Mammillaria standleyi, L086

Mammillaria standleyi, L086.
Collector : Alfred Bernhard Lau
Locality : Mexicó : border Chihuahua - Sonora (Sierra Obscura 200m) 
Fairly easy to grow, requiring typical mammillaria care. Not sure about its frost resistance though as this is the first season it rests at low temperatures.

Echinopsis flower

Easy to grow. Good drainage, ventilation and a cold winter rest ensure next year's flowering.

Mammillaria longimamma

Mammillaria longimamma aka Dolichothele longimamma flowering and unhappy 'bout its Lebensraum.
Easy plant to grow and reproduce. It loves just about any fast draining growing medium and flowers profusely after a bit of winter cold. In fact, given the right conditions, it produces so many offshoots it fills a medium pot in only one growing season. So plant it in shallow pots and do not exaggerate with either nutrients or waterings in order to keep it close to its natural form.

Echinocereus viridiflorus v. cylindricus, SB 378, Brewster County, Texas, USA

Echinocereus viridiflorus v. cylindricus, with field number SB 378, collected by Steve Brack in Brewster County, Texas, USA. If planted in a fast draining soil and kept rather dry during humid or rather cold nights (less than 10℃), it should present no significant problems in cultivation. Ventilation and a cold rest period during the winter months are also necessary.

Astrophytum myriostigma cv. Fukuryu

Astrophytum myriostigma cv. Fukuryu bursting with seeds. Most probably the father is a Astrophytum capricorne. Next season offsprings shoud be fun and that's alright since I do love foldings and spines. And experienced cactus collectors told me that that astrophytum offsprings resemble more the genetics of their father.

 This is how the flowers of the same Fukuryu cultivar look like...

Echinocactus grusonii, GM 1216

I like to keep track of the plants I am growing. Knowing the exact species denominations and the original habitat of of your plants is essential in the attempt to keep them alive and happy.

This one is a seedling of Echinocactus grusonii I bought two years ago and slowly acclimatized to thrive outdoor. The long spines are an adaptation to the large quantities of UV it received during the summer. In the dry and cold rest periods, it turns a bit purple.

Field number : GM 1216

Collector : Grzegorz Matuszewski

Locality : Mexicó : Zacatecas (San Juan Capistrano, 1100 m)

I encourage you all to buy only cacti with a field number attached. You'll not only know the name of your plant, but also the specific climate where it came to evolve for so many thousands years.

Ferocactus and the snow

An early November snow caught some of my ferocacti outside. Night temperatures dropped to -5℃. While most ferocacti species withstand even lower temperatures for short periods of time in their natural habitat, the high humidity levels they encountered in this case may create some problems. Being outside, the ventilation was more than sufficient and now they seem alright in their dry, cold and bright winter rest.
Species involved were Ferocactus stainesii var. pilosus, Ferocactus rectispinus, Ferocactus glaucescens, Ferocactus wislizenii, Ferocactus pottsii, Ferocactus latispinus and Ferocactus gracilis. As some of these species thrive in the central and southern parts of Mexico where winters are mild and snow very unusual, it is questionable whether they can survive in this harsh climate. I am curious myself tbh and the answer is five months or so ahead...