r/cactusandsucculents

My husband got me this guy yesterday for my birthday ♥️ Been wanting one for years!

I order a lot from them and my latest purchase is this variegated astro. Scored mixed melocactus and gymno seed pods for free! They don't have space and some pods either get eaten by ants or picked by their kid. I sure was elated holding the cup and see the pods dropping in. 😁

Yes, I sowed them all.

I have a couple but had to get one more.

Sad🥲

Golden Rat Tail Cactus- what are these spots? I thought maybe scale but the quills go through them? And black spots at the base of the quills (last photo)?

🌵 Just to let you know that I assumed that this cactus was Parodia ottonis subsp horstii, but in actual fact, it's a Parodia penicillata because of the spines and rib formation. It's sometimes hard to get the right information, especially way back whe. I started to really get into cacti and succulents in 2005, I assumed that the tag was right and never really doubled-check the species, as i didn't have the internet back then.

🌵 Now, with most of the information at yours fingertips its not hard to cross-check plants and to see which species they are, but not all information is correct, as you can see, I got it wrong. 🤣

🌵 Since cactus and succulents are getting to be a more fashionable hobby, especially after covid. But even before then, there were quite a number of people into these magnificent plants. These plants have been growing in cultivation for decades, and a lot of species have been cross-pollinate to get some magnificent hybrids, where, as a lot of growers are trying to get the perfect flower. So now it's even harder to work out the species than it is to work out the genus if you get my drift.

🌵 This Parodia penicillata has been in my collection for 21yrs, and this is the first yr that it has flowered right through winter, as I've always thought they only flower during late spring through summer. Well, that proved my theory wrong. So, with the right conditions, some of these cacti can flower right winter. Which is a new thing for me.

🌵 The great thing about this is that a pecies of my cactus collection made me feel good through our miserable winter. Do get me wrong, but I did have other succulents that did provide some colour, but it's totally different when you have a cactus doing this. 😊👍🏻

🌵All in all, this Parodia penicillata just blows me away with its growth and all its offsets it has. I can't wait till the majority of the offsets start flowering, as I just gave them a quarter dose 0-0-41-17, which is Sulphate of Potash, to give the cactus that extra boost to push out more blooms

🌵 Here is some information that I sourced from the net about Parodia penicillata:

🌵 Parodia penicillata is a high-altitude cactus native to the rocky, steep mountain slopes of Salta in northern Argentina, where it thrives in fast-draining, gravelly soils under bright, indirect sunlight and intense atmospheric UV exposure. First formally described in the mid-20th century, its species name translates to "brush-like," describing the fine, dense cluster of spines that crown the top of its stem. While it starts out spherical, it eventually grows into a taller column up to 50 centimetres high, producing vibrant orange to red funnel-shaped flowers during summer. In cultivation, it does best in a mineral-heavy substrate with good air circulation and regular spring-to-summer watering, requiring a cold, dry winter dormancy to protect its root system and trigger a reliable flowering cycle.

🌵 By the way the information that I personally give out is the partially from my own experience from growing my collection for over 2 decadeds, and information that I've sourced from the net. The main thing is realy your conditions where your are, as this can make a big difference. So pick and choose the information that you need for your Zone. The Zone where i live is Zone 9a to 10a (with minimum winter temperatures typically staying around -1°C to 4°C / 30°F to 40°F, depending on microclimates and proximity to the bay).

🌵 Hope this information helps you with your cactus and succulents.👍🏻

Happy Gardening! 😊 👋🏻👋🏻 🌵🪴🌵

the mother cactus who I’ve had for two years died so I potted up her children. I’ve never done this before. should I have watered them?

after reading some feedback ill plant future cacti in a chunkier medium.

I am in a war with a squirrel who keeps breaking into my lanai. He won this battle.

I was able to save the piece with roots, but I'm unsure of cactus care so I'm hoping for some help. Is there anything I should do to the exposed tip? And is there anyway to save the pieces broken off?

