Conophytum fowering already - is this normal?

[MikeDom]

My Conophytum francoiseae CR1074 started flowering on the 6th June and has just finished, about a couple of months earlier than I would have expected. I gave him a splash of water after seeing this (which is why the soil looks wet). The flower has just died but the plant hasn't grown out of it's sheath. Should I carry on watering or leave it alone and let it sort itself out when it feels the time is right, especially with the current hot weather?

Any advice welcome.

[Aiko]

Keep it dry. The occasionally splash is not a problem, but I would hold water until late August.

It is not uncommon for some species to flower well before autumn. I have C. chrisocruxum en C. chrisolum that flowers in April. I can't remember if I ever got flowers in June. But there are always some individual plants that don't follow the rules. Ariocarpus can also flower in spring or summer. But that does not happen often.

[iann]

There are Conophytums that flower just about any time of year. This one is considered to flower in "summer", so you're doing about right. No need to water, especially in this heatwave. One splash should be fine, but the regular growing season is still winter.

[MikeDom]

Thanks for the advice. I had a look on Terry Smale's website and he says "Another summer-flowering species that flowers June-July in my collection", so it's bang on. Dry treatment will continue.

[cactuspip]

I have got C.Bolusiae and C. Minusculum ssp. Aestiflorens in flower as well at the moment.

C.Chrisocruxum was in flower a couple of weeks ago.

[iann]

C. chrisocruxum also just finished flowering here. Nothing else yet, but I don't have a lot of the non-autumn ones. Probably C. frutescens in a few weeks but it is so so hot and I don't know if that will delay them. Normally the bilobes hardly go dormant in my summer.

[cactuspip]

I noticed there was a C. Frutescens with a flower open in the greenhouse this morning.

[MikeDom]

C. chrisocruxum also just finished flowering here. Nothing else yet, but I don't have a lot of the non-autumn ones. Probably C. frutescens in a few weeks but it is so so hot and I don't know if that will delay them. Normally the bilobes hardly go dormant in my summer.

Snap, mine didn't either. And then a box of fertiliser fell off the shelf onto it yesterday with the resulting damage as below. That's the remains of last year's flower, think I'll be lucky to get one this year.

[cactuspip]

A couple of photos of possible interest.

[iann]

C. bolusiae is another one. Mine are never exactly prolific with flowers but this one is intent on taking it to a whole new level.