A Blooming Ferocactus?

[mikethecactusguy]

A Blooming Ferocactus? Which one please.

DSC_0848-001.JPG (137.24 KiB) Viewed 1956 times

[A_G_R]

F acanthodes maybe? Beautiful white spines, not very common

[greenknight]

I was going to say F. cylindraceus, the I realized acanthodes is a synonym. Not common in cultivation, but common enough in the Sonoran Desert.

How big is that puppy?

[madkactus]

Nice. Those thorns look catchy.

[mikethecactusguy]

Thanks All.
With Llifle not functioning, identifying oddities is more difficult. I though it was f. cylindraceus myself. The all white spines was throwing me. WShen watered the spines do turn pink. This is the smaller of 2 I bought 3 months ago.

[7george]

An young plant grown in full sun, that's why spines look so impressive.
https://cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus=Fe ... lindraceus
There are enough images of those in this site gallery.

[foyouri1]

I recently got a cactus that is a Ferocactus cylindraceus myself! Such a stunning plant. Mine does have spines that are pinker/redder than your cactus. I don't want to lead you astray (don't quote me on this), but I did see Echinocactus Polycephalus which looks similar and even has very similar yellow flowers, but the spines are lighter pink/whitish. So that may be an alternative to consider if you aren't 100% certain that it is a Ferocactus!

[mikethecactusguy]

Thank you foyouri.
The cotton top or Echinocactus Polycephalies tends to clump as it grows older. Similar with the interlaced spines but I do feel these are Ferocactus.
I have another Ferocactus Cylindraceus that has red spines and they get really bright red when watered. I got lucky again and the seller did not realize the rarity of these.
Thanks 7George.. Spot on.

[foyouri1]

You probably know much more than me but I wanted to share anyways! I'm glad you found your specimen. Do you have any tips for caring for Ferocactus cylindraceus? I just want to keep mine alive and I'm afraid to accidentally kill it! How long should I keep grow lights on it? How much and how frequently should I water it?

[mikethecactusguy]

foyouri1
To start where are you located and where do have the plant growing? Windowsill, shelf?

[Steve-0]

Here's my two large Ferocactus acanthodes or cylindraceus if one prefers. Both names are right. I like 'A-can-tho-deez' myself. These are solar farm/State of Nevada / BLM management salvaged specimens purchased from commercial nurseries which are permitted to salvage them before the land is scraped clean. They are volleyball sized.

[foyouri1]

Thank you for the response! I live in Northern Ohio, so Zone six. Our house is set to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The plant is about 5" in diameter. I got the cactus on Friday, April 16, and potted it that day. I didn't water it until this past Thursday, April 22. I think I might have watered it too much or something, because now it has yellow/brown wrinkly areas at the bottom of it, which I circled in red in the pictures. Do you think that is the problem? What should I do? I was thinking to water it biweekly or monthly, but now I'm not sure what I should do. How much and how often should I water it then? It is currently living by a South-facing window, but there is a house (which can be seen in one of the pictures) across from the window, potentially blocking sunlight. Additionally, as you can see, it is often cloudy here. I currently am not using grow lights, but I plan to get some. I just want to make sure I don't give it too much or too little sunlight, and that I won't overexpose it too quickly! How should I go about acclimating it to the grow lights? Thank you again.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/e/2P ... 1074&h=723

[Steve-0]

They thrive on neglect, drought, full sun (once acclimated), South facing, hot! Water every couple of months. Dry soil before watering. No water in winter....like Oct...Nov...until April. Unless it really appears to be dying of thirst.

[foyouri1]

Thank you very much for the tips!

[Steve-0]

Here's another small Ferocactus acanthodes ...the one farthest back of the four ...and a trio of Echinocactus polycephalus after being in the rain all day. I thought misting them turned the spines red. Rain however really turned them on! The Echinocactus texensis in the tall square pot with the opuntia polyacantha also gets its spines full of color when wet . The bottom pic shows the spines only misted.