Cactus Blog 

Dear Sir
I hope you don’t mind me emailing you with a question. I moved from England to Portugal in January 2007 and have since become besotted with succulents. In the last two years, I have bought more than 70 but the labelling of plants here is either poor or non-existent. I therefore use sites such as yours to identify which plant it is that I have bought.

I am trying to identify the succulent in my photograph. I bought this as a small plant in May 2009 and the photograph, with my hand to show the current size, was taken a few days ago.

I have seen nothing like this succulent on any of the websites I use and wondered if you knew what it is and how I can propagate it. I have tried with leaf propagation, keeping the leaf without soil or water, but this only results in the leaf drying out and dying.

Thanking you in advance for any help you can give me.

Kind regards
Ann

Ann
You have a hybrid! An Echeveria subrigida cross.
You can propagate from leaf cuttings generally, but these hybrids are tricky.
Take a full leaf and let it callous over for a week. Stick the cut end gently into slightly moistened cactus soil, and let sit for about a year. You should then get a new plant starting. A 2nd year and you should have a full size plant ready to transplant.
Peter

Mr. Bee from the Carroll Eagle tells you how to graft cactus. He started with an irradiated Gymnocalycium that needed to be regrafted. But first, a little history,

The ancient Chinese grafted plants as far back as 3,000 years ago. Then 2,300 years ago, the ancient Greeks mastered it.

That’s fascinating. Since there were no cactus in China or Greece back then, we can safely assume this bit of history is off topic.

To begin, I used a knife to slice through the base of the red part to cleanly separate it from the green part.

Next, I removed the uppermost portion from a second cactus that was getting too tall, until all that remained was a 1-inch-tall stub still rooted to its pot.

Finally, I grafted the detached red part to the rooted stub of the green part, using a pair of rubber bands to hold the two parts together. Within a few months, the red and green parts will bond.

Sounds good. Any more tips? Like when you use the word “graft” in the instructions on how to “graft” you may leave people unsure what to do.

The secret to a successful cactus graft is to closely align the diameters of the cut parts being grafted, because a close match facilitates the free flow of vital fluids between the two parts.

Now you know.

Want to know more? Here are pictures and complete cactus grafting instructions from the UCC Biology Department. UCC is the Union County College of Cranford, NJ, also serving PA and DE. I think you’ll have to go to the History Department for the Chinese and Greek history part of the lesson.

Carol Bradford of the Syracuse Post-Standard makes a good point. We often get people asking if they’re overwatering or underwatering when succulent leaves fall off, and it can be caused by either! It’s hard to explain that to people, but Carol does a good job.

Dear Carol: I have a large (Aloe vera). How do I keep the ends of the leaves from turning brown and shriveling up? — N.C., Camillus.

A: …When the leaf tips turn brown, either too much water is being lost or not enough water is being pulled up. The tips are affected first because they are the farthest from the roots and are supplied last.

The possible causes are air that is too dry, soil that is too dry or an inadequate root system. The root system may be too small, especially in a container. The roots of succulents normally spread widely. The root system may be damaged by too much water or by too much fertilizer….

Too much water can cause the roots to rot off and then the plant is not getting enough water to the leaf ends, even though you’ve over-watered. Try explaining this to someone without seeing the plant. Now I know how.

On the other hand if they bring the plant in for us to see, usually we can tell the difference, since leaftip damage from underwater will look brown and crispy while from overwater it will look black and rotty.

From Austin, a student in Redwood City, a picture of his cactus garden, all in pots.

Here’s a garden we designed and installed last year in the North Bay Area town of Crockett. They sent us new photos; it’s done well through the winter!

A prominent Yucca, a sidewalk Bulbine with hordes of yellow flowers.

Large Aloe ferox, kind of like the central focus of the garden. Oscularia starting to spread, and Echeverias in bloom. Some smaller Aloe cryptopodas too.

Nice bricks. Aloe striata, Aeonium subplanum, and I think that’s Aeonium luteovariegatum in back, in front of another stand of blooming Bulbine.

The blooming red Echeveria? It’s E. “Fireball”.

We had some freezing weather this year, just like they had in Austin according to the Austin Statesman. Damaged succulents are a common sight.

