Ashleigh Taylor only for a few months. Bought it early this year so it was still in its winter dormant period. When spring months started I noticed new growth and a rapidly growing pup which is now nearly the size of its mum. I did fertilise it once. After that it just bloomed. These guys are known as rapidly growing miniature cacti though. Mine is about 5cm in diameter and I am guessing it was already a couple of years old when I bought it. I read that they have easy flowering habits. One thing I learned the hard way is to give it some shade and don’t leave it in direct sun for long periods or it will burn the flowers and they die. Just be patient and show your cactus love and you will notice pink little buds sprouting from the areoles. Those will bloom very nicely.
Daisy Alnakoud I live in the UK and our summers are short. However they can get quite hot (highs of 30°c) out of no where). This is a sudden shock for plants who are used to 15°c weather the rest of the year. I made the mistake of placing it in direct light outside all day right when summer started. It turned a very nice deep purple from sun stress but unfortunately one of the flower buds burned to a crisp before they got the chance to open. Now I keep it in my conservatory near the window. It still has that beautiful sun stressed colour but isn’t burning. Anywhere with indirect sun, which gets a few hours of light each day but not intense hot afternoon sun. A south or east facing windowsill is good too! And if your area has hot summers/weather you can put the cactus outdoors, just remember to acclimate it to the light by only exposing it to sun for a few hours at a time then gradually building it up over the weeks to reduce risk of sunburn or shock. If it is getting sunburnt even from being inside then try moving it well away from the window (indirect/low light) then over the weeks moving it slowly closer to the light source. Treat it like your own skin. Constant sunbathing for days in a row will burn, but a few hours each day over the span of a few weeks will reduce the risk of burning.
Thanks for this info, i just bought one of these and had trouble identifying it until I saw this video. It’s my second cacti, going to create a little cactus garden in a hand made ceramic bowl next to my golden barrel cacti and maybe a few more soon.
I love when you show the succulents and cacti because I live in Florida & these usually do really well for me on a covered front porch and in my Florida room. :)
Isnt the level of the soil a bit too low? I personally love to put soil in pots till the level of the edge of a pot. Probably thats why all my repotting videos ends up with fails and lots of funny mess... 😅🌵
Hi Summer. Your videos are very informative. Can you please do a video explaining explaining plant botanical names, for ex "cv.," "cvv.," "sp.," "spp.," "var.," "x," "ssp." and "NOID"? And also why do taxonomists keep changing botanical names, as in Sansevieria renamed as Dracena? Many thanks in advance.
They’re separate species. “Gymnocalycium friedrichii” and “G. mihanovichii var. friedrichii” are invalid names for Gymnocalycium stenopleurum. The two species in the complex are: Gymnocalycium mihanovichii Gymnocalycium stenopleurum
Not really, it depends on which classification you follow. www.cactus-art.biz/schede/GYMNOCALYCIUM/Gymnocalycium_mihanovichii/Gymnocalycium_mihanovichii_friedrichii/Gymnocalycium_friedrichii_L373.htm
I have a question about this cactus: I saw one recently and fell in love with its "dried out" look. One person told me that they are actually completely dried out and once you water them thoroughly, they become fuller and loose this shriveled look. Is this true? It felt like a myth to me but I was unsure? You did'nt mention it here as well. Thank you for your help! :)
Drakenfolk From my experience I’ve noticed even when I water mine, it doesn’t lose that shrivelled look or the dried out dark colour. I read it doesn’t produce much chlorophyll and thats where it gets this look. It does plump up a bit but the ribs and pleats are still very prominent.
Tbh, I think you're fertilizing too little and that's why your cactus isn't growing much. Utmost of 14-14-14 slow release fertilizer every spring would really help their growth.