Thank you in advance!

I thought I’d test the boundaries of the sub rules with a little story.

It’s also a shameless opportunity to share a second flush of flowers I’ve got on this Echinopsis hybrid, courtesy of the “heatwave” we’re currently experiencing in Scotland. (It’s a heatwave everywhere else in the UK, and apparently a national emergency. Here it’s lovely.)

Before I got into cacti, I used to make quite a lot of homemade wine and spirits as a teenager. My dad had a simple rule: I could only drink what I made myself. It did wonders for curbing underage drinking, and 25 (ish…) years later it still helps me keep a healthy relationship with alcohol.

He made the same rule about illicit drugs. I didn’t take him up on that particular offer, but it did introduce me to horticulture, and some wonderful gardeners, and then arid horticulture.

About ten years ago I moved from the warm South East of England to wet central Scotland.

Just before moving, I replanted a 250-year-old orchard, including two black mulberry trees.

For those unfamiliar with mulberries, the white mulberry, Morus alba, is native to China and is the traditional food plant for silkworms. The black mulberry, Morus nigra, probably originated around modern-day Iran and Iraq.

There’s a semi apocryphal story that in the 17th century King James I imported 10,000 mulberry trees in an attempt to establish an English silk industry, only for it to fail because the trees weren’t the right species for silkworm production.

The fruit, however, is fantastic: blackberry-like in appearance, but much softer and ridiculously juicy.

My two trees are now fruiting really well.

I’ve just had a few weeks away on holiday, and I still can’t decide whether cacti are the perfect holiday plants because you can leave them largely to their own devices, or an absolute nightmare because there’s nobody at home to adjust the greenhouse.

My solution is to leave the greenhouse door wide open and hope that the Scottish rain decides to blow somewhere else. A heatwave 5 ish years ago still managed to cook a lot of my cacti, and some are only now nearly recovered.

On my last day of holiday I picked a couple of kilos of mulberries, and I’m currently making two gallons of mulberry wine.

The wine I made as a teenager was fermented above the hot water tank in my father’s doctors surgery. Initially to the amusement of the other doctors - until they had a taste.

I can’t do that now. So underneath the cactus benches in the greenhouse is the perfect place to keep the fermentation at a reasonably steady temperature.

So now my greenhouse contains cacti, euphorbia, succulents, the odd caudex and 2 gallons of slowly fermenting fruit wine.

Of course, the fermentation is also an excellent excuse to spend more time in the greenhouse admiring the plants.

And another shameless plug for the wine-red cactus flowers.

Does anyone else combine their arid-plant obsession with another hobby?

Well, that’s it for summer in Scotland. It’s started raining, and is due to rain all week.

This is my largest, and one of only a few Ferocacti I’ve managed to grow. I think it’s hamatacanthus. It’s hard to tell in the photo but its body is nearly a foot/30cm wide excluding spines. Probably about 30 years old.

It flowered last year, and it’s got ever so close this year. I really struggle with the genus Ferocactus.

I can’t give them a hot enough summer, and my damp winters turn them into exotic mould. The last picture shows black mould on the areoles, so the rose spray and sulphur need to come out tomorrow.

At least I’m not alone - my branch of the British Cactus and Succulent Society share similar experiences with them, with Ferocactus setispinus (now Thelocactus) being the most forgiving.

Most Ferocactus are inhabitants of genuinely arid regions of Mexico. I believe hamatacanthus is distributed across North and Central Mexico, including the** **Chihuahuan Desert
.

Setispinus, however, comes from southern Texas and northeastern Mexico, particularly the coastal lowlands and thornscrub, from approximately sea level upwards. It grows amongst mesquite and other scrub vegetation rather than being exclusively a high-and-dry desert cactus.

😍🪴

Time to fatten up! You can clearly see the fresh growth splitting through the fissures as these Dioscorea elephantipes caudexes bulk up for the winter active season.

