Dead or Alive?

[johnw]

A certain member of the household has accused me of repotting dead plants.  I swear I see some green bits  on this ancient Ariocarpus fissuratus.

johnw

[mark smyth]

well it looks dead but Googling it I see something very lovely
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ariocarpus_fissuratus2_ies.jpg

[cohan]

A certain member of the household has accused me of repotting dead plants.  I swear I see some green bits  on this ancient Ariocarpus fissuratus.

johnw

could very well be alive--a look at the roots might be more definitive;
overall, i suspect it might be a bit drier in general than it would prefer; i have a much younger plant of another species of Ario that doesnt look a whole lot perkier--i was overly impressed by the exhortations to give them ultimate drainage and be sparing with water--recommendations meant for overwaterers and partly based on old ideas about these plants..
i intend to repot in a (still well draining) mixture more like that of more average cacti to allow the poor thing to hang on to a bit more moisture in growing season...they should always be tough things, but can be rather greener and grow better..

[Michael J Campbell]

John,this one is alive.

Ariocarpus fissuratus.

[mark smyth]

Can this plant be treated like other cacti? I water mine freely after flowering and no more after September.

[Michael J Campbell]

Mark, I don't like the word Freely when talking about watering this plant. Definitely no water after September.

[mark smyth]

maybe not freely but twice a week, or so, and every time I water my Pelargoniums

[Michael J Campbell]

Twice a week

[johnw]

A certain member of the household has accused me of repotting dead plants.  I swear I see some green bits  on this ancient Ariocarpus fissuratus.

johnw

overall, i suspect it might be a bit drier in general than it would prefer; i have a much younger plant of another species of Ario that doesnt look a whole lot perkier--i was overly impressed by the exhortations to give them ultimate drainage and be sparing with water--recommendations meant for overwaterers and partly based on old ideas about these plants..

"A bit drier ..than I would prefer is the understatement of the day"     The roots looked quite okay, great coarse things like Cyclamen graecum (another fissure plant I assume).  In the old days I was told to be extremely careful watering this one.  However I may have gone a bit overboard.  I have ceased watering it now that the nights are cool. We'll see what happens in the centre of the plant next spring if there's the tinist bit of green I shall be off the hook for dinner out.

johnw

[Hans J]

John ,

I water my cacti only from April until September ......and I give them water around all 3 -4 weeks ( no joke )
The importent with watering cacti is :
Dont water it when the wether is dray and hot !!! ...wait some days when comes rain wether ....so the plants can use the water .
I think there are really more cacti died after over watering ....as for to few watering

Good luck
Hans

[johnw]

John ,

I water my cacti only from April until September ......and I give them water around all 3 -4 weeks ( no joke )
The importent with watering cacti is :
Dont water it when the wether is dray and hot !!! ...wait some days when comes rain wether ....so the plants can use the water .
I think there are really more cacti died after over watering ....as for to few watering

Good luck
Hans

Interesting Hans. Here April is too cold so we start in mid-May and end in late September. We have to water when it is dry and sunny but in the early evening. If we water in a rainy spell it can stay rainy for weeks on end and with fog.  The exception to this are the Adromischus (and a couple of others) which we have been watering heavily since August and they will get more water (with care) every 10 days until they stop growing.  Conophytums were impossible for me but I love them and will never understand how they grow them so beautifully in England with such low light levels.

A grdener friend put certain genera outside in early June and brought them in in October, they got what nature delivered, they looked great and flowered well. His mix was sharp; things like stapeliads and lithops never went outdoors.

johnw

[cohan]

john, if the roots look good, i see no cause for concern, just water it more next year; many of my cacti i spray a bit early and late in the season (on warm days) so they can get a bit of refreshment without taking a chance on having wet roots when its cool..

see this whole thing of not watering cacti is a very dicey thing, and i think john has fallen prey to the fear of watering, as i have done on occasion, and basically need to water all of my cacti and succulents (several large windows and benches full)more, not less! the people doing the warning are probably people who like to water a lot, so their advice is useless to me, as i have never been an overwaterer..

yes, many people overwater, especially if the plants are in too large pots, if they are in peaty soils (many people do fine with them, but no cacti are found in peat in nature, and it is asking for trouble unless handled carefully), if they are in low light, cool temperatures, high humidity etc...

