As a cactus hoarder grower I like all my little spiky friends. But as with any type of hobby there are the more favourite and less favourite ones. There are even different category of favourite. Favourite spines, favourite flowers, favourite cause its so easy to grow and favourite just cause I grew them from seed.
This little one ticks two boxes - I grew it from seed and it is just so easy to grow!
So even though it is very simple and common cactus, I like it a lot :)
Mammillaria Prolifera
What makes it even more special, is that it is only 2 years old! Some of the seedlings I have are 4 years old and don't think of blooming. I was surprised to see flower on this one. Only one, small, peachy yellow bloom.
I potted the baby cactus in the smallest post I had last year and when it was small, single head the size of a peanut. You can see multiple little offshoots on the sides and only now it starts to fill up the tiny pot.
But it grows fast and the older it gets, the more little offshoots it will produce every year. With time it will look like a fluffy pillow. I have seen photos of them growing and filling up pots the size of dinner plate with hundreds of flowers on. And the look just stunning, even though the flowers are small. The amount of them make up for it. This is what I want... in few years :)
Those offshoots can be separated and potted up as a new plant, but I will not separate them, unless I have to. It might happen that some part of the cactus rots or simply dies for some reason. Then the little babies will be removed and they will save the plant. They will root easily and start another little pillow. No wonder they are quiet popular in flower shops and supermarkets. It is so easy and much faster to propagate them though the cuttings they just keep producing.
As I have few of those I find they are really easy to bloom too. They start in early spring and will continue almost until the fall. Next year they will push some red berries from the spots where this year they have flowers.
One of my older ones bloomed last year, so I hope to see the nice combo of berries and flowers in the same time this year.
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Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
(f/9, 1/640, 105mm, ISO160)
All photos and text are my own.
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