Echinomastus

[NickG]

Has anyone had much success with Echinomastus on their own roots? I've grown a few from seed over the last few years and they do OK until a couple of years old and then rot at the base/neck.

I'm thinking maybe sow in pure grit/cat litter?

[iann]

I have a few. Some are easier than others. As with most cacti, if you're killing them you're probably treating them wrong. Moving to a crazy type of soil is just treating the symptoms rather than the problem. Echinomastus are, to a greater extent than many cacti, dormant in hot weather. They die if you water them in this condition, certainly they will die if they stay wet for any length of time in those conditions. They do get summer rain in habitat and fairly dry winters, at least compared to many Sclerocactus and other similar cacti, but they are certainly not your standard cactus. Possibly mountain locations or unusual climate pockets make them behave more like those great basin cacti than other Mexican species.

They thrive when days are warm and nights are cold, primarily early spring. There seems to be considerably variation between the species, but this should be a good starting point for growers. They will certainly take on board water at this time of year and even into winter, but in my greenhouse at least it just isn't good weather for them in the autumn with high humidity, dull days, and warm nights. To add to the difficulty when raising them from seed, small seedlings appear to behave more normally, growing more strongly in hot weather, then they switch their behaviour after a year or two. If you don't switch your treatment at the same time they will die.

[Herts Mike]

This may help - http://echinomastus.succulentstreasures.com/

[NickG]

I Moving to a crazy type of soil is just treating the symptoms rather than the problem.

Thanks Ian,

Surely moving to a different mix is treating part of the problem i.e too wet for too long, rather than the symptom i.e rot. I grow almost everything in pure cat litter and grit once past the seedling stage, I wish I had years ago. Watering at an inappropriate time is obviously my problem.

What species have you had most success with?

[NickG]

This may help - http://echinomastus.succulentstreasures.com/

Thanks for that Mike.

[iann]

E. mariposensis may be the easiest, at least if you insist on treating it like a Notocactus. E. laui may be the hardest or maybe I was just unlucky. Either way, I have none left. The others seem quite manageable if you treat them right. Perhaps I'm lucky that they aren't really my pride and joy so I find it easy to neglect them when they look a little thirsty in summer.

I'm not sure that just going to more and more porous mixes is the right approach. These plants are thirsty in their own season and giving them a thimbleful of water every other month just isn't going to cut it.

[NickG]

I like a porous mix in that I can control the moisture content easily. If I find that it is drying out too quickly I just water twice in quick succession (two successive days or maybe twice in three) and then allow to dry out. Root formation is excellent as well, probably a combination of the airy nature of the mix and the plant being forced to look deeper for moisture.

[Phil Hocking]

I have found what seems to be a different version of the same website

http://www.succulentstreasures.com/inde ... 1/catid,2/

I hope to grow more of these as they are nice looking plants. I managed to pick up one at an event last weekend. It was labelled Echinocactus durangensis, which might account for it not having been snapped up before I got to it. It was grown by a very good grower who knows what he's doing, so he must have had a senior moment when he wrote the label. I hope I can keep it alive, armed with the knowledge imparted here.

Somerset Phil

[iann]

http://www.coronacactus.com/PotM.htm
http://www.coronacactus.com/PotM_Apr10.htm

[CoronaCactus]

These can be tricky, even here where it comes close to thier natural climate. I've found growing seedlings a bit easier than growing mature plants. I ran into trouble around the 4 year mark, but changing my watering regime helped a lot. (You can read about it in the links Iann posted)

For more info, check out The Cactus Explorer #2. At the very end of the Echinomastus johnsonii article there is a link to a cultivation accompanyment file.