Pincushion Cacti

Common Name: Pincushion cactus, Nipple cactus

Botanical Name: Mammillaria spp.

Plant Family: Cactaceae

Description: As this is such a large and interesting genus of cacti (over 300), it is more practical to give a general description of the group, followed by the names and descriptions of some of my favorites. Most species of Mammillaria are by far the easiest and most reliable cacti to grow and bring into flower. The name Mammillaria is derived from the Latin word mamilla which means nipple and refers to the small tubercles(fleshy lumps or warts) on each cactus. All cacti in this genus are rib-less. So, generally, they are globular to cylindrical-shaped and consist mostly of single, fleshy leaf-less stems that are capable of storing water for long periods of time. These fleshy stems are surrounded by spiraling rows of tubercles, each of which contains spines or hairs at their tips. These spines vary in shape, texture, arrangement, size and color, depending on the species. Many have spines that curve at the tips and resemble fish hooks. Most of the genus has two types of spines at the end of the tubercles - central and radials. On those which have both, the central spines are generally longer (stick out above the radials) and are more often than not a different color than the radials. In addition to these, some species have woolly axils. Many of these cacti make beautiful specimens even if they never bloom because of the beautiful colors of their spines which include reds, whites, yellows, gold, black, brown and other colors. Some species remain solitary (a single globe or cylinder) while others form clumps or thick clusters. Many are procumbent, that is they bend, lean forward or have long stems that trail or hang over the edge of the flower pot.

Mammillaria species vary in height, anywhere from 1 to 12 inches. This lower height makes it easy to grow these attractive cacti on shelves under artificial lighting or on a sunny window sill.

Mammillarias are easily recognized by their small bell-shaped flowers which grow in a ring-like pattern near the apex (top) of the stems. These flowers range in size from ¼ inch up to 2 inches in diameter. Colors include: reds, carmine, cerise, pinks, purple, yellow, white, creams and a combination of these colors. Following the blooming period, many species bear small, scarlet berry-like fruits which are very showy and attractive against the background of colorful spines. Most species bloom in the spring or summer between March and October.

For those who are unaware, Saskatchewan has its own native species, Mammillaria vivipara (Nutt.) Haw., which grows on south-facing slopes on the open prairie in the south, southwest and Qu'Apelle Valley regions. This cushion-like cactus grows in groups with each ball or stem reaching heights of 11/2 to 3 inches tall on average. The reddish brown spines grow in clusters of 3 to 8 at the tip of each tubercle. The 11/2 to 2 inch wide flowers are a lovely violet purple or dark-red with yellow centers. The yellow centers are due to the numerous yellow stamens. Pale-green fleshy berries develop after flowering, turning brown with age. These berries are sweet and edible when ripe. This cactus is hardy in zone 2, but it requires really good drainage and a sunny location to survive.

Detailed Description of a Few Mammillaria spp.

Mammillaria prolifera: So easy to grow, this small clumping speacies averaging 2 inches in height has ¼ inch long reddish brown central spines with white radial spines. The plant flowers freely in spring with creamy yellow flowers about ½ inch in diameter. Flowers are followed by attractive scarlet fruits averaging ½ inch long.

Mammillaria camptotricha: Commonly called the 'Birdsnest cactus', this beautiful cactus has long tubercles with ¾ inch long curved yellow hair like spines and ¾ inch wide white flowers. Under ideal conditions, this cactus blooms in spring, summer and fall. It forms clumps that average 4 inches high. This is another very easy to grow cactus.

Mammillaria pringlei: This is generally a solitary cactus that grows approx. 61/2 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter. The axils are wooly , radial spines white and spreading , and central spines recurved (curved backward), deep yellow to golden in color. The spines on this species seem to radiate light, almost making it appear to glow. The small red flowers are 3/8 inches long.

Mammillaria elongata: Commonly known as 'Golden stars', this popular indoor cactus forms long finger-like branches that grow both erect and prostrate forming club-like clusters. As the name suggests, the many tiny recurved spines are gold in color. Small white flowers are produced in spring.

Mammillaria candida: This beautiful solitary , globular cactus resembles a 3 in. wide snowball because its body is completely covered by 50 or more slender, spreading white radial spines. The central spines are stiff and also white in color. This cactus is very attractive when it blooms with its funnel-shaped pinkish flowers protruding through the white spines.

More Mammillaria spp. follow the care section of this column.

How To Care For Your Mammillaria spp.

Light: The large majority of this genus need full sun or bright light as they are desert cacti. The more spines or hairs on the cactus, the more light they require as the spines screen out the light from reaching the plants body. Mine do very well in a south window, blooming freely. They must continue to have bright light in winter to ensure the production of flower buds. 1400 foot candles of light is essential.

Water: During the growing season in spring and summer, just allow the soil to approach dryness before watering the plant thoroughly. Cactus, like any other plant must continue to grow during the growing season if they are to produce flowers the following spring. The use of clay flower pots helps prevent over-watering as they breathe through the sides. However, watering more often will be required. In fall and winter while they are resting (dormant), they should only be given water to prevent their stems from shriveling. They may not require watering at all during the winter months, or maybe only once or twice. The cooler the temperature is, the less water they will require.

Temperature: In spring and summer while they are actively growing and blooming, a range of 65-90 degrees F is satisfactory. In the fall and winter months, temperatures of 45-55 degrees F along with bright light and drier soil promotes the development of flower buds. A cool basement with a sunny south window or artificial lighting situated above the cacti is a good spot to locate cacti for the winter months.

Media: It is very important that the potting media be well drained. Cacti cannot stand wet roots for prolonged periods of time--root or stem rot will occur. The bottom one third of the flower pot should be filled with crocks (broken pieces of old clay pots) before the soil is added to the pot, or, fill the pot with soil and place it on a flat piece of rock in a catch basin so all excess water can drain from the flower pot after watering the plant. Always use a pot that is just slightly larger than the cactus you are planting to avoid excess moisture. Many prepackaged cactus soil mixes are available at garden centers, but I still prefer using 2 parts of sandy loam with equal parts of mixed perlite and coarse sand. Organic matter such as sphagnum moss is used sparingly if at all. To this mixture I add 1 tablespoon each of bonemeal and crushed limestone per gallon of mixture. The lime promotes good spine development and color while the bonemeal promotes a healthy root system and good flower bud development.

Feeding: If the potting media has been properly prepared with bonemeal and lime, no feeding is required the first year. Thereafter, once a month with a water soluable fertilizer which has trace minerals added such as l5-15-30 is a good cactus fertilizer. Fertilize your cacti only during the months in which they are actively growing, never while they are dormant. The exception to this rule is if you have a winter flowering cactus that is dormant in the summer months. Low percentage cactus fertilizers like the brand name 'Cactus Juice' (1-7-6) may be added with each watering in the growing season. Never use fertilizers with higher amounts of nitrogen as this leads to lank and weak growth of the stems with poor flowering qualities.

Repotting: Most cacti will do well in the same pot for 3-4 years before they need repotting. Remember to use a pot that is only one size larger when they are repotted. A sheet of newspaper folded over many times to about 2 inches wide or a good pair of leather gloves will be required when handling these spiny fellows. After repotting, do not water the cactus for at least a week so the injured roots have time to callous or heal. This will help prevent the roots from rotting. Repot cacti in the spring once active grow has started.

Propagation: With types that form clusters, it is very easy to remove a small stem (one little cactus) and set it's base in moist sand to start a new plant. Starting cactus from seed is a very interesting method of propagation. First, a little globular or round green mass grows and then from this mass the true cactus emerges or develops. They may need a year to grow before they are large enough to transplant into their own pots. Larger cacti that have become too long or old, or have rotted at the base may be saved by slicing straight through the top 2 -3 inches of the cactus with a sharp knife ( the length of the top stem section is not real crucial - it may be longer or shorter if necessary). This top section must be placed in a cool, dry spot out of the sun for at least a week before it is placed in a rooting media. A hard, dry callous will develop over the new wound during this time which prevents the new section from rotting when it is set in the rooting media. Do not over water the new section - keep it just moist. I use a special sand that has only a small percentage of clay in it to root all of my succulent cuttings. It works like magic!

Other Very Pretty and Interesting Species

Mammillaria baumii: white radial spines, pale yellow central spines, bright yellow scented flowers.		M. beiselli: white wool hair like bristles in axils, whitish-yellow radials, creamy white flowers with a reddish brown mid-stripe.
M. bocasana: known as "Powder puff" - an offsetting cactus, hairy like radial spines, central hooked spines, apricot to cream flowers - ½ inch across.		M. hahniana: known as 'old lady cactus', long, curly, hair-like white spines, cerise to reddish purple blossoms.
M. sempervivi: very short black spines - turning to white with time, cerise flowers (may be yellow or white) very easy to grow.		M. longiflora: long, hooked reddish brown or yellow spines, 1 inch wide pink flowers (sometimes striped). Do not water in winter to prevent rot.
M. parkinsonii: commonly called 'Owl's Eyes', black-tipped white spines, mounds by branching into two stems at each stem tip - the dark-tipped spines on the 2 new heads look like owl's eyes, cream or pink flowers in spring.		M. columbiana: golden yellow central spines, white bristle radial spines, pink flowers.
M. compressa: woolly axils, bristly white spines, purplish red flowers.		M. elegans: many needle-shaped white spines on cylindrical stems, red flowers.
M. geminispina: woolly white axils, soft white spines, carmine flowers.		M. heyderi: brown-tipped white spines. Flowers are white with red or pink.
M. senilis: white spines, large red flowers.		M. dehertiana: dark central spines, recurved white radials, large pinkish purple flowers with yellow stamens, very, very pretty.
M. zielmanniana: white radial spines, red brown centrals (one is hooked), purple pink flowers.