exactly how often to water (any plant) simply cannot be suggested by another grower unless they are in the same climate, have the same plants in the same soil in the same light and temperatures..

although its an oversimplification, most cacti are from summer rainfall areas and standard practise in areas with cold and/or dark winters is to water from spring to fall and stop over winter; this is generally good for most cacti, but exact dates should vary depending on your temperatures and light; for example, where i am right now, my cacti get the most sun in  spring and  fall when the sun is low enough to shine directly into my windows, and high enough to reach above the trees, so i have realised i need to start watering earlier and continue later--something like march to october, roughly, so they can take advantage of those peak sun times..
i water through mid-summer, but a bit less while the sun is not reaching inside as much;
in places where the mid-summer is very hot, you can diminish watering a bit if it seems like the plants are not growing, but then generally they will also be drying much faster, so water is not harmful for most cacti; with succulents, you need to go genus by genus...
i dont know if a hot mid-summer break is an issue in atlantic canada, certainly isnt here!

classic treatment for ariocarpus is to water spring and fall, and little in mid-summer, not at all over winter; as with most cacti, there is no reason to leave them parched for weeks at a time while growing--water thoroughly, allow soil to become dry on top, water again; if in doubt, you can leave it a few more days..
very gritty fast draining soils may become dry almost instantly, and watering weekly or even more often in small pots is not unreasonable at all..
i have a number of small succulents in 4" pots a medium of 1/2 clayey loam with 1/4 coir and 1/4 zeolite (fine grit) and find they need watering every few days in warm sunny weather; my ariocarpus in a 4" pot with a loamy soil with prob 60% or more grit  and crushed brick(i forget the exact recipe, its a few years ago) is clearly drying much too fast, and looks stressed all the time, just hanging on, really..
i would give it more grit than most gymnocalyciums or notocactus, but not pure stone unless i were planning to water almost daily!
naturally large pots will dry more slowly...

mark--depends what other cacti (and which pelargoniums) you have--i'd give this one a bit more grit than some of the fast growing south american cacti, and then water it about the same--thoroughly, but definitely drying between times..

[cohan]

john--are your plants in the house or greenhouse?
for sure you have to be careful with water when its cool, but the issue isnt just what the lows are, but whether it warms up in the daytime..

here, i wouldnt even bother putting tender plants outside--we often have single digit night temps even in mid-summer; this year, there were frosts or warnings in every month! and rainy weather is commonly quite chilly, not a good combo for really tender c+s..

i havent tried conos yet, but really hoping to..of course that's a whole different cycle, winter growing; apparently they can be handled in low light midwinters by watering mainly fall and spring;
 i have a lot of haworthia, which i water year round, with a partial break in mid-winter and mid-summer, i probably do about the same with the few adros i have..

[johnw]

Cohan  - When I grew Cactus and succulents exclusively I complained the sun never shone, the fog was persistent  and the climate was totally unsuitable. I switched by chance to Rhododendrons and we had blistering summers for quite awhile!  I didn't water the cacti once this year - I kept saying I would water when the sun came out and by the time it did it was August so I decided to re-pot instead. I had not transplanted them for 10 years, some for 15. It is interesting which have tolerated the abuse - Cephalocactus and Lophophora looks the best.  What surprised me was there were no root aphis except on Mamillaria multiceps.

Confession - I did water Mammillaria hahniana for years only to find out there was nothing underneath all that wool but a wizened corpse.

johnw

[cohan]

Cohan  - When I grew Cactus and succulents exclusively I complained the sun never shone, the fog was persistent  and the climate was totally unsuitable. I switched by chance to Rhododendrons and we had blistering summers for quite awhile!  I didn't water the cacti once this year - I kept saying I would water when the sun came out and by the time it did it was August so I decided to re-pot instead. I had not transplanted them for 10 years, some for 15. It is interesting which have tolerated the abuse - Cephalocactus and Lophophora looks the best.  What surprised me was there were no root aphis except on Mamillaria multiceps.
Confession - I did water Mammillaria hahniana for years only to find out there was nothing underneath all that wool but a wizened corpse.
johnw

thats sounds about typical when i was moving back here from toronto, i knew it would be much colder, but consoled myself with the greater amount of sun here--and had two of the rainiest summers on record (though its the winter in toronto that is really dark..)

i've seen cacti like your mammillaria for sale many times...lol