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Good morning Frank. Thanks for the suggestion. Size is about 4" width and about 2.5" high. I've had it for about 5 years and it wasn't very much smaller when I got it. My interest in cacti has only just been rekindled so I'm afraid I've been neglecting it somewhat until just recently. It was repotted earlier this year and looks to be growing well now.

G'morning gillinger,

Melocactus matanzanus is relativey small cactus. A matanzanus of your size should be starting to form a cephalium.
I do not know exact name of your cactus but it is not a matanzanus.
I think your cactus will form a cephalium soon but it need to gain 2~3 cm more in diameter.

I propagated Melocactus matanzanus from seed. I donated ~30 seedlings to a local cacts society.
Seedlings were around 7~8 cm.
A member told me a matanzanus started to form a cephalium when the cactus reaced to 10 cm in diameter.

Frank

Hi Frank, thanks for the reply. I didn't realise that matanzanus was so much smaller. After doing a little more research, I think I am now leaning towards azureus being the more likely candidate, as this grows up to about 14cm wide.

Good evening Gillinger. Your Melocactus seems to be a neryi but we'll have to wait until it has a cephalium to properly identify it. Would be nice to see an update on how it looks by now

I just lost a nice melo to rot unfortunately, discovered it last night. I hadn't watered it over winter for four months, until it got a good soak two weeks ago. Maybe I should have given it less water more frequently.

snyorega wrote: ↑Sun Sep 19, 2021 11:56 pm I just lost a nice melo to rot unfortunately, discovered it last night. I hadn't watered it over winter for four months, until it got a good soak two weeks ago. Maybe I should have given it less water more frequently.

I had to learn the hard way when I lost my first Melo matanzanus...

That was back in 2011 -- bought the plant from the California Cactus Center, and I kept it completely dry that winter. What I discovered (after the fact) was that once they develop cephalia, Melos need light watering every 3 weeks in fall and winter to keep their roots hydrated. Since I didn't, the Melo's root system died off to the point of no return. I received another matanzanus in the spring of 2014, and I was able to successfully get it through its first winter. Then in the following winter, I overdid it when I accidentally soaked the plant -- poor thing rotted a few days after I made the boo-boo. Now I'm on matanzanus #3, which I purchased at a local cactus show in May 2016. Still going strong, and all I had to do was make sure that I carefully measure just the right amount of water so the plant gets sips instead of soaks every 3 weeks from the onset of dormancy (late October in my part of L.A.) until the roots wake up again in early spring.