Echinocactus platyacanthus is a slowly growing barrel cactus known under popular name visnaga. I have a few of these that I've grown from seed but i'll be a few years till they reach saleable size.
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Austrocylindropuntia floccosa grows high in the mountains of Bolivia and Peru. It forms huge clumps that from a distance look like clumps of wool. Mine however is taking ages to clump up, despite putting the clump outside in winter to mimic the cool conditions of 4,000 metres up a mountain. I've tried grafting a plant onto a faster growing stock to see if this will speed it up a bit. We'll have to see what happens this season. We have a few of them for sale but not many.
Mammillaria plumosa. Thia is probably one of the most "user friendly" cacti there is. The spines are soft and, as the Latin name suggests, feather like. They curve back in on theirselves and are unlikely to hook anything. Basically, you can stroke this one 😁 The little helpers are playing "Here we go round the plumosa bush on a cold and frosty morning"
These Austroclyindropuntia subulata are one half of the range of cacti we grow especially for Tortoises. They come from parent plants that have never been sprayed or treated with pesticides or herbicides. Although we keep them out in the unheated shop tunnel I covered them over with bubble wrap before the frost came as they are frost sensitive. They can handle a bit of cold but a few days of frost would kill them. Now the frost has passed I've had a good look at them and they are fine. We sell these and Opuntia quimilo for £6 each.
It's been freezing here for a few days, down to minus 3.5 c in the shop tunnel but still plus 3 c in the cactus house. I've made a short video on the outside cactus bed in the frost which I'll put up on Ziggy's Cactus Channel on Youtube in the coming days. This is a pad on the outside Opuntia humifusa.
Frosty mornings at the moment so a bit quiet in the cactus house. I've been getting on with other projects, painting woodwork in The Bothy and cleaning up ready for getting carpets fitted. One thing I did notice in the cactus house was how much these Ferocacti have grown since I sowed the seed in 2019.
Leuchtenbergia principis, also known as The Agave Cactus. This one is very fussy when it comes to drainage. I pot them in a pot with a large drainage hole, a few crocks in the bottom and a very gritty well drained mix. I also prop the pot up after watering to let it drain properly. It's not that they don't like watering, they enjoy a good soak, they just don't want their roots staying wet. I've not grown them from seed yet (The seed I bought online turned out to be Echinocactus grusonii 🙄) The smaller plants I have bought have both had shrivelled tips, probaably as the plants didn't like the watering they got. After repotting and sticking to a watering regime they have recovered well and are showing good new growth. They are relatively slow growing but can produce a plant of 700mm given time.