Great googly moogly!

Use this forum to discuss matters relating to Cacti genera too plentiful to enumerate. This is where one posts unknown plant photos for ID help.

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Re: Great googly moogly!

#26

Post by mcvansoest »

Brooksphilly wrote:Do you guys grow M. spinosissima? This old guy rarely blooms but takes full sun here in Philly and 1-2x/weekly drenchings during the summer.
Nice plant!

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Re: Great googly moogly!

#27

Post by Brooksphilly »

Oh, duh! 😜 I didn't even notice that. Wish I could get blooms like that. Maybe it's spending all its energy pupping? It's growing fuzz on all pups and mother plant.
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Re: Great googly moogly!

#28

Post by mcvansoest »

Mine is pretty inconsistent and has stalled out a bit this year both on the flowers and the growing, but it has had some nice flower displays.

You might try some miracle grow rose and bloom or orchid fertilizer late winter/early spring when it wakes up from winter dormancy.
This one gets morning sun and then shade the rest of the day. I have a whole bunch of mammillarias in hanging baskets all on the east facing side of my house. Have to replace one or two every year as some can be quite finicky when it comes to watering, but the ones that take tend to do quite well and provide pretty good flower displays over the late winter to spring, some going into early summer.

Here is Mammillaria sphaerica that was in bloom till mid-June as M. guelzowiana (2nd pic, the same plant as the one in my earlier posting just with a bunch of growth and more sun so a more compact flower):
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I missed the most recent flowering on my M. grahamii, but here is it in late June:
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Unlike Ron, I have not had a lot of good luck with Mammillarias in the ground. I have a few, but that is where I have lost the most...
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Re: Great googly moogly!

#29

Post by mcvansoest »

Talking about liking the rain:
Echinopsis x 'Edwardian Lady' (Schick)
Echinopsis x 'Edwardian Lady' (Schick)
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Trichocereus x 'Raspberry'
Trichocereus x 'Raspberry'
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Echinopsis x 'Sasquatch' (Schick)
Echinopsis x 'Sasquatch' (Schick)
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with some only partially open flowers on E. x 'Seismic Shimmer' (Schick) to the right.
Echinopsis x 'K-T Event' (Schick)
Echinopsis x 'K-T Event' (Schick)
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As I noted in a post on a different thread. A whole bunch of the flowers are much smaller and much lighter in color than their spring equivalents.
A couple of my Melocacti have been going nuts throughout the summer, but the increased humidity has really made them step it up, but unfortunately I have missed the flowers, just been seeing the seed pots and associated ant activity... the ants are trying to build little mounts of debris on top of the cephaliums:
Melocactus x albicephalus with ant activity
Melocactus x albicephalus with ant activity
DSC_0057 2.JPG (67.32 KiB) Viewed 811 times
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Re: Great googly moogly!

#30

Post by Viegener »

The only melocactus I have is Melocactus aureus & it's about 6" across with no sign of a cephalum. How big do they have to be before it develops. The color is very nice on it though.
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Re: Great googly moogly!

#31

Post by mcvansoest »

I think it can vary quite a bit between species and conditions. That Melocactus in the picture had almost no cephalium a year ago. Once it started it developed really fast. I have one other with a cephalium and another 5 or so that are all about the same size ~4-5" tall and wide, different species that are happily growing away, without any sign of cephalium development. The plant in the picture is about 10" tall and is probably ready to be in a pot on its own or maybe even in the ground. Currently it is sharing a bowl with 4 other cacti two of which are also Melocacti.
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Re: Great googly moogly!

#32

Post by Gee.S »

The cephalum could develop any time now, it shouldn't be long.

Nice thing about potted Melos is you won't ever have to worry about up-sizing.
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