Soo, what's happening to my

10 years ago

Red-headed Irishman? It is a cactus I bought about eleven months ago, and posted here at the GP. The grafted flower was at the top of the plant when I bought it, but now it's sort of tilting, but I don't know why. I wonder how it got it's name.
Anyone know?

Comments (8)

west_gardener
Original Author
10 years ago
Cactus Blue Candle? The grafted flower was on top when I bought it, but eleven months later, it is tilting.
kris_zone6
10 years ago
Could it be that the cactus has grown, but the graft area hasn't grown?
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lilosophie
10 years ago
I agree with Kris, actually your cactus is healthy if it has grown so well
west_gardener
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for the replies, ladies. Whew, glad to see that the tilting may be a good thing.
I'm a total newbie to cacti growing so I don't know what to expect, most of the time.
Below are a couple of pics of my Aloe Zanzibarica, also taken eleven months apart. I can tell it has grown. Luckily, I knew they grow sideways, so I did not freak out when I saw it doing that.
It is fun to learn something new, but I am aware that I'm working with living things, so slow and easy does it.
anneliese_32
10 years ago
Years ago I had the same kind of cactus and it did the same thing. After I while the grafted part just disappeared and the rest grew at my mother's house for 32 years until she moved to a nursing home and my brother threw it out.
west_gardener
Original Author
10 years ago
anneliese, thanks for posting. It does seem that my cacti is growing "normally" and it also seem that they might out live me.
Hmmm.........
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
West, look up Mammilaria spinosissima for information about your plant. When grown properly, this species produces lots of REAL flowers.

Bg the way, those flowers are not 'grafted ' but glued to the plants. They are everlastings (strawflowers) from the Compositae family. They should be removed, if possible. Strawflowers have been glued to poor cacti for ages.....just to sell more plants.

Believe it or not, one of the biggest problems I consistantly see with cacti is that they aren't drenched on watering day. They need to be allowed to take up a large amount of water into those swollen stems....or they shrink down instead of remaining swollen and fat. Drench (flood), then allow to dry out.
west_gardener
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the information, rhizo. I did a search for " Mammilaria spinosissima " and I found a wealth of information. I even found out that someone in my city is growing the cacti successfully. That takes care of any zone issue.
One(of many) interesting things about all of this, is the straw flower. I did not know if was glued on, because it opened when the sun hit the cactus and closed when in the shade. I thought is was part of the plant.
Thanks again for your post.