Ariocarpus to brighten the day

[daniel82]

Mineral mixes wont address the problem with rot getting in through flowers. I lost a turbincarpus through rot setting in through the spent flower, I find it worse than root rot as there's no real chance to cut it out and save some of the plant. What I do now is once the flower is spent I gently pull on it each day until it comes away, so it leaves the plant undamaged, so far (fingers crossed) so good. If it doesn't come away easily I leave it another day.

[Eric Williams]

I must say after many years of growing, I have never come across a late flowering plant causing rot. Should I then remove any old flowers as suggested, or is this problem Ariocarpus only related. Thanks

[Aiko]

I must say after many years of growing, I have never come across a late flowering plant causing rot.

I have not experienced this aswell.

[Tina]

It has definitely happened in my greenhouses a few times, at the old house I had high humidity/low light, the greenhouses received very little sun during winter so even with fans going 24/7 sometimes a spent flower would get nasty blue mould on.
Here's my Matucana madisonorum that survived after surgery but it will take years ( if ever) for it to recover these seem to be prone to cold/damp marks.

[Tina]

This was from the collection of Jack Voase, it was a freebie as it had rot from a flower.
It has won at the national but I doubt it will ever win again now it's quite a slow grower.

[Eric Williams]

Hi Tina, I think you have hit the nail on the head. It's probably the high humidity in Winter that caused the mould on the flower leading to rot. Rene Giesler, a wonderful grower has always advocated a hygrometer in the green house to check humidity levels. Indeed, he also would open windows and door in Winter ( when weather was suitable) to reduce any high humidity conditions. Cheers

[StevenT]

Has anyone tried using a dehumidifier in their greenhouse? It's standard practice for growers of late flowering chrysanthemums and of perpetual flowering carnations.

Steven

[Lithos]

I use one, which is on permanently for my stamp collections (not in greenhouse), amazing how much water it collects.

[Cactus Kid]

Yes, I have a dehumidifier in one of my greenhouses. I bought it as I grow Asclepiads and found that they suffered with black rot and other fungal diseases very easily during the cool moist months. It has certainly improved things. I run it 24hrs a day from about the end of September till the beginning of April. The cost is offset somewhat by the fact that it expels warm air and cuts down on the heating bill.
It extracts around 5 litres of water during a 24hour period in a 8 x 6 glass greenhouse that is insulated with polycarbonate in the winter to cut down on the condensation.

[Tina]

Hi Faelle
Re potting mix I don't think they are really that fussy, mine are in JI no2 with cat litter normally, no special recipe.

I really don't find them hard to grow, I have more of a problem if they are received as an unpotted plant & I have to get them to rooted, it can take more than a year. A friend recommends placing them unpotted in a pot & only pot them up when you can see roots developing, he has a cactus business so should know what he is talking about BUT I tend to just pop them in cat litter or pumice until they are rooted then the next year in the summer when they are in full growth I would pot them in soil mix.
In the summer established plants can easily sit in water for a while as I often have them in trays.

If you are growing your plants under grow lights then you may need to think about watering thembut as you have repotted them it might be better to keep them cooler & not put them under lights as you could dry them out a lot.
A few more from November