I keep saying there are never enough cacti.
Well... not in this case :p There actually are enough of them and I don't know what to do with all the fellas now.
This is Notocactus Mueller Merchesi. I have two grown up ones that do bloom for me and a gazillion small ones that I grew from seed. What you see here is about a third of what I have. There are two community trays like this one and some single pots too.
I know what you will say - sell them!
I guess I could, but I don't know if I wanna bother as they are probably not very expensive. For now they grow and once in a while I give some away :).
They have really nice, short spines. Very sharp, but they are so dense they don't do much damage. Pretty easy to handle when they need to be repotted.
Would be nice to see them all bloom in a tray like that. A lawn of golden flowers. And the flowers are pretty amazing - you can check one of the older ones in bloom here.
Would be nice if some were pink, no just yellow though.
For now they are a cool photo object.
Bonus monochrome song:
Sting - Fields of Gold
year 1993
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.
Oh man, I had a cactus for years and I could never get it to bloom, you're so lucky.
I do have a story for you though, a few years ago my wife used to go to see a friend who had a mini Xmas tree on her table in the dining room. her friend watered it and even gave it plant food hoping it would blossom and maybe even grow.
Months had gone by after Xmas, and my misses went around to the house and there it was still sitting in the middle of the table, nothing had changed, it was the same color, and size.
so my wife asked her what she was doing with it, and she replied, "if the thing would grow, I would put it in a bigger pot".
I went to pick my wife up, and she asked me to take a look at the Xmas tree on the table, I picked it up while she told me the story of her looking after it, for me to take the Xmas tree out of the pot to find it had made in china on the bottom and the thing was plastic :D :D :D
Hahahah OMG :D :D
Mine are growing... definitely not plastic! :D
You need let keep it colder and dry in winter so they rest for some weeks. They they bloom in spring.
I get ya, give it a dormancy period like strawberry seeds? once they have cooled down they know then when spring is here and up they pop.
My cactus is at my mothers house, so I might pop it in the garage before winter if thats going to help it.
I know nothing about strawberry seeds so can't tell but probably works similar in their brain :)
If you don't get frosts and snow there, you could probably keep it outside all year round. Just make sure it doesn't get too much rain, and NO RAIN in winter when its colder (like below 10).
In summer it will love the warm weather and sun.
Most cacti can stand up to zero degrees and even below zero for short time if they are kept completely dry. The moisture is deadly when cold as they will simply rot.
If not - leave it some colder place for a month or two and do not water. Most will stop growing in the fall when they feel its getting colder. That's when I stop watering mine and will not water until around February when temp is starting to reach about 12-15 degrees. But I keep mine outside all year round.
Garage probably could work if cold enough and only after it stops growing. If it is warmer it will want to grow and with low light it will stretch and deform.
Do you know what cactus it is?
I think it is called a Euphorbia Lactea, but I'm not too sure as it's a while ago since I got it and when I google the name it looks different from what I have so, it could be anything.
We do get snow here, and it rains from November pretty heavy, I live near a river and that sometimes bursts its banks.
when I go to see my mum next I'll take a photo of it and send it to you so you can have a look, she's away at the minute for a week, otherwise I'd ask her to send me a picture :D
Ohhh Euphorbias are African cacti. I don't know much about them, so better don't do what I told you :P
I have two and one is outside with other cacti, gets the same treatment and it does bloom, and the other one is inside and never bloomed. They have tiny flowers - nothing special. But better read about it first before you kill it :p
I love black and white edits of cactus.. I love them to. I have few of them. But they never had flowers..
Thank you!
They need cold and dry winters to bloom. If you keep them at warm home they probably wont.
Delightful photos, @ewkaw. The detail is exquisite!
Thanks a lot :)
those are some lovely cactus.
it is better to sell them eventough it is not that expensive.
you can get new pot for the new cactus. 😀
That's true too.
It's just a hassle with unpotting cleaning, putting on sale, packing and all that... :p
lol I didn't count on that. Or sell the whole thing with the pot and ask the buyer to take it to your place. . hahaha
Haha that would work :D
They have gotten bigger over the years ....
Yea they did.. and not dying!
Good song. I would rather walk in fields of cactus, so long as there was a clear path.
Definitely more interesting one :p
The old song brings back lots of good memories.
Aww glad it did. Its a nice one :)
Congratulations @ewkaw! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
Your next target is to reach 37500 replies.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP