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Cactus Gardening
All cactus plants are succulents, but not all succulents are cactus plants. Being able to tell the difference is one of the concerns in the cactus gardening section. Other questions to be asked and answered include the specifics of a cactus plant's adaptability, environmental impact, growing conditions, harmful stresses, native habitats, propagation methods, and value for people and wildlife.
918 Questions
How much of the cactus is water?
How much of the cactus plant is water depends upon the size of the cactus and the amount of water in moving, processing and stored forms. But no matter the cactus' size and regardless of how much or little water that it holds, the cactus devotes over 90% of its inside body parts to handling, circulating and building up supplies of water.
What are silver ball cactus plants?
There are some who still refer to the silver ball cactus by way of the plant's previously accepted scientific name of Notocactus scopa. But the currently accepted scientific name has about 20 years of use behind it. The silver ball is reclassified, according to the International Organization for Succulent Plant Studies, as Parodia scopa, to honor Argentine botanist Lorenzo Raimundo Parodi [1895-1966].
Whatever the name, the thick, short, columnar cactus is native to the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Its stemreaches a mature height of 3 feet/90 centimeters. It has a silvery cover of long, silvery white, soft spines. In the wild, its crown shows a pronounced phototropism, by facing obviously towards the sun. It also shows a most attractive summer display of large, open faced clusters of flowers. Its base is curved, and surrounded with baby offsets once the cactus reaches about 5-10 years in age.
The silver ball cactus is a popular houseplant. But it doesn't like temperatures to fall below 45 degrees F/7 degrees C. It shares this aversion with the equally attractive, related golden ball or goldfinger cactus [Parodia leninghausii].
How do you cut a euphorbia trigona?
With a knife and pruning shears is how Euphorbia trigona is pruned.
Specifically, the succulent plant in question carries the common name of cathedral cactus. Its pruning demands the donning of long-sleeved shirts, safety glasses and waterproof gloves to protect against the plant's irritating, milky sap. Kitchen tongs need to be used to hold the plant in place while inward-facing and outward-growing branches respectfully get trimmed by hand-held pruning shears and knives.
Generally, the pruning schedule is not demanding. One of two main concerns may prompt trimming the attractive succulent. One will be overcrowding (which is counterproductive to adequate circulation of air, heat, light and moisture). The other will relate to removing diseased, moribund or unattractive parts.
What are the quills attached to on a cactus?
The 'spines' of a cactus attach directly to the stem of the plant.
Why would a cactus die if it is being watered daily?
It would let excess water contact its roots causing the cactus to drown and die.
How do you kill a cholla jumping cactus?
You would have