Ortegocactus macdougallii

Website · Post by **Süleyman** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:06 pm

a shiny flower on a tricky plant

[IMG]http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/4308/ ... 500Q85.jpg[/IMG]

more pics.:
[IMG]http://thumb6.webshots.net/t/62/462/6/7 ... Lku_th.jpg[/IMG]

Post by **JazzFool** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 4:38 pm

Nice flower Suleyman. I know that Ortegocacti are quite rare or not that easy to acquire. But why are they difficult to grow exactly?

Website · Post by **Süleyman** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 6:17 pm

Hi Paul,
They are very rot prone and they need very high content of calcium (e.g. limestone) in the compost. The compost must be very gritty.

Post by **iann** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 9:42 pm

They are also quite slow from seed. I wouldn't exactly call them rare, despite the eBay feeding frenzy whenever they appear, but you do have to look to find them. The Edgintons have some this year, or did a couple of months ago. Mature plants are always going to be expensive because not many survive that long and even fewer get sold on. Just tell yourself its a funny coloured Mammillaria and move on to more interesting plants ... like Lithops

Post by **JazzFool** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:18 pm

Thanks for the suggestion Ian but I'm not terribly inspired by Lithops.

Post by **Julie** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:43 pm

Paul, send them all to me then

Only joking, don't have space after today's naughtiness.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:11 pm

Had it twice, flowered it twice, lost it twice.

Mike.

Post by **Julie** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:28 pm

Could be worse, Mike... e.g. "had it twice, lost it twice."

Website · Post by **Süleyman** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:01 pm

had it twice, flowered it once, lost it once

Post by **Maria J** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:02 pm

Nice flower indeed,
not sure it'll be one that I'll add to the list though!