My flowering Cacti 2020

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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,

my wife was nice enough to take a few digital images of the flowering Thelocactus heterochromus shortly before noon today, although she dislikes cacti. The first image is one she too shortly before noon. When I returned from work shortly after 6:30 p.m. I noticed, that the flower was still partially open. So I went ahead and took several more photos. This weekend I shall also go ahead and treat the cactus, most likely with a combination of insecticide/fungicide. The splotches that have developed over the last year do look like they are most likely caused by a fungus.

Harald
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keith
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by keith »

This weekend I shall also go ahead and treat the cactus, most likely with a combination of insecticide/fungicide. The splotches that have developed over the last year do look like they are most likely caused by a fungus. "

From the soil ? Nice flowers .
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by hegar »

Hello keith,

I agree with your "nice flower" comment. That Thelocactus does have the largest blossoms of any members of that genus. I do have a slightly smaller cactus of the same species, but that plant produces smaller flowers.
About the fungal infection process: Fungal spores are mostly moved by wind. Here in the Chihuahuan Desert we do have very strong winds during the early spring months, sometimes developing into sandstorms. Those winds do carry all kinds of small organisms and the sand may cause minute injuries on the plant stems and leaves, making the plant more susceptible to invasion by microorganisms. Of course, fungi will also enter through natural portals of entry like stomatal openings. Fungal spores could also be moved along by water from irrigation or rainfall.

Harald
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by hegar »

Well, did I get a surprise yesterday! While I was outside, photographing one of my flowering Coryphantha macromeris plants, I looked around a little bit more and noticed three flower buds about ready to open on one of my Ariocarpus fissuratus plants. I never before had flowers show up on these cacti before the second half of September. Despite going out several times until almost 6 p.m. the flower buds stayed shut (see image 1).
Early this morning - before going to work at around 7:45 a.m., I did take another look and saw the flowers in the process of opening (image 2).
I did have my short workday today and managed to get home shortly before 5:30 p.m.. I was a bit disappointed, that the flowers had already closed (image 3). I may yet to be able to get a decent image, because tomorrow it is going to be rather cold. We are dropping from a high of 100 degrees F to a high tomorrow below 70 degrees F. The nighttime temperatures are going to be in the 50s. With that cooling, a lot of wind is expected and also possibly some rain.
Of course, not all is lost yet, because image 4 shows all four A. fissuratus plants in the bucket, the way I received them from a plant rescue station in Alpine, TX. They had over 2,500 of these plants in their greenhouses and were running out of space. So I and my local cactus club members were asked, whether or not we would take some of these plants off their hands. One of our members went to Alpine and picked perhaps 50 of them up.
The next year I did receive three move large specimens from the same place! As you can see in image 4, the other three plants are most likely to bloom soon too, as are the remaining three, which are in a planter I purchased. In addition, I do have two more plants I bought a few years ago. Those are considerably smaller, but may also flower this year.
With all those Ariocarpus fissuratus plants, I should be able to have at least a few good photos posted of a wide-open blossom.
My other Ariocarpus specimens have not been very forthcoming when it comes to flowering. There is a good chance, that the Ariocarpus retusus x agavoides and the A. retusus ssp. confusus plants will bloom later this year. I am still hoping for at least one of the other A. retusus forms to surprise me with their first flowers.

Harald
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dinfelu
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by dinfelu »

hello Harald

I have an ariocarpus retusus for two years and I do not see anything growing, I have read that they are very slow growing, so the size of yours surprises me, and I like those flowers with that color

Congratulations
🌵 Gabriel
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,

First, @ dinfelu: Thank you very much for your comment. I am happy to have these beautiful specimens of Ariocarpus fissuratus. They are most likely over 25 years old, each and everyone of them, and to top it off, I did not even have to pay for them!
You are correct about your observation, saying that plants of that genus are considered to be slow growing. I did purchase a plant many years ago and the representative of the nursery told me, that the seed was planted eight years earlier! He also mentioned, that the cactus would most likely flower that very same year. It did!
I still have high hopes, that the Ariocarpus retusus ssp. confusus will finally reward me with a flower. It should be of a light pink color. It did try to bloom last year, if I am not mistaken, but I did not see an open flower.
The other cacti, which fall into the A. retusus group would either have white flowers or pale yellow ones. Those that I do have most likely still need a few more years worth of growth to come into bloom.

Well, this time around I was able to photograph one of the Ariocarpus fissuratus plants with the blossom fully open. I missed out on the first one in bloom - the one with the three medium-pink blossoms -, because of the requirement to go to work and also the nasty weather we did have at the beginning of the week. It is still unseasonable cool, but it has been dry for two days and the temperature is slowly returning to normal for this time of the year. The plant I photographed today does have a pretty good sized flower on the light pink side.

Harald
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by hegar »

Hello Cacti Friends,
today the third plant in the bucket went into flower. This one does have a darker pink blossom. I am going to only post perhaps another photo or two of the Ariocarpus fissuratus plants, most likely of the one, which does have the deepest pink flowers, and/or, if one of the small plants of that species blooms for the first time.

