What would you like to know about Melocactus?

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James Pickering
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Location: Tucson, Arizona (ex. Burnley)

Re: What would you like to know about Melocactus?

Post by James Pickering »

Following are the results of a Melocactus matanzanus rehabilitation project I carried out at Bach's Cactus Nursery (Tucson, Arizona) some twenty years ago. I decapitated the cephaliated aberrant apical offsets from some mature plants that had been damaged by red spider mites. The severed surfaces were dusted with powdered sulphur as a prophylactic and put aside to dry. When sufficiently calloused, the offsets were potted up using my regular soil mix with the surfaces just resting on top of the soil.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata05.JPG[/img] - insect damaged mature plant with two offsets - one with cephalium.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata15.JPG[/img] - double head/double cephaliums on damaged plant.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata04.JPG[/img] - mother plant with offsets removed.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata01.JPG[/img] - severed offsets set aside to dry.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata14.JPG[/img] - 25mm (1") dia rooted plant established in 7 cm (2.75") square plastic pot.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata07.JPG[/img] - root system on offset after six months.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata27.JPG[/img] - Rooted offset potted in 7 cm (2.75") square plastic pot after approx. 1 year.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata22.JPG[/img] - Another rooted offset potted in 7 cm (2.75") square plastic pot after approx. 1 year.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata24.JPG[/img] - Another rooted offset potted in 7 cm (2.75") square plastic pot after approx. 1 year.

[img]http://jp29.org/mlmata30.jpg[/img] - Another rooted offset potted in 7 cm (2.75") square plastic pot after approx. 1 year.

Please excuse the quality of the photographs - they were taken before the advent of digital cameras.

James
James
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piotrpiotr
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Re: What would you like to know about Melocactus?

Post by piotrpiotr »

Hi, I am new on this forum. I am a cactus grower from Poland. I started to cultivate Melocactus just recently, but they have already become one of the most interesting genus for me.
I found excellent movie about hummingbirds in which they pollinate Melocactus species (the species name is not mentioned) from Brazil. I still remember excellent pictures by Marlon Machado published on this thread. You can watch this in 32:45 of the movie. Best regards, Piotr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg66DNEUIts
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Kees
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Re: What would you like to know about Melocactus?

Post by Kees »

Linkie no longer workie.
This one does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIRlxfu3sSA
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