My (non-flowering) Echinocerei

[Wilk]

My interest in this genus stems from a friendship with the late Alf Ward of Scarborough whose name features frequently in Nigel Taylor's book on the genus. In recent years I have acquired a few plants but so far they have proven fairly shy to flower. Maybe a few of them are not yet mature enough and I am being impatient. I thought I would post a few pictures and hopefully other members can comment on aspects such as flowering size and optimum growing conditions. Most of mine get down to about freezing point in the winter months and it seems to do them no harm.

Here's the first : Engelmanii v. Boyce-Thompsonii



It's about 4 inches tall now and ostensibly healthy. Plenty of strong spines but no flowers yet. I have just re-potted it into a slightly larger pot since the photo was taken.

[rodsmith]

I had an engelmanii years ago that I grew from seed. It was kept in a lean-to greenhouse where the temperature dropped close to freezing in the winter but it never flowered for me in over 15 years (reaching a height of nearly 12 inches). My subsequent experience in flowering other Echinocereus species has been good, so perhaps engelmanii is difficult to flower. No doubt someone will tell us.

[Wilk]

I am depressed now Rod. 12 inches and it hadn't flowered! Let's move on. Here is the most frustrating one of all. It is one of 4 plants of E. Koehresianus that I have. The original was a single plant which got rot so I took some cuttings and ended up with 4 plants. This one is the biggest and is in a 5 inch pot. Every year I hope for just one flower and nothing. I see pictures of fairly small plants which are flowering but nothing from mine. Why?

[Wilk]

The last one is obviously not a commonly grown species. Here's my next offering - E. Arizonicus subs matudae a.k.a
E. Coccineus .



The plant is between 2 and 3 inches high and in the last year has started to throw out healthy looking pups. A third one is just emerging between the other 2. I hope that the fact that the plant is producing pups would suggest the main stem is not going to get that much larger and thus that it is flowering size , but am I right? No sign of flowers this year.

[rodsmith]

My coccineus is just over 3 inches tall and has flowered for the past two years. It has three offsets.

[Wilk]

Lovely plant Rod. Not much difference to mine size wise so I live in hope. The flowers are much pinker than I was expecting but it seems to be a pretty variable species in terms of flower colour.

[RAYWOODBRIDGE]

Rod; beautiful plant and photo.

Wilk; most echinocereus flower year after year once they have flowered, ( its waiting for that first year )

Ray

[rodsmith]

Rod; beautiful plant and photo.

Thanks for the compliment, Ray.

[BrianMc]

Every year I hope for just one flower and nothing. I see pictures of fairly small plants which are flowering but nothing from mine. Why?

Hi, I am just wondering what your minimum winter temperature is and if your plant is receiving direct sunlight in the winter and early spring time.

Some Echinocereus need a winter chill to stimulate flowering. Good light at that time will keep the plant healthy and probably get things stirring early.

[Wilk]

My plants get down very close to freezing point in the winter. If anything I could do with a bit more light. In mid summer the GH gets sun from about 9 to 5 and obviously less so during winter. Enough sun for most species to flower but perhaps not for some echinocerei??

Here's the next one E. Polyacanthus. I have had this plant for years and years and neglected it badly to the extent that it was once scarred all over by RSM. As you can see it still bears a few marks but it is growing pretty well now but still not a sign of flowers. The tallest stem is probably about 3.5 - 4 inches tall.