Many aloes and agaves were severely damaged by our hard freezes this winter. Freeze-damaged succulents usually turn a lighter color, almost white, soon after the freeze. Later, the damaged part of the plant will wilt, then turn black with rot. In some succulents, the affected parts eventually fall off.

If the center bud remains green and firm, the plant will likely grow and recover, despite dead leaves. However, dead and damaged parts never will recover, and you can remove them. You should also look for new growth underneath the dead leaves and down in the base of the plant. These pups often can survive under the cover of the dead leaves.

I would add that you should wait for the last storms in the Bay Area to pass through (i.e. wait 2 more weeks) before removing half-damaged leaves and branches. If the leaves are just spotted with hail damage, leave them on the plant until new leaves have replaced them.

On the other hand, if you live in Minnesota and you left your Aloe outside, it’s dead.

Rebutia fabrisii

Rebutias were named for Monsieur Rebut. He was a vintner in France, of course, and he also sold cactus on the side. So his friend, a certain Karl Schumann, in 1895 named this genus of small South American globular cacti after Monsieur Rebut. But something happened in their relationship and a few years later he moved these lovely blooming little plants into the larger genus of Echinocactus.

However, they are so bloomful that the popular culture just wouldn’t accept this lowering of the Rebutia into Echinocactus, and so on a fine spring day in 1923 the famed naturalist Spegazzini reclassified them back into their own genus.

This particular species from Argentina will form clusters of these 1″ diameter white blobs.

Science!

Another early blooming cactus. These usually don’t bloom this small, but here you go.

Stenocactus crispatus

I wish my cell phone camera were better. It’s so much easier blogging from the droid but the quality suffers. (The picture quality, not the writing. As if there’s ever quality writing on the Cactus Blog!

I live in Holland and have a fair collection of cacti, succulents, caudexes and pachyforms. Living in chilly Europe means most of my plants live indoors or in my “greenhouse in the sky”.

I’ve recently joined a local cacti club and am busy trying to identify my collection ! I am VERY bad at names but being a member of a club, I can’t really not know what things are called :~))

I’ve taken pictures and put them online at Picassa.

I wonder if you or any of your blog readers would like to lend a hand at IDing some of them ??

The link is : https://picasaweb.google.com/tayac21/20110302SucculentCacti#

have a good weekend, Jenny Cockshull

Every now and then a new article about protecting the Cactus Wren from destruction comes across my desktop, and I blog it. In fact, I’ve blogged about that little wren so many times that by now I just look for cute little pictures. I’m sure the article is just as entertaining as this photo, so click through, but really, I mean, awwww….  sooooo cute…..

UCI biologists are creating a welcoming habitat near campus that they hope will help the cactus wren thrive. Credit: Steve Zylius / University Communications.

Apparently it’s now time for the Echeverias to start their upward trend into trendiness. Enough with the Agaves! Aeoniums are so 2010! Echeverias for all.

Terrariums, of course, but,

Way ahead of lower ranking container gardening… are succulents. How could the trend spotters miss ever-popular echeverias?

How could they, indeed.

Here, have a photo.

Echeveria “Violet Queen”. Do you think the Queen is Violet?

Maybe Agave? They only use the heart of the plant for tequila, leaving all those giant pointy leaves around to burn as waste.

So they seem to be researching Agave for a Biofuel. Seems like a good idea. Keep the corn for corn syrup soft drinks.

Senecio rowleyanus have such happy funny inflorescences! Senecios are in the Asteraceae (Daisy) family and there’s a lot of different types. Rare caudiciforms. Daisy flowers. Landscape succulents. And bsides these String of Pearls, there’s also the famously unusual String of Bananas. Any other types?

How about all of these!

And don’t forget this one.

Old Brand New likes to put cactus and succulents into dinnerware, especially if they have handles. It makes it easier to water the plants. I hope Old Brand New isn’t over-watering the plants since the dinnerware doesn’t look like it has drain holes in the bottom.

From the Australian Noarlunga Centre’s Southern Times Messenger, comes this review of a History of Cactus.

…(S)urfing at Cactus, an isolated spot west of Ceduna on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain….

Oh, it’s a book about a beach.

I actually just blogged this piece for all the wonderful place names.

* Noarlunga Centre
* Ceduna
* Nullarbor Plain!!!

