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Philocacti

A. fissurates flower buds

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So my oldest ario produced this flower bud and it grew a little but it never bloomed

This particular one and the other younger ones (1 year younger) keep on throwing flower buds bud never bloom. However, the flower buds on the ones on pereskiopsis and this one earlier never get to grow bigger then the wool one them.

This time it got to grow but it either stalled or i'm getting really impatient.

i don't know if i'm too excited and impatient or there's something wrong with my arios

Similar experience with a 2 year old ferocactus grown from seed is that it keeps on throwing flower buds but it never blooms as well.

So what's the deal? I had this only happen a few times with grafted lophophoras but it only happens to the first flower bud they produce.

should i increase the flowering fertilizer dose?

Any tips?

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My Ferrocactus forms buds that go dormant if it hasn't had enough water or nutes. When my locale gets a period of rain in the growing season many of my cacti respond by flowering.

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Not sure where you are but Ario's usually flower in Autumn?

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Bongchitis - i water more than enough, this is what i have found out recently. But as you said, i probably don't fertilize enough. I used in spring and in the middle of summer i stopped thinking i was overdoing it. So i guess i'll start fertilizing more on a schedule. Thanks for the tip :)

Jack - it is autumn/winter now. It's getting really cold very fast, but aren't arios like lophophora?

this means they only flower once or something per year? Do they produce a lot of seeds per fruit or are they like lophophora?

early in the morning before going to work i caught it opening up. Don't know if it fully bloomed while i was at work or not, but at least i caught a glimpse of it.

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and here is another 1 year younger one showing 2 flower buds

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What is really weird is that (just from my humble observations) it seems that arios are the opposite of lophophora, where lophophora flowers really quickly on pereskiopsis (3-4 moths after grafting) and it takes way more longer to flower on columnar cacti, although it size on columnar will always be bigger then on pereskiopsis when it flowers. This sentence seems very strange.

On the other hand it seems to me arios flower faster on columnars and this observation is only made among 5 specimen i have. 2 on columnars, which are either flowering or showing flower buds. Still this observation is not accurate enough because i only noticed it in a small sample size.

Anyway, time will tell.

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Ariocarpi unlike lophophora are not self fertile and will require cross pollination in order to set seed, I can't comment on grafted specimens as all my arios are on there own roots. I get many more seeds per fruit than lophophora. Beautiful plants by the way. :)

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Awww that's purty, philo, thanks! I love cacti flowers, they are amazing...

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Jack, I got mixed info about the fertility of arios, or maybe I just miss understood other people. Some say they are self fertile and other say they are not.

Today the flower fully bloomed and fiddled in it to see if it would make seeds :)

If not than I'm hoping next time bit grafts flower at the same time, or maybe I should collect pollen from this one so when the other flowers bloom I can pollinate it.

Thanks Hellonasty and Gillian

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I can only speak from my own experiences and I have not had any self seed in 10 years of having mature plants. Love the flower but not as much as the hot pink agavoides.

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Philo,

Generally speaking Ariocarpus flower in both spring and Autumn, occasionally twice depending on growing conditions. Ariocarpus are strange plants especially when it comes to flowering, I find some plants won't flower unless you treat them mean I.E very little water and nutrients whilst others will flower once given a good drink/feed. I think it will vary depending on your location. As for Lophophora I find my plants will nearly flower the entire growing season, some will stop during the extreme heat of summer.

In addition to Jack's comments I have also never had any Ariocarpus self seed.

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Cant comment on Ario flowering, but for lophops,... the way I get them to flower is,.. treat them like shit for a month and then give them some water + light fert for a few weeks.

I live in a clime with very little variation - always between 23C and 33C the whole year. In the winter months daytime is just 1,5 shorter. generally more frequent watering + fert means more flowering with Lophs.

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Well seems more people say that they are self-sterile so to be on the win-win side i cut a few anthers and saved them for when the other flower i can pollinate.

Hellonasty, the specimen you talk about, are they grafted or on their own roots?

woof woof - my lophos flower with no special treatment, but only in spring, summer, and autumn, but i live in a totally different weather ;)

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Most of mine are grafted, I only have two plants that are of flowering age on their own roots they are both A.Retusus. The rest are all grafted to either Pereskiopsis, Hylocereus or Selenicereus, and a few I have re-grafted to random Trichocereus. The re-grafts are growing pretty slow.

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