Hi Harald , When it gets warmer, like now, I like to water my larger cactus with a good soak. Sometimes I water from above until water runs out of the pot and sometimes I dunk the whole cactus in a bucket of water. The Ariocarpus will swell up after a good soak if the roots are working. I don't water them more than once a month Spring thru fall. No water in winter. I keep them all under 50% shade cloth. Your soil is probably fine as long as it drains well in the pot.
I think in El Paseo like Phoenix Az it rains in the summer and gets really hot the Ariocarpus will like that. Never rains in the summer here only Winter and Spring. And it doesn't get that hot where I live now so you might have to water more, or less if you are having a Monsoon. Are the roots established on your ariocarpus ?
My flowering Cacti 2018
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
- Attachments
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- Watering a Echinocactus
- water.jpg (96.71 KiB) Viewed 2403 times
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- a few years ago in the Winter
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cactushobbyman
- Posts: 1437
- Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:01 pm
- Location: Sanger, California
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Harald, your post got me looking at Echinocereus more and I thought I would share this one. Lost the name, but I think you will know the name. 
Found the name: echinocereus scheeri var gentryi
- 2.jpg (44.56 KiB) Viewed 2382 times
- 1.jpg (59.04 KiB) Viewed 2382 times
Found the name: echinocereus scheeri var gentryi
Last edited by cactushobbyman on Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Hello Keith,
thank you very much for the tips dealing with watering cacti, especially those that tend to go into root rot easily. I do not have my pot with the three Ariocarpus fissuratus plants on a bench and I tried to block the drainage holes a bit, because I did not want to lose the growing medium because of a heavy rainfall or due to watering. That was perhaps not a good idea. The arroyo sand and gravel should drain well though, but will also have a tendency to dry out faster than a finer growing medium. The plants did not have very well established root systems like the one shown of the image you posted. It may well be, that the cacti did form new roots while being in their pot since fall. All my other cacti - except for two plants that are not cold hardy - are in the ground in a similar growing medium.
cactushobbyman, your spineless plant is most likely an Echinocereus viereckii ssp. morricalii. I do have that plant and it and its blossoms are very similar to your specimen. The stems on my plant are stouter, but that is perhaps, because my plant receives brighter sunlight outdoors.
I am going to place two digital images of my plant here. The plant showing the flower was photographed last year.
I do have other Echinocereus species that have a creeping habit, but they all do have spines.
Harald
thank you very much for the tips dealing with watering cacti, especially those that tend to go into root rot easily. I do not have my pot with the three Ariocarpus fissuratus plants on a bench and I tried to block the drainage holes a bit, because I did not want to lose the growing medium because of a heavy rainfall or due to watering. That was perhaps not a good idea. The arroyo sand and gravel should drain well though, but will also have a tendency to dry out faster than a finer growing medium. The plants did not have very well established root systems like the one shown of the image you posted. It may well be, that the cacti did form new roots while being in their pot since fall. All my other cacti - except for two plants that are not cold hardy - are in the ground in a similar growing medium.
cactushobbyman, your spineless plant is most likely an Echinocereus viereckii ssp. morricalii. I do have that plant and it and its blossoms are very similar to your specimen. The stems on my plant are stouter, but that is perhaps, because my plant receives brighter sunlight outdoors.
I am going to place two digital images of my plant here. The plant showing the flower was photographed last year.
I do have other Echinocereus species that have a creeping habit, but they all do have spines.
Harald
- E_viereckii ssp morricalii1.JPG (113.37 KiB) Viewed 2354 times
- E_viereckii ssp morricalii2.JPG (57.63 KiB) Viewed 2354 times
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Today I only spotted one cactus, which did have open flowers. I am not sure, that I will be seeing this plant with the blossoms wide open, because by the time I return from work it is around 6:30 p.m. or later. So I went ahead and took two photos.
The plant does have an odd flower color. However, it does have interesting long spines, which can snag anything that comes near. When it grows among grasses, it is not easy to spot. It is a native to the Chihuahuan Desert and has the common name "Cat Claw Cactus". The scientific name is Sclerocactus or Ancistrocactus uncinatus ssp. uncinatus.
Harald
The plant does have an odd flower color. However, it does have interesting long spines, which can snag anything that comes near. When it grows among grasses, it is not easy to spot. It is a native to the Chihuahuan Desert and has the common name "Cat Claw Cactus". The scientific name is Sclerocactus or Ancistrocactus uncinatus ssp. uncinatus.