There are many more available species, each unique and beautiful in their own way.

Yucca After Bloom

What do I do with the hard stem in the middle of my yucca plant after the white flowers have died? Thanks kindly.

Yucca recurvifolia

After the white flowers have died on your yucca plant, the spent flower stalk or hard stem should be removed as soon as possible after blooming. It will depend on what species you are growing as to the method of removal. If you have the short single trunk species (sometimes multiple) like Yucca recurvifolia, Y. glauca or Y. gloriosa, simply cut the old flower stalk off just above the leaf rosette.

Yucca filimentosa

Remove flower stalks from species like Yucca filimentosa and Y. flaccida (low tufted kinds) by removing the flower stalk along with the entire rosette of leaves that has produced that flower stalk. By bending the stalk and leaf rosette over to one side, you will notice a root-like structure about 2 inches thick. Using a knife, cut or sever this woody stem-root and snap it off. Both the bloom stalk and rosette of leaves should come off at the same time. These rosettes should be removed along with the spent flower stalk because they only flower once. New blooms are produced on the new shoots or offsets that develop, and they will flower again in two years.

Keep your yuccas looking attractive by removing any dead leaves also. Tear them sideways and they'll peal off the stem or base easier than trying to pull them straight off the plant.

The Fall Leafdrop Phenomenon

Every fall deciduous trees and shrubs go through that transition period where their leaves turn from green to beautiful shades of yellow, red, orange, crimson and other colors. The autumn colors in zone 2 this year were brilliant and remained with us a bit longer than they normally do. These fabulous colors look even more beautiful when set against or amongst the dark green foliage of white and black spruce, as in the case of our boreal forest. To most folks, this is just the changing of the seasons with a couple of colorful weeks before 'Old Man Winter' sets in. But, what really causes these leaves to turn color and then drop off the trees?

Fall Leaves

Actually, it is a combination of naturally occurring chemical substances in the plants and the plants environment. These chemical substances, known as plant hormones, regulate the plants growth and development and when the plant is to grow and when the plant is not to grow. There are in total, five groups of these hormones, three of which promote plant growth and two of which inhibit plant growth. The three growth promoters are auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins. The two growth inhibitors are ethylene and abscisic acid. Now, all we have to know about these hormones at this point is that when the levels of growth promoters are higher than the levels of growth inhibitors, the plant is actively growing. When levels of growth inhibitors are higher than levels of growth promoting hormones, growth of the plant slows and stops.

Fall Leaves

Day length (photoperiod) and temperature regulate when these hormones become active in the plant. In spring, as the day length becomes longer and the temperatures warmer, growth promoters reach higher levels in the plant which starts the plant actively growing. In autumn, day length becomes shorter and the temperatures cooler, causing the growth inhibitors to reach higher levels than growth promoters in the plant. Ethylene and abscisic acid reach levels that override the growth promoters, causing the plant to go dormant.

Once the growth inhibitors reach higher levels than growth promoters, chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants, is lost. Other pigments than become more obvious in the leaves color. The yellow and orange pigments are called carotenoids and are quite obvious in trees and shrubs like poplars, green ash, chokecherry, birch, larch (our only deciduous conifer), currants, Siberian elm and saskatoons. Another pigment called anthocyanin is responsible for the reddish colors in the leaves of trees and shrubs such as dogwoods, bearberry, some maples, Shubert chokecherry, cotoneaster, Virginia creeper, mountain ash and pincherry, for examples.

Fall Leaves

The levels of ethylene and abscisic acid continue to build up as the days shorten and temperatures get cooler. At the base of the leaves petiole (leaf stalk) which is fastened to the twig or stem of the tree, a bump or thicker part of the petiole develops due to the build up of ethylene and absicsic acid. This bump is known as the abscission layer. Abscisic acid was named because of its association with leaf, flower and fruit abscission (to cut or fall off) of plants. You may notice this bump on the end of an apple stalk and other fruit also. As the chemicals build up in this abscission layer, the cells become softened and the leaf or fruit finally breaks away and falls to the ground. Immediately after leaf fall, a corky tissue develops, closing the wound on the stem side of the abscission layer. This healing layer of corky tissue forms the leaf scar on the twig. This leaf scar is located at a node, directly below a leaf bud.

