Ziggy's Cactus Blog

Have a safe Halloween everyone

Had to put this Mammillaria on the compost heap today. It was the first Mammillaria vetula gracilis that I ever got. About 10 years ago it won a first prize at the Melplash Show in Dorset. I've pruned it at least twice a year since I got it. It had some meally bugs earlier in the year but despite treating it, it still showed signs of rot. It may have been that it had just got too old and succumb to bugs because of it's age. When I took it out of the pot I found it was rotten all the way through.

Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis. This is the biggest cactus in the world, reaching 66 feet. It lives in the rain forest and grows a single trunk to compete with the other trees. This one is already forming a trunk at only a foot or so high. Although they want to be a tree it is possible to prune them to keep on in a greenhouse. They are quite easy to take cuttings from but are rather spikey to handle. They are the only plant in the genus.

I've listed a few different cacti seeds for sale on our website (cacti for sale page) https://www.ziggyscactus.com/cacti-for-sale Not got very many seeds this year so it's first come first served 🙂🌵

I'm just thinking outloud on today's blog page. After reading the excellent article in last month's CactusWorld magazine by Johnathan Wilkins, which was all about grit and it's use with cacti. I thought it would be good to try out some volcanic Tephra (the ash deposits blown out of volcanoes) with some of my cacti and what better than growing Tephrocacti in Tephra 😁 Now the only tephra I have is a microscope slides worth that I collected off the car during the Icelandic eruption about 15 years ago. I saw the clouds of ash falling on the levels when I lived in Somerset and scraped some up. Not having a deposit near me in Kent (as far as I know) I had a look and you can buy a Tonne bag from B&Q for £360. After consulting with the good lady about that I was informed that I can't have it so I checked out Elixir Gardens on Amazon and they sell a 25kg bag for £25.99 (I buy my cactus trays from them) which I might just get away with. So when I've saved up enough...

A bit busy over the next few days so just putting up some of my identification videos for now 🙂

I found this cristate Echinopsis in B&Q. Don't think they knew what it was. It's more than doubled in size since I got it in the spring.

It's been 3 weeks since I took cuttings of this Austrocylindropuntia. It's callused over nicely so i popped the cuttings into some grit today, making sure to keep them the right way up. It's the end of the season now so I don't expect they'll produce any roots till spring. I'll keep an eye on them over winter just in case. I took the cuttings late as the plant toppled over having lost it's roots so it was too top heavy to re plant.

The plantlets on this Devil's Backbone normally fall off and grow all over the place but I see there's a few that have stayed on the plant and started growing bigger. They must be still getting nutrient from the parent plant.

Sorted out the Cactus House for winter. Last year I had a lot of the plants in the Bothy but that's not possible this year so most of the succulents have gone into the small polytunnel while the more frost sensitive plants from the shop have been absorbed into the Cactus house.

As much as I like these Kalanchoes I think I might have a few too many of them left over at the end of the season 😁

You don't always need a big greenhouse to have a cacti collection. A windowsill will do as long as you've got somewhere cool but frost free to keep them over winter. Cacti need to rest and feel that they've had a winter otherwise they can become etiolated and often won't flower the following year.

Still getting flowers on the Sedum stahlii

Took this picture this evening as the light was fading, I just looked at it and noticed to my horror that there are Sciarid fly larvae in the pot. Will spray first thing in the morning with meths. Just hope they don't eat too many roots tonight 😬

Had a few mealybugs on the tips of this subulata the other day, sprayed with Meths and then took this pic this afternoon. Will have to have a closer look tomorrow to see what has turned brown. Might be the cocoons.

Got a new bud coming on one of the Gymnocalycium mihanovichii Very late in the year for a flower so it might drop off before it opens. Waiting for the seed pod on the one on the right to ripen properly, not had any luck with germinating them yet so leaving it till it drops off. The one on the left is a variegated one that a friend sent me. It's been flowering all year on and off.

Noticed some new growth on The Devil Cholla (Opuntia invicta). Glad about that as I got this as a rescue earlier in the year and it had only put on a bit of root growth when I planted it out. This is also known as "Casa Rata" as rats have a habit of nesting under the thick clumps of dense thorns they form.

I had a few minutes while it was raining so I sat down to prune my bonsai cactus garden and put a few extra plants in. Started doing it and then thought I might as well make a small video of it. Might amuse some folk 😁