Harald
- Sclero_uncinatus1.JPG (111.69 KiB) Viewed 2354 times
- Sclero_uncinatus2.JPG (89.09 KiB) Viewed 2354 times
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ElieEstephane
- Posts: 2909
- Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2016 12:10 am
- Location: Lebanon (zone 11a)
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Amazing! Some of these flowers can have a very dark color that will look almost black
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a)
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a)
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Harald - great collection of Echinocereus and others - E. roetterii flowers are especially remarkable. Do you have your cactus in a dedicated bed, or are they more or less everywhere? - Jim
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Ariocarpus are pretty hardy, keep them in filtered sunlight, a little water, some heat and they should grow new roots. When they swell up with water you know you have working roots. I don't think I would risk putting them in the ground unless you put the whole pot in the ground. I wouldn't want gophers eating the roots !
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Thank you very much for your comments and questions.
@ ElieEstephane: I also do like the unusual flower color of this cactus. Recently I purchased another member of that genus/species from Miles-to-go, a mail order nursery, which has short spines and is called Ancistrocactus (syn. Sclerocactus) uncinatus ssp. crassihamatus.
@ Jim (jph8): I do have three designated cactus beds, but I also did plant cacti in other locations of the front and back yards, because I was running out of space for them and some cacti will actually do better in the company of other plants. For example, I did lose several Peniocereus greggii (Queen of the Night) cacti, when I had them in a cactus bed together with other cacti. Then I planted two of them near some nurse plants (one is a fig and the other a Mexican Elder (Sambucus mexicana)) and those plants remain alive! They do get flitered light and I do not water them at all, because they easily go into root rot of their big tubers.
@ Keith: although I had been told by some of my local cactus growing friends, that Ariocarpus spp. can be planted in full sun, those plants that receive filtered light are doing better. Next to our very strong sunlight at 4,000 ft above sea level, they often do not live more than one year. I attribute this to the cold and oftentimes moist soil conditions during the winter months. My Ariocarpus retusus plants and hybrids thereof seem to be better able to handle adverse conditions than either the A. fissuratus or A. bravoanus. Having those A. fissuratus plants in a pot does allow me to place them in a dry spot during the winter months.
I am going to add three digital images to this thread. Two of them shows one of the few remaining small prickly pear cacti from the front yard.
It only has a few spines per cladode, but those are rather long. This plant was given to me by a local cactus club member. He called it Opuntia azurea.
The other plant is an Astrophytum capricorne. I used to have an A. myriostigma and also an A. ornatum, but managed to kill those plants.
Now I only have two A. capricorne, one of them a small variety of "senilis" and two specimens of a hybrid, which exhibits the characteristics of A. asterias, but does have slightly raised ribs and is much more robust and larger than a pure strain A. asterias.
I hope, that I can get photos of the Astrophytums posted. The good thing about them is, they do flower repeatedly.
Harald
@ ElieEstephane: I also do like the unusual flower color of this cactus. Recently I purchased another member of that genus/species from Miles-to-go, a mail order nursery, which has short spines and is called Ancistrocactus (syn. Sclerocactus) uncinatus ssp. crassihamatus.
@ Jim (jph8): I do have three designated cactus beds, but I also did plant cacti in other locations of the front and back yards, because I was running out of space for them and some cacti will actually do better in the company of other plants. For example, I did lose several Peniocereus greggii (Queen of the Night) cacti, when I had them in a cactus bed together with other cacti. Then I planted two of them near some nurse plants (one is a fig and the other a Mexican Elder (Sambucus mexicana)) and those plants remain alive! They do get flitered light and I do not water them at all, because they easily go into root rot of their big tubers.
@ Keith: although I had been told by some of my local cactus growing friends, that Ariocarpus spp. can be planted in full sun, those plants that receive filtered light are doing better. Next to our very strong sunlight at 4,000 ft above sea level, they often do not live more than one year. I attribute this to the cold and oftentimes moist soil conditions during the winter months. My Ariocarpus retusus plants and hybrids thereof seem to be better able to handle adverse conditions than either the A. fissuratus or A. bravoanus. Having those A. fissuratus plants in a pot does allow me to place them in a dry spot during the winter months.
I am going to add three digital images to this thread. Two of them shows one of the few remaining small prickly pear cacti from the front yard.
It only has a few spines per cladode, but those are rather long. This plant was given to me by a local cactus club member. He called it Opuntia azurea.
