Cacti of Eastern Brazil - cultivation notes & photos

[James Pickering]

I have received several requests to resurrect this website and so I have recovered it from my archives and installed it at ..........

http://jp29.org/brdir.htm

Species covered:

Tacinga inamoena subsp. subcylindrica
Arrojadoa dinae
Arrojadoa multiflora
Arrojadoa penicillata
Arrojadoa rhodantha
Arrojadoa horstiana
Stephanocreus luetzelburgii
Coleocephalocereus purpureus
Micranthocereus flaviflorus subsp. densiflorus
Micranthocereus polyanthus
Micranthocereus streckeri
Micranthocereus purpureus
Micranthocereus dolichospermaticus
Micranthocereus estevesii
Discocactus buenekeri
Discocactus horstii
Discocactus placentiformis
Melocactus azureus
Melocactus glaucescens
Melocactus violaceus
Uebelmannia buiningii
Uebelmannia pectinifera


The pages are in need of updating to include additional species plus revised information and more photographs. I will be doing this over the next several days.

[DaveW]

Great James,

If only my greenhouse was heated I could grow them as well as you do! No wonder you moved to the USA from cold old UK.

[James Pickering]

Added a page relating to Coleocephalocereus aureus (hyperlink) - a beautiful truncated columnar species that is well suited to container cultivation and that bears numerous flowers in a striking golden lateral cephalium followed by large red fruit.









..... and so on.

[James Pickering]

Added a page depicting a miscellany of Discocactus - species well suited to container cultivation.


Discocactus subviridigriseus


Discocactus latispinus


Discocactus bahiensis

.......... and so on.

[juster]

Some beautiful plants here James, that Coleocephalocereus is stunning. Thanks for sharing.

[James Pickering]

Added a page depicting a miscellany of Melocactus - species well suited to container cultivation.


Melocactus azureus


Melocactus borhidii (syn. harlowii)


Melocactus violaceus

.......... and so on.

[James Pickering]

Some beautiful plants here James, that Coleocephalocereus is stunning. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you.

[James Pickering]

Added a page relating to Micanthrocereus flaviflorus subsp. alvinii (hyperlink) - a beautiful new listing via J. Lode









..... and so on.

[James Pickering]

Added a page relating to Pilosocereus piauhyensis (sensu lato) (hyperlink) - a tentative listing.


plants grown from seed in 10” plastic pots


old stems are often greenish


new growth stems are mostly blue

..... and so on.

[James Pickering]

The Soil Mix I use:

I have always experimented with soil mixes -- I think I have used about every one that has been devised during my growing lifetime -- and I have found all those that were of coarse and gritty texture, thus providing excellent drainage and root aeration, consistently produced healthy and robust plants.

My current soil mix consists of 60% Bach's Cactus Nursery mix plus 40% raw pumice (+/- ¼"/6.35mm).

Dan Bach's Cactus Nursery mix:
60% screened coarse and uniform (3/8"/9.53mm) horticultural pumice
20% high quality Canadian sphagnum peat moss
20% well composted shredded pine tree forest bark



Note: presently, approx. 50% of my collection is in the above mix; approx. 30% in a mineral (inorganic) medium that consists of "raw" pumice - and grown semi-hydroponically (drain to waste); approx. 20% in my "Sonoran Desert Cactus soil mix" which consists of 5 parts coarse pumice, 3 parts desert top soil and 2 parts natural organic material (plant debris) from Tucson area cactus habitat.

I think any commercial high quality bagged potting soil (very low in peat) mixed equal parts with a porous ceramic (fired clay) soil conditioner such as Turface - or coarse perlite - will work just fine.