These have never bloomed at the nursery before. Now they have! The catkins are beautiful! (If a bit understated). Eventually we’ll get dark purple berries too.

Myrica californica is native to the West Coast and the leaves are extremely fragrant when crushed, also known as bayberry – used for various medicinal preparations.

Here’s a picture of the fruit from the Mendocino Coast.

A unionized public employee, a teabagger, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, then looks at the teabagger and says “Watch out for that union guy—he wants a piece of your cookie!”

This version via Balloon Juice, although I’ve seen it elsewhere too.

From our friends at Garden Architecture, using plants they got from Cactus Jungle.

Senecio repens, too I see.

Dear Cactus Blog,

I feel terribly guilty, my suggestion of repotting may have killed my colleague’s cactus. After seven happy years sitting on the same small pot, the cactus really seemed to like its new bigger house, at least it was growing (mostly on its ‘waist’). However, three weeks after the repotting, you can see it is now ‘deflating’.

There is good drainage and it was not over-watered. Maybe it got less water than usual in the last three weeks. Then, after a particularly cold weekend at the office, the cactus looks as shown in the photo. However, it had experienced colder temperatures last December, when it was left to fend for itself at the office and it snowed in the UK. Today it even looks more deflated than when we took the photo yesterday. Please help!

Many thanks,
TH

TH,

It’s hard to tell from the photo exactly what’s going on there. It is possible that it is shrinking due to less water and colder temperatures – they do that in the desert when the temps get below freezing. But it is more likely that the plant has rotted out from the inside and is unlikely to survive

Generally you don’t want to repot cactus in winter when they are dormant. What happens is that you damage the roots a bit when repotting and then add a little water and the roots can rot off since the plant is not “awake” enough to repair the damage. A fungus or virus can then take hold.

The best I can offer is that you should let the plant dry out completely at this point and hope for the best. You could also spray the plant with an organic fungicide like Neem Oil just in case, but I don’t see signs of fungus on the outside.

Sorry I don’t have better news.
Peter

A new application for air plants courtesy of a customer.

The ballad of The Sad Cactus.

It’s funny ’cause it’s true. Via The Rumpus.

Faucaria felina

The sunshine is back! (For a few days…)

At Alki Arts Museum/Art Gallery.

This one has a description to go with it:

(W)elder Rodger Squirrell shows water color painter John Constantine his cactus sculpture made from car bumpers. Squirrell teaches welding at South Seattle Community College.

There’s no description to go with this next cactus sculpture, and it doesn’t even say who the artist is. For shame!

The photos also seem to focus on the people at the opening, rather than on the art. You can get a bit of a feel for the art, but not much. Anyone in Seattle want to stop by and let us know if these are worth stopping by for?

From Angie, we find out that the Berkeley Art Museum has been probing one of our cacti.

I don’t know what’s going on here, but the title is “Loud Cactus” and there’s a watermelon being probed too.

Maybe I should stop by the museum and see what they’ve done to the Ferocactus. And maybe next time they could let us know and we’d have promoted their event!

This beautiful Echinocereus has survived being on a bombing range for years. Congratulations!

Photo from Genn, on the BMGR. Species might be Echinocereus fasciculatus but it would be easier to identify once it starts to flower, which should be soon.

Another photo from Todd, this time of a hanging basket cactus – a christmas cactus most likely.

The photo was taken in sunnier days.

From a couple days ago, here’s more info. It turns out it is a mesemb, and a Delosperma nubigenum to be precise.

Hi Peter,

Here’s some more pictures of the plant:

I’m San Francisco. Watering it once every 2 weeks with a few
tablespoons of water. Haven’t done anything to it recently—it’s been
sitting near the window since I bought it.

Thanks!
Yvonne

Yvonne,

It’s a very hardy plant that can take a wide range of conditions, but I think in this case it may be not enough water since it’s a small pot. Rather than a little bit of water every 2 weeks, try drenching the soil, and letting the plant drain fully (Never let it sit in water), every 10 days.

You can clean out the dead leaves from the pot, but don’t be too aggresive – leave as much of the plant as you can.

Keep it in as sunny a window as you have and the plant should perk up pretty quickly. If it doesn’t, let me know.

Peter