The other plant is an Astrophytum capricorne. I used to have an A. myriostigma and also an A. ornatum, but managed to kill those plants.
Now I only have two A. capricorne, one of them a small variety of "senilis" and two specimens of a hybrid, which exhibits the characteristics of A. asterias, but does have slightly raised ribs and is much more robust and larger than a pure strain A. asterias.
I hope, that I can get photos of the Astrophytums posted. The good thing about them is, they do flower repeatedly.
Harald
- O_azurea1.JPG (77.21 KiB) Viewed 2304 times
- O_azurea2.JPG (39.95 KiB) Viewed 2304 times
- A_capricorne.JPG (93.2 KiB) Viewed 2304 times
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cactushobbyman
- Posts: 1437
- Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:01 pm
- Location: Sanger, California
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Found the name: echinocereus scheeri var gentryi
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Hello cactushobbyman,
that is most likely the correct name for the Echinocereus sp. without spines. I do have a small E. scheeri in my cactus collection, but that one is the ssp. scheeri and does have spines. The subspecies "gentry" is the spineless version. My E. viereckii ssp. morricalii also lacks spines, but its ribs are more pronounced than the plant you showed. A very long time ago, toward the beginning of my cactus growing hobby, I did actually plant a seedling of E. scheeri ssp. gentry. However, it did not grow for me and died. I never purchased another plant, thinking, that the spineless cactus does not stand up well to our strong solar radiation.
Harald
that is most likely the correct name for the Echinocereus sp. without spines. I do have a small E. scheeri in my cactus collection, but that one is the ssp. scheeri and does have spines. The subspecies "gentry" is the spineless version. My E. viereckii ssp. morricalii also lacks spines, but its ribs are more pronounced than the plant you showed. A very long time ago, toward the beginning of my cactus growing hobby, I did actually plant a seedling of E. scheeri ssp. gentry. However, it did not grow for me and died. I never purchased another plant, thinking, that the spineless cactus does not stand up well to our strong solar radiation.
Harald
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Today was a better-than-average day as far as cactus flowering is concerned. Some of the earlier bloomers (Escobaria tuberculosa, Escobaria sneedii ssp sneedii, Echinocereus dasyacanthus, and Ancistrocactus (Sclerocactus) unicinatus) were still or again flowering. Because I did get better images of the latter and E_sneedii ssp. sneedii, and also, because one of the E_dasyacanthus plants had three big flowers on it, while another member of that species produced almost white blossoms, I am attaching photos of these plants once more.
Cacti that were not yet shown this year and stood in bloom are two plants of Astrophytum capricorne. The first image shows a smaller plant of the variety senile and the second one a larger plant of the usual appearance.
Another pretty member of the Echinocereus genus, Fendler's Hedgehog (Echinocereus fendleri) also opened its blossoms today.
Although I have dug up and given away the mother plant, I did keep a stem cutting of the prickly pear Opuntia violacea, which also flowered.
The fruit it produces are the favorite of my box turtles and I could not bring myself to get rid of the plant altogether!
As the last image I shall attach my first Echinocereus rigidissimus ssp. rubispinus. It has not yet flowered and may not do so. However, it started to grow some protuberances that look like pups. I wonder, what happened to that plant to cause this. I do not recall it getting injured.
Here are the images
Harald
Cacti that were not yet shown this year and stood in bloom are two plants of Astrophytum capricorne. The first image shows a smaller plant of the variety senile and the second one a larger plant of the usual appearance.
Another pretty member of the Echinocereus genus, Fendler's Hedgehog (Echinocereus fendleri) also opened its blossoms today.
Although I have dug up and given away the mother plant, I did keep a stem cutting of the prickly pear Opuntia violacea, which also flowered.
The fruit it produces are the favorite of my box turtles and I could not bring myself to get rid of the plant altogether!
As the last image I shall attach my first Echinocereus rigidissimus ssp. rubispinus. It has not yet flowered and may not do so. However, it started to grow some protuberances that look like pups. I wonder, what happened to that plant to cause this. I do not recall it getting injured.