Harald
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bbarv
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by bbarv »

They are just amazing!
keith
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by keith »

Hi Hegar, those are nice ariocarpus. I noticed today a few of my Ariocarpus are blooming also.

I watered the Ariocarpus a week ago after over a month with no water that probably helped triggered them to flower. My A. Retusus flower later in OCT- NOV if they flower at all. They got watered too but nothing yet.
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dinfelu
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by dinfelu »

Hello

The flowers of your ariocarpus are beautiful but this time what I liked the most
is the body of the cactus, it looks like the skin of a lizard and also there are so
many mathematics in its shape, because it also looks like a star made with triangles

congratulations on how well presented you have them

regards
🌵 Gabriel
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dinfelu
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by dinfelu »

hello Harald


I found a very nice photo of an ariocarpus and I leave you the thread


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

regards
🌵 Gabriel
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,
thank you very much for your comments, bbarv, keith, and dinfelu. I really do appreciate feedback, be it of a critical or complimentary nature.
You are correct, dinfelu, the Ariocarpus fissuratus cactus does have a very attractive and unusual shape. The textured tubercles, with those fissures make this cactus a beautiful plant, even when it is not in flower. I am indeed lucky, to have received seven of these beauties in prime blooming age for free. That is one of the benefits of belonging to an active cactus club and one member's willingness to drive quite a distance to bring them to me and other interested club members. :)

I did photograph several plants in bloom over the weekend. Mostly my images were those of Ariocarpus fissuratus. This will be the case until the flowering season for cacti comes to a close. I used to have a very large Ferocactus latispinus, which did flower last. Its blossoms opened up at the end of October or early November! Sometimes it even had unopened flower buds on its apex, lasting into the new year.

Well, here are the images taken during the last two days:
Both varieties of Thelocactus bicolor were once again in flower. The variety bolaensis does have whitish spines, the schottii one does have reddish-brown tipped spines.
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Also, the Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus ssp. klinkerianus was flowering again. This plant is one that I do recommend to growers, because the blossom is of a nice size and the plant blooms repeatedly.
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Also all my Escobaria tuberculosa plants flowered once more. This is a native cactus and pretty common around my home town of El Paso, Texas.
Its flowers are nothing to brag about. Neither their size, nor their color is extraordinary. However, it is a tough plant and does produce flowers several times during the growing season.
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The last images show a batch of the now flowering Ariocarpus fissuratus cacti. I do believe, that my Aricarpus retusus x agavoides hybrid and the Ariocarpus retusus ssp. confusus will still flower and hopefully also the A. bravoanus and one of the A. retusus plants. Once those mentioned in my last sentence do bloom, I shall take some annual leave, drive home and take some photos of them.
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dinfelu
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by dinfelu »

hello Harald

very beautiful blooms of all the cacti that you show us
the Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus ssp. klinkerianus
is for competition

Congratulations
🌵 Gabriel
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by hegar »

Hello Cactus Friends,
first off: thank you very much dinfelu for your kind words. I do appreciate any comments, even if someone here on the forum were to say, that I write too much or post too many similar images of too few plants. I guess, I am just an ordinary cactus addict and overdo things a bit at times or even all the time? :)
Today's posting may be the last this year showing any of my cactus plants in flower. There may be one or a few more going into bloom, but I am not certain about that. If that happens, it will be the first flowering images I was able to take of these plants and I shall definitely post them here.

I am starting this presentation off with what I was told is Echinopsis eyriesii. That big clump of mine flowers several times each year and produces large flowers. The blossoms open at around 10 p.m. and last until late morning. This time around, I did photograph the cactus shortly before 8 a.m. and to my great surprise the blossoms were still open shortly before 7 p.m.! It was not an overly warm day and the sun was not shining as brightly as it does at other times. That most likely caused the flowers to last longer. The first two images were taken in the morning, the last one in the early evening on the same day.
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Next is a hybrid cactus, purchased from Miles of "Miles2Go". One parent is Ariocarpus retusus, the other Ariocarpus agavoides. This cactus produces a beautiful flower measuring a little over 1.5 inches (4 cm) in diameter. I did take annual leave on Wednesday afternoon and drove home, just to photograph it. Then, today, it opened the second blossom. The flower color is slightly paler than that of most of my Ariocarpus fissuratus specimens.
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As a bonus, one of my Turbinicarpus sp. cacti was also in bloom. I am not sure what the species is, but believe, that it is T. gielsdorfianus.
If someone looking at these images does recognize the plant, please let me know. I had just purchased the plant in February of this year, but forgot where I planted it along with the other newly acquired plants. Even my photographs of the newly arrived plants with the genus and species names next to them do not seem to match.
Well, here is an image of the Turbinicarpus.
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I am going to close with a series of digital images, showing six of the seven large Ariocarpus fissuratus plants in bloom. These plants I do treasure more than all the others, because they are wild-grown, old cacti, which had been dug up illegally near the Big Bend, Texas area in Federal or State Parks. The first two images show four plants out of originally five, which I received one year, and the other three A. fissuratus plants I was able to acquire at another time.
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Snowcat
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2020

Post by Snowcat »

Beautiful flowers indeed!
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