If you look closely at the twigs on your trees and shrubs now that the leaves have fallen, you will notice that next springs leaf and flower buds (flower buds only on spring flowering plants) have all ready developed. The smaller buds are the leaf buds and the larger buds are the flower buds. These tiny, highly compressed leaves and flower buds are covered with scale-like structures called bud scales. These overlapping bud scales protect the delicate leaves and flower buds from the harsh winter climate. In this state, they are called dormant buds. These highly compressed leaf and flower buds grow very quickly in the spring because they have all ready been formed. This is why lilacs, for example, can have such beautiful large flowers so early in the spring.

Gardenia

I have a Gardenia plant I bought in the spring. In my sunroom the plant's leaves turn yellow and its newest ailment is that the leaves are drying up. It did well outside this summer on my front porch(very little direct sun). What does this plant need to be healthy, & when does it flower?

Gardenia jasminoides

The gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides), also commonly called Cape Jasmine, and other varieties of the species can indeed be a challenging plant at the best of times. In most cases, these small treelike plants with large white, waxy, sweet-scented flowers (they have a jasmine like scent - the reason for its species Latin name) are usually treated as a potted seasonal plant (like an Easter lily) and then discarded. However, if the plant can be given the optimum conditions necessary for good health, it can bloom repeatedly indoors. Gardenia jasminoides veitchii blooms mainly in the winter months, whereas, G. jasminoides fortuniana blooms in the summer and is a better choice for houseplant culture as it is a little less demanding. Other varieties are available but are not as popular.

To answer the first part of the question, if the plant was brought directly into the sunroom without first gradually acclimatizing it to the different environmental conditions from outside to inside, this would certainly lead to stress of the plant and cause yellowing and drying or the leaves. The plant should be brought into the sunroom for a short period of time each day (about ½ hour to begin with) and then returned to its original spot out of doors. Gradually increase the amount of time the plant is left indoors every other day for at least a period of two weeks. By this time, (with most plants) the plant should have adjusted to its new environmental conditions.

The gardenia, however, is a lot more demanding. It also requires this acclimatization period, but, unless the sunroom has a high level of atmospheric humidity, bringing it in from the moist out of doors to a dry indoor atmosphere will certainly spell disaster. Furthermore, if the sunroom has much higher light intensity (much brighter than where it was located outside with very little direct sun), and the plant is located near glass where the light is intensified, this would lead to even more problems with yellowing and drying of leaves.

Many other factors may also cause this problem. The amount of watering will have to be adjusted from outside to inside conditions. The gardenia must have a well drained soil, but it must also have constant moisture. At no time should the soil be allowed to dry out. Gardenias require a very acidic soil (pH of 5.0 - 5.5) so, if the water you are using is of alkaline nature, the pH of the media will eventually change. The higher pH level of the media can than cause a problem known as chlorosis. In this case, the leaves are actually pale green to yellow with dark green veins. This problem is corrected by adding ½ ounce of either iron sulfate or iron chelate to a gallon of water and watering the plant once or twice weekly for a month.

Over watering, lack of nitrogen fertilizer, cold or hot drafts, poor drainage, being root or pot bound or insects can also cause yellowing or drying of leaves. To keep the gardenia plant healthy and flowering, it must have the following optimum conditions.

Media: It must be acidic (pH of 5.0-5.5) and have excellent drainage or porosity, while having the ability to hold moisture. Purchase pre-mixed acid-loving plant soil or use 1 part potting soil, 2 parts peat moss and 1 part perlite with a little crushed charcoal added to keep the soil from going sour.

Humidity: This plant must have high atmospheric humidity to succeed. Placing it on a tray of pebbles and water (the pot must not sit in the water) and spraying or misting it at least 3 times daily is a must.

Light: The plant will not flower unless it receives at least 4 hours of sunlight per day. The use of proper artificial lighting is recommended for periods of cloudy, dull weather. Give it full sun in winter and very light shade in the summer.

Temperature: The night temperature must not be higher than 60-62 degrees F or the plant will not produce flower buds. Daytime temperatures around 70 degrees F is what the plant prefers.

Watering: Keep the soil constantly moist, never allowing it to dry out, but do not over water. Use only soft, tepid water.

Feeding: The plant should be fed once a month with a liquid fertilizer. Use an acid-type fertilizer to help keep the media's acidity level up. Any fertilizer with a higher percentage of phosphorous promotes blooming.

Repotting: Every 2-3 years in the spring is generally sufficient, as long as the potting media remains acidic.

There is indeed very little more satisfying and rewarding than to bring a challenging plant such as a gardenia into full bloom. Good luck with your plant.