Here are the images
Harald
- Esc_sneedii ssp sneedii3.JPG (59.59 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- A_uncinatus3.JPG (103.33 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- E_dasyacanthus7.JPG (92.05 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- E_dasyacanthus8.JPG (81.88 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- A_capricorne var senilis.JPG (68.95 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- A_capricorne.JPG (61.59 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- E_fendleri1.JPG (104.33 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- E_fendleri2.JPG (98.62 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- E_fendleri3.JPG (79.33 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- O_violacea1.JPG (77.98 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- O_violacea2.JPG (64.49 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
- E_rigid_ssp rubispinus.JPG (91.57 KiB) Viewed 2240 times
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Today was a day, where I had hoped, that more cacti would be flowering. However, until almost 3 p.m. the sky was overcast and even a few small drops of rain arrived on the ground. Then it became sunny once more, but that was too late for the prospective plants to open their buds.
Unfortunately, tomorrow I shall have to work, and by the time I come home, the cacti will be closing their blossoms.
Well, I did get to photograph my two Astrophytum capricorne plants and also the first blossom this year on my smaller Thelocactus bicolor.
Taking the photo from the side of the orange-red centered flower makes it look, as if there was a campfire burning inside.
So, here are the three images selected for today.
Harald
Unfortunately, tomorrow I shall have to work, and by the time I come home, the cacti will be closing their blossoms.
Well, I did get to photograph my two Astrophytum capricorne plants and also the first blossom this year on my smaller Thelocactus bicolor.
Taking the photo from the side of the orange-red centered flower makes it look, as if there was a campfire burning inside.
So, here are the three images selected for today.
Harald
- A_capricorne5a.JPG (79.65 KiB) Viewed 2213 times
- Thelocactus bicolor1.JPG (86.6 KiB) Viewed 2213 times
- T_bicolor2.JPG (68.21 KiB) Viewed 2213 times
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ElieEstephane
- Posts: 2909
- Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2016 12:10 am
- Location: Lebanon (zone 11a)
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
These are gorgeous Harald! Have you thought about setting up a camera above the cacti that will bloom in your absence and taking a timelapse?
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a)
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a)
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Hello Elie,
thank you very much for your compliment and the suggestion. Of course, I am aware of the possibility of having my camera take pictures every once in a while and thus would not miss out on getting a picture with the flower in full bloom. However, I believe, that would require for me to purchase some accessories, including a tripod. The problem is, that most of my cacti are in the front yard, and even with my 6-foot fence closed, someone could come by and steal the camera, which is not even mine, but was given to me by my federal agency to be used for work purposes. I do not want to report that camera stolen, unless it happened while on government property.
Well, today I was only able to shoot a photo of a closing flower on one of my Astrophytum asterias cacti (star cactus). I have two of these plants and they have been with me for a good number of years. Supposedly, A. asterias are the most difficult species of that genus to grow, due to their tendency to develop root rot. While I did lose an A. asterias Super Kabuto to this problem, these two are chugging along just fine. I believe, that the reason for this is, that they are not pure bred A. asterias. They do have a slight ridge running between the usually flat tubercles. As my old horticulture professor would say, these plants have "hybrid vigor". Because it was 6:30 p.m., when I photographed the plant, there was not much light and the colors are a bit bleached. However, I know, that these plant will flower repeatedly and I shall be able to get a good photo sometime later on a weekend.
Harald
thank you very much for your compliment and the suggestion. Of course, I am aware of the possibility of having my camera take pictures every once in a while and thus would not miss out on getting a picture with the flower in full bloom. However, I believe, that would require for me to purchase some accessories, including a tripod. The problem is, that most of my cacti are in the front yard, and even with my 6-foot fence closed, someone could come by and steal the camera, which is not even mine, but was given to me by my federal agency to be used for work purposes. I do not want to report that camera stolen, unless it happened while on government property.
Well, today I was only able to shoot a photo of a closing flower on one of my Astrophytum asterias cacti (star cactus). I have two of these plants and they have been with me for a good number of years. Supposedly, A. asterias are the most difficult species of that genus to grow, due to their tendency to develop root rot. While I did lose an A. asterias Super Kabuto to this problem, these two are chugging along just fine. I believe, that the reason for this is, that they are not pure bred A. asterias. They do have a slight ridge running between the usually flat tubercles. As my old horticulture professor would say, these plants have "hybrid vigor". Because it was 6:30 p.m., when I photographed the plant, there was not much light and the colors are a bit bleached. However, I know, that these plant will flower repeatedly and I shall be able to get a good photo sometime later on a weekend.
Harald
- A_asterias hybrid1.JPG (68.55 KiB) Viewed 2168 times
Re: My flowering Cacti 2018
Wow! The best time in Texas, ha?
If your cacti mess in your job just forget about the job.
°C = (°F - 32)/1.8
°C = (°F - 32)/1.8