Glad I unpotted them. There was one pot that had an infested soil.

I recently visited my mother's place and noticed her Euphorbia Trigona is infested with these white spots. I thought they were mealy bugs but they are hard and sort of incrusted on the surface. I tried 70% alcohol spot treatment and the reaction was nothing like with mealy bugs. They come off kind like a crust would. Any ideas of what it is and how it could be treated?

I got this from a lady I traded plants with a couple years ago. The Portulacaria afra minima came from a hanging pot I purchased while buying garden gnomes from an estate sale a couple years ago.

Hello all. I have never had a "green thumb" and sadly every plant that came my way ended up not surviving. The most traumatic was the time my orchid snow white died. I gave up! But, after losing my two sons and the dozens upon dozens of flowers, plants, etc. I decided and was determined to keep as many alive as possible. I think I have done extremely well and I'm proud of myself. I've also found that working with my plants is AMAZING for my mental health. I have a few photos I'd like to share. Just to get opinions, education, things maybe you more experienced ones could point out I'm doing right or even doing wrong. These first sets of photos are my succulents. They live outside on my screened in patio. I am in west central Florida. My orchid you will se is named Barney for his beautiful purple flowers he graced me with which have since fallen off. One question I have is, with succulents they are more of a patio potted plant, correct? Or do they like being in the ground? I have propagated (by watching videos) many hibiscus that are now happily in the ground and beautiful. I have yellow,bright orange, coral and red. I also have an affinity to desert roses so I have 6 of those now planted in ground and they are thriving. I'm so proud of myself for keeping everyone relatively healthy and happy. My garden, patio and Florida room is now my happy places. It's where I feel the most peace and feel my boys with me.

So, please let me know what you think of my succulents so far. Are there things I should be doing at this point? Repotting, Actually putting them in ground? Anything? Also,if I decide to keep them in my enclosed patio my fiance said he will build me some shelves to display them. Oh! And lastly I have a beautiful cactus that is just now beginning to grow 3 new arms. I guess that's what they're called lol. Any tips advice is so greatly appreciated.

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Here is one of my Euphorbia mammillaris f. variegata plants, aka "Corn Cob." It became so top-heavy that I had to support the main stem and use a rock to weigh down the pot; without it, the pot would have tipped right over and snapped the plant.

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I purchased this Euphorbia mammillaris f. variegata in 2005 from a collector who was selling off his collection. I happened to arrive late, so most of his better specimens had already been sold. All that was left were trays of odds and ends—a heap of different species like Echinocereus, Copiapoa, Gymnocalycium, Echinopsis, Euphorbia, Mammillaria, and many unnamed others. He was selling them at a reduced price in 2.5" (6.5 cm) pots. Since it was the end of the day and he wanted to clear out as much as possible, he made me a deal I couldn't refuse for 7 trays, each holding 20 pots. I've lost a few over the years, but the majority are still in my collection and a heck of a lot bigger now. That purchase is actually where the majority of my current plants came from.

​Back then, this Euphorbia mammillaris f. variegata was only 6" (15 cm) tall, and now it stands at 20" (51 cm). You can also see that a few Parodia mammulosa have grown alongside it and need to be removed in the near future. 🤩

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They are very slow-growing because the high amount of white pigmentation and lack of chlorophyll reduce their ability to photosynthesize. I'm not entirely happy with its current shape. If I had known how it was going to grow, I would have pinched the main growth point years ago to encourage branching rather than the tall look it has now.

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I've since taken a few branches off my other Euphorbia mammillaris f. variegata to test that exact technique with great success. I'll just need to pinch the growth points on those new branches in a couple of years so they branch out further and create a much fuller plant.

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I'll put a pic of the branches at the end where I have pinched the main growth point, so you can see what I mean.

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Do you have the same problem with your E. mammillaris f. variegata growing leggy, or is yours totally different?

​Happy Gardening! 😊 👋🏻👋🏻 🌵🪴🌵