Can a purple "Moon Cactus" survive on it's own?

Everybody's seen "Moon Cactus" for sale. You know the one's that are usually red, yellow, or pink, a Gymnocalycium mihanovichii cacti grafted to the top of a Hylocereus cacti species? Don't think you know what I'm talking about? See here: "Moon Cactus"

There was some discussion as to whether the purple 'Hibotan' or "Moon Cactus" could survive on roots of it's own, as purple pigmentation doesn't mean a lack of chlorophyll, whereas the yellows, reds, and pinks are completely lacking any chlorophyll through a mutation. They therefore have to be grated to stock that does produce chlorophyll to survive, but what about the purple one?

I found a purple "Moon Cactus" in Home Depot after my G. mihanovichii var friedrichii succumbed to rot this summer (sigh, was my favorite one, almost gave up cactus growing for a minute there, but have since learned to alter my potting media and watering in this environment,) because this was as good a time as any to give it a shot. I removed the cactus and threw out the graft Hylocereus, let the Gymnocalycium's base heal and dry over for a few weeks. Then I just nestled it gently into some soil mix and let it sit for a while in some bright shade. I lightly watered the soil about once a month as the humidity was pretty high. Sure enough, the little cactus is now firmly rooted into the soil. Now it's trying to bloom.

So now I've got a small Gymnocalycium mihanovivhii var. friedrichii 'Hibotan'.....ha, can it's name get longer? The stalk and outer part of the flower is almost a violent shade of pink, more neon than a standard G. mihanovichii var. friedrichii. It's a little on the dehydrated side from having to make roots from a scarred over base, so now that it's settled in, maybe next year it'll grow some and flower better.

I felt a little bad for throwing out the Hylocereus base this cactus was growing on, but I already have a Hylocereus 'Halley's Comet' which is getting outrageously big. Then I was grocery shopping and guess what I found for sale....

Dragon fruit! Yup, this is the fruit of the Hylocereus undatus base plant that I threw out. Had I let it live on and flower, I'd get something similar fruit wise out of it. I love growing cacti from seed, so I was tempted to grow some of these seeds, but I don't have the space for them! Also, speaking of space, if anyone in the US is interested in a small cutting of my Hylocereus undatus x polyrhizus 'Halley's Comet', email me, I'll send you a piece for cost of shipping. They root easily from cuttings.

Gymnocalycium baldianum

This little flattened/globose cactus is from Argentina. As with most of my other Gymnos the flower only opens up fully with sun blasting on it all day, which means not all my flowers open up all the way, (See earlier post, "Clouds")

It's an easy species to grow, just water it a lot in summer and keep it dry in the winter. I keep it in full sun and it keeps putting out buds. This species is supposed to be frost resistant in the winter on the condition you keep it dry. I'm sure what's meant by that isn't a NY winter filled with perpetual frost, so I won't be trying to leave it outside. Cultivation advice like that probably is more directed to people growing in zone 7 or 8 and warmer.

1st flower of the season

Double flowers

Most recent flower

With the amount of water it tolerates and possible frost, this is a great cactus, especially for beginners as it seems pretty forgiving. The small size, (up to 13cm or about 5 inches) means it'll fit in your windowsill over the winter if you live in a colder climate like me.

HD Cactus Update #2: It's Gymnocalycium mihanovichii!

The second Home Depot (Costa Farms) Cactus ID is correct too! I'm glad about that, seeing as how I have no room for doubles, but really wanted to collect one of each mihanovichii, mihanovichii var friedrichii, and stenopleurum. Which leaves one more to find. I wanted clear representatives of the species too, if they are distinct ones, so it's a happy day. Even better, these were less than $10 each at Home Depot, (can't remember exactly, something between $6-$8.) A pretty good deal seeing as how they're mature and I didn't have to pay shipping.

Gymnocalycium mihanovichii is identified by the yellow-brown, not fully opening flowers. It's considered a miniature cactus, this is about as big as it's ever going to get. Cool looking out of bloom and great for small spaces. In it's natural habitat (Paraguay) it isn't exposed to full sun all year, growing under bushes. This makes it an ideal cactus for growing indoors for most of the year if your conditions are like mine and you have to. I put it out in full sun for the few months of summer we have and this is the result.

1st bloom opening

My hand for size reference, and I have pretty small hands.

G. mihanovichii may not have the stunning colors of friedrichii or other Gymno species, but it's beautiful in it's own way.
 

From the top

So of course it's super cloudy today and although the flower never opens all the way, this one is should open a bit further, and it's still more brown than yellow. I've got more buds that should be ready to go soon, I'll put up some better flower pictures if I can get them at a future date.

HD Cactus Update #1: It's Gymnocalycium friedrichii!

According to Cultivar 3 (25) the scientific name of this cactus is still Gymnocalycium mihanovichii var. friedrichii. G. friedrichii is just as good a synonym in the mean time seeing as how someone already tried to re-name it that and it may very well be it's own species, not a variant of another.

There's discussion on G. mihanovichii, friedrichii, and stenopleurum being distinctly separate species based on flower color, (yellow, pink, white, respectively) but with so many intermediate forms there's also some basis to combine them into one highly variable species. I don't know if anyone is studying these right now or not, but hopefully someone will be able to figure it out. It is a mess to try and do any research online with people calling them different names and substituting one for another (unless they are all the same, in which case it just makes things more complicated.) If I was a taxonomist this would totally be my project, that's all I know.

Well, based on what information is out there at least for now I can say for a fact what my cactus is. I'm on the lookout for a stenopleurum too just because white flowers are my thing, but it's hard to find one that's guaranteed to bloom white unless it's already mature, which usually means $$$.

Now, on to some pictures!

I Love it!

Flower close-up

From the side

This one is officially my second favorite cactus. It's flowers are exactly my favorite color, it's got a red colored body, and huge spines. Not bad for a cheap Home Depot cactus!

Cacti from Home Depot

As with most people, my collection of plants started local at the big box stores. Cacti are easier to identify, unlike orchids or garden plants that hundreds of hybrids are made from, to the point where non labeled plants are impossible to ID. More serious hobbyists might snub these purchases, but here's why you should maybe check out your local stores, you never know what they might have. Costa Farms supplies to all the Home Depots around here, so if you are new to growing cacti they actually have a decent selection. They don't look so hot when they aren't cared for, sitting on a dark shelf in a Home Depot, but there's potential there.

This cactus looked terrible when I bought it. The second I saw it I knew what it was and how it was supposed to look. It's not as if it was diseased or pest ridden, just clearly sun deprived , dehydrated, and knocked around a bit from shipping and employees not trained to take care of cacti.

See? Looks not so nice.

The cactus above is probably Gymnocalycium friedrichii (or mihanovichii var. friedrichii depending on which taxonomy you agree with, I haven't figured out which is "official") Below is how it looks with full sun and regular water.

ID hopefully in a few days

This cactus is supposed to be a purple or red color, it isn't sunburned.


This one below, is sort of a "before" picture. I didn't take one when I first got it of how sad it looked too, but you can see it's light deprived. It's most likely just a too green Gymnocalycium mihanovichii.

Not quite as bad, but too green for my taste

Here it is again below with proper light and water.

ID to come shortly!

When these bloom, I'll be able to verify the ID's that were made. They are definitely Gymnocalyciums, those are easy to spot. If you can't tell by looking at the body of the cactus, the flower buds will give it away. Buds are always spineless, wool-less, bristle-less, smooth and scaled looking. I guessed on the species ID's and my guesses were verified on a forum, so we'll see if any of us are any good at ID'ing cacti, or if I labeled them prematurely.

EDIT 7/9/12 *Links to ID updates below*:
Cactus #1 ID
Cactus #2 ID

Clouds

It's been rainy and cloudy almost all summer so far. It's like we're being punished for having had such a mild winter. I'm aware weather doesn't work that way, but it's making my favorite season less fun so I'm complaining about it. Where I live it starts to get  cold in September, frigid by January, and only starts to get tolerable to be outside again by late April. That's about 6 months of cool to soul-crushingly cold weather. Compounded by the angle of the sun, it's also dark and gray a lot of the time.

Credit: Queenieacoustic from Wikipedia

So far, the majority of cactus blooms haven't opened up all the way because, of course, they opened on a cloudy day. Then it was cloudy for the next two days too. This is Parodia mammulosa with four buds. I was really excited about this one for no other reason than they are huge compared to the plant.

P. mammulosa

This is as far as the buds would open. We didn't get a sunny day before the flowers died, so that was the end of it. It's not putting out any more buds (yet?) so that might be it for the year.

Then there was Gymnocalycium baldianum.

G. baldianum buds

The flowers of G. baldianum are a dark red. Not only were they not, they weren't able to open all the way either. It's working on some more, so we'll see what the rest of the summer brings.

Close enough

Maybe July and August will be better for the rest of the cacti flowers and better for being outside, in the sun, like summer is supposed to be about.

A Few Cacti Updates

Rebutia muscula might be the winner this year so far, just for looking good. There are awards for such things. These pictures were taken only a couple weeks apart from each other, with new flowers in each picture. Every time the flowers start to fade, new buds start forming. The flowers last about 3-5 days, but that's totally fine, especially seeing as how it's just going to keep making more. I have to try taking pictures of this guy with a different camera, the color just isn't doing it the justice it deserves. In reality, they're a neon tangerine color. Really stunning.

R. muscula, Round #1

R. muscula, Round #2

R. muscula, Round #3. Needed a repot by now.

Gymnocalycium anisitsii was my first cactus ever. I remember buying it, really liking it's geometric shape. This was it's first bloom for me, earlier in the spring. G. anisitsii and Parodia fusca, (other cactus pictured,) were the only ones that had started forming flower buds as soon as the light started to get much stronger by about the beginning of April.

G. anisitsii in late April

G. anisitsii 1st bloom of the season!

Yesterday this one opened up, I think it's #3 for this year. It's much smaller and I'm not sure why. Maybe I haven't been watering it enough? It's possible that it's actually getting too much sun. I may move it, Gymnocalyciums don't naturally grow in full, all day sun. I figured this far above the equator I'd be safe with the almost all day sun it's been getting, but I might be wrong.

G. anisitsii 6/21/12

Last but not least, in Echinopsis subdenudata news, 4 more flowers at once. I also love how it almost looks ridiculous with it's buds so far away from the plant. It's not like it has any significant spines it has to clear before it can open, must be not so easy to attract it's pollinators if it's flowers are too close to the ground.

Ready to go, around 7pm last night.
Didn't even notice the Aloinopsis blooming in the background when I took the photo

5 am, I was a bit late

Already starting to close with the sunlight

As you can see from the pictures, there's also a few more cacti with buds that should bloom within the next month too.