Coryne also seems like a good option , they also seem to be very resilient and widely available

[esp_imaging]

There are loads of cacti from Argentina that are easy to grow - including many species of Echinopsis (also Lobivia, Trichocereus and Acanthocalycium, which are often grouped into Echinopsis), Gymnocalycium, Eriosyce, Oreocereus, Parodia and more.

There are far fewer from Columbia that are common in cultivation, although Selenicereus megalanthus is grown commercially for fruit, so may be obtainable.

This website has a useful country serarch for species, e.g.:
http://cactiguide.com/distribution_dis ... =Argentina
http://cactiguide.com/distribution_disp ... y=Colombia

[Nopaltzin]

There are loads of cacti from Argentina that are easy to grow - including many species of Echinopsis (also Lobivia, Trichocereus and Acanthocalycium, which are often grouped into Echinopsis), Gymnocalycium, Eriosyce, Oreocereus, Parodia and more.

There are far fewer from Columbia that are common in cultivation, although Selenicereus megalanthus is grown commercially for fruit, so may be obtainable.

This website has a useful country serarch for species, e.g.:
http://cactiguide.com/distribution_dis ... =Argentina
http://cactiguide.com/distribution_disp ... y=Colombia

Hi Esp_imaging,

Thank you so much for your suggestions on Argentinian cacti , and the country search option. I didn't know that option was available on the site so its awesome to know it is and I will be using it as I build my collection.

Quite sad to hear about the lack of Colombian cacti , but I will keep my eyes peeled to find some .

[7george]

Several cacti from Colombia: Pilosocereus lanuginosus, Rhipsalis micrantha, Rhipsalis baccifera, Opuntia elatior, Opuntia quitensis, Opuntia schumannii, Mammillaria columbiana, Stenocereus griseus. If you grow cacti outdoors and have enough space any of those is good for start with.

[greenknight]

Mammillaria columbiana was the first thing that popped into my head when you brought up Columbia, obvious since it's named for the country. It is a good choice, though, easy to grow and common worldwide. Unlike some of those 7george lists it doesn't need much space and can be grown indoors if you can provide some direct sun or equivalent artificial light (needs light shade outdoors). The Rhipsalis species could also be grown indoors and don't need quite as much light - suitable for hanging baskets, so you just need a place to hang them near a window that gets fairly good light.

[DaveW]

Why particularly those countries? Your avatar does not say which country you are based in? Therefore it is hard to suggest sources of plants if we do not know what country you are in.

Not knowing where you are I would search Cactus Mall to see if there are any nurseries where you are. You can always order plants by post even if you cannot visit the dealers. Due to CITES regulations it is almost impossible these days to buy cacti from a dealer in another country, the only exception being the EU where all member nations are treated as a single country for CITES, but seed crosses borders OK so you can easily buy seed from abroad.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/nursery.html

These days when buying seed from abroad most dealers take PayPal, which removes the problem of changing money to different currencies, or paying bank charges.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/seeds.html

Don't be confused by old names either, since in the early days plants often got named for the port they were shipped to Europe from and not where they were actually collected, often being another country. Nobody has ever found Frailea columbiana again or anything like it in Colombia, so it is thought Colombia was just where the shipment was finally sent to Europe from after travelling overland to there.

[Nopaltzin]

Why particularly those countries? Your avatar does not say which country you are based in? Therefore it is hard to suggest sources of plants if we do not know what country you are in.

Not knowing where you are I would search Cactus Mall to see if there are any nurseries where you are. You can always order plants by post even if you cannot visit the dealers. Due to CITES regulations it is almost impossible these days to buy cacti from a dealer in another country, the only exception being the EU where all member nations are treated as a single country for CITES, but seed crosses borders OK so you can easily buy seed from abroad.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/nursery.html

These days when buying seed from abroad most dealers take PayPal, which removes the problem of changing money to different currencies, or paying bank charges.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/seeds.html

Don't be confused by old names either, since in the early days plants often got named for the port they were shipped to Europe from and not where they were actually collected, often being another country. Nobody has ever found Frailea columbiana again or anything like it in Colombia, so it is thought Colombia was just where the shipment was finally sent to Europe from after travelling overland to there.

Hi Dave,

This may sound a bit ridiculous and pointless but I have a goal to own one cacti from all the largest countries of the America's and since expanding my collection , I am only missing an Argentinian species and a Colombian. Weird I know , but its just a foible of mine .

I'm based currently (for the near future ) in the UK for my studies but lived and spent much time in Latin America previously and will likely return after graduation. I guess I am most interested in obtaining cuttings, and after some consideration , particularly of Stetsonia Coryne.

Hmmmm , thats really interesting what you mentioned about Frailea Columbiana , has anyone ever made an attempt to discover its country/countries of origin ? or any other hypothesis on this ?

[DaveW]

Your problem will be if you obtain the plants in the UK getting them out again when you return to Latin America due to CITES regulations. Whilst in theory cultivated plants can be exported the paperwork is difficult to obtain and often more expensive than the plants are worth. Look up the British and EU nurseries on that Cactus Mall link. However you may find importing plants from EU countries outside the UK the postage charges often cost more than the plant.

You can download Jaques Lambert Argentinian Cactus book here:-

https://www.cactuspro.com/biblio/en:lambert

Evidently Colombia does have cactus nurseries, but they seem to grow the usual range of cacti from other countries rather than just Colombian ones:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxDnLrsCWY0

Not a lot of cactus exploration has gone off in recent times in Colombia due to terrorism, some of which has only recently ceased as these areas were dangerous for strangers to visit, risking kidnap or worse, just like some drug cartel areas of Mexico now:-

"Terrorism in Colombia has occurred repeatedly for the last several decades, largely in part due to the ongoing armed conflict the country has been involved in since 1964. Perpetrators of terrorist acts in the country range from leftist guerilla forces such as the FARC, ELN and M-19, to drug cartels such as the Medellin Cartel"

I don't think anybody really knows where Frailea colombiana came from, and who knows it may yet be found there. It was originally published as F. columbiana, but it is permissible to change an incorrect spelling under the "Rules" since the country is now called Colombia not "Columbia". However it is now usually considered a variety or subspecies of F. pumila which is quite widespread in the surrounding countries.

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACT ... lea_pumila

If you are still around in the UK for most of the year you may find there are some cactus shows or Cactus Marts near where you are. You can often obtain the plants you want from these.

See:-

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=40313

[Nopaltzin]

Several cacti from Colombia: Pilosocereus lanuginosus, Rhipsalis micrantha, Rhipsalis baccifera, Opuntia elatior, Opuntia quitensis, Opuntia schumannii, Mammillaria columbiana, Stenocereus griseus. If you grow cacti outdoors and have enough space any of those is good for start with.

Hi George ,

Thank you for the suggestions , I appreciate it , the Opuntia species you mentioned seem intriguing , particularly Opuntia quitensis.

[Nopaltzin]

Mammillaria columbiana was the first thing that popped into my head when you brought up Columbia, obvious since it's named for the country. It is a good choice, though, easy to grow and common worldwide. Unlike some of those 7george lists it doesn't need much space and can be grown indoors if you can provide some direct sun or equivalent artificial light (needs light shade outdoors). The Rhipsalis species could also be grown indoors and don't need quite as much light - suitable for hanging baskets, so you just need a place to hang them near a window that gets fairly good light.

Thank you Green knight , appreciate it , I think that Mamillaria Columbiana would indeed be a good choice for me.