"Fat Plants" : cacti,succulents, caudiciforms, whatever..

[cohan]

Last Weekend our Cactus Club (www.vkw-kakteen.de) had his annual show with plant sale in
Korb near Stuttgart. We had many visitors during the two days who enjoyed the plants and took
the chance to obtain many plants offered by private and professional nursery people.
Gymnocalycium saglionis was about 60 years old and the Stenocactus about 35 years. Czech
nurserymen offered grafted Pachypodiums and showed the stock plants, the yellow one was
15 years old! Agave ferox starts to flower and the owner wonders how high it will grow.

looks like a really nice show! i miss being in  a place where there are clubs/shows..
the P brevicaule is great-i know they can be hard to grow and slow..

[iann]

How did I miss this entire thread

Summer temperatures here are cool too.  Last year didn't reach 27C (80F) and the all time record is 93F.  I won't mention the winter  Of course in a greenhouse I can have any temperature I want on a sunny day and cooling is more difficult than heating.

I have lots of cacti, but I do like the miniature ones.  I have very few of the caudiciform fat plants, but a couple of miniature ones of those too.  Here's a few of my favourites.  I think all of these are in two inch pots.

I also grow Fenestrarias, not in two inch pots!  Despite the almost universal literature saying it can't be done, I grow them with the leaves buried.  They need to be buried in something dry and porous or the leaves will split because they can't shed water.  They may even rot if you overwater them.  They also need strong and consistent light or they will stretch out of the grit.  This is a particular problem in winter because they love to grow when the weather is cool.

alstonii 35
alstonii 36
Othonna cacalioides 5
Mammillaria tepexicensis 5
luethyi 26
fireworth 17

[cohan]

great stuff--
cacalioides is Othonna? (looking it up led me to this site:
http://plants-pottery-photo.blogspot.com/2009/09/few-small-pots.html
the mammillaria tepexicensis is very sweet as well..i have a few things flowering at this time of year, if i can ever get (around to getting) the pictures uploaded!
mostly fairly ordinary gymnos, mamms, noto, weingartias--but great to have the colour now when nothing is happening yet outside!

[iann]

Yes, Othonna cacalioides.  Not the sort of thing I usually grow, but they were given to me as cute little buttons.  I may not like them so much when the caudexes get big and gnarly.  I'm just pleased they are still alive, not what a few caudiciform growers predicted   I'm not generally big on plants that are dead sticks all summer.

[cohan]

Yes, Othonna cacalioides.  Not the sort of thing I usually grow, but they were given to me as cute little buttons.  I may not like them so much when the caudexes get big and gnarly.  I'm just pleased they are still alive, not what a few caudiciform growers predicted   I'm not generally big on plants that are dead sticks all summer.

i don't have many caudis at all--no room for the big things--and not warm enough to summer outdoors i would really love  a few that get really interesting roots/trunks but can be kept in no more than 4inch pot, and not much taller (i don't mean bonsai); the only such thing i have is one eriospermum; about 5 seed attempts at least have produced nothing;..i like the gnarly roots..i don't mind dead sticks in summer (actually, i like the look, anyway)-but summer there is a lot going on outdoors, so i am happy for indoor plants that do their thing fall through spring; interestingly, here, its turning out that most of my cacti are going that way--not so hot that they are dormant mid-summer, but my best light inside is spring and fall, so i am watering much earlier than i did in toronto, which the cacti seem to appreciate, and my days get longer very fast, so flowering is triggered earlier; mid-summer i can mostly ignore the indoor plants as i'd prefer..

[Rogan]

Iann, what's the little "fat" thing beyond the Othonna cacalioides? I do so enjoy growing Gibbaeum spp that anything that remotely resembles them pricks my interest.

Careful where you step! One of the greatest succulent sights I've ever seen - Muiria hortenseae (a close relative of Gibbaeum) in habitat:

[maggiepie]

Very interesting plants, Iann.
I really like the alstoniis, have never seen anything like those before.


Rogan, what an amazing sight.

[cohan]

Iann, what's the little "fat" thing beyond the Othonna cacalioides? I do so enjoy growing Gibbaeum spp that anything that remotely resembles them pricks my interest.

Careful where you step! One of the greatest succulent sights I've ever seen - Muiria hortenseae (a close relative of Gibbaeum) in habitat:

great view--i love these scenes of pebbly fields of succulents..the little bits of green are fascinating too..

[Lesley Cox]

Iann, what's the little "fat" thing beyond the Othonna cacalioides? I do so enjoy growing Gibbaeum spp that anything that remotely resembles them pricks my interest.

Careful where you step! One of the greatest succulent sights I've ever seen - Muiria hortenseae (a close relative of Gibbaeum) in habitat:

Hence the common name "Living Stones."

[iann]

Rogan, that particular blob is Gibbaeum pilosulum in fat mode.  Pretty soon it will be a dry husk.

The Muirias are just a few inches away   Here they are a couple of months ago.  Starting to turn mushy now.

[Rogan]

Great to see your Muirias Iann     - now, how (if you don't mind) do you keep them alive as I seem to lose so many seedlings from year to year?

[iann]

Hard to say what I do to keep them alive since I haven't killed any Yet   When do you lose yours?  Summer or winter?

I feel it is important to give them water reasonably often but not too much.  I think winter light is critical, difficult for me but perhaps easier for you.  Keeping them alive might be possible but flowering them probably much harder.  Dormancy is scary and I tend to skip right through it.  Summers are cool enough that I don't need an extended dormancy.

Probably consistent strong sun and low humidity help.  Experienced California growers find Muirias quite manageable and flower them regularly.

[Rogan]

I think my problem is excessive humidity during summer and a warm winter (or just plain ineptitude!  ) - a far cry from their natural habitat. My plants do not recover from dormancy, a problem that I routinely have with several species of Conophytum as well. Perhaps I should modify my watering regime to shorten the dry periods between watering.

I have studied them well in habitat where the colony sits in the rain-shadow of the Langeberg mountains. Despite that, the area seems to be fairly well-watered as the coastal fog swirls over the crest of the mountains in winter and settles on the land for several kilometres beyond - I'm not too sure how often this occurs during the hot and dry summer months though.

Some bright autumn colour in the succulent greenhouse - Conophytum ectypum forms:

[iann]

Summer dormancy is hardly necessary here, it just isn't warm enough for long enough.  Even with hot days in a greenhouse, nights are still cool.  Like the sheathing Gibbaeums, it is hard enough getting Muirias to dry out their old leaves at all and the new leaves more or less come straight through.  Conophytums can easily be grown without a dormancy, but they are small enough that they can be dried out and then left for a couple of months.  Many of them wake up on their own in July or August.

If you find the larger bilobe Conophytums easier, it could be because they are able to withstand more heat and a longer totally dry period.  The tiny ones, and especially the more southerly species, need summer water and some shade.  Just a spray though.

[Maggi Young]

Fans of "fat plants" in the Netherlands should have a look at this page from the Flemish Rock Garden Club, telling of two open days at the  home of the Chairman of a Cactus Society on the 29th and 30th May....
OPENTUINDAGEN 2010 LEUCHTENBERGIA VZW.....
see here: http://www.vrvforum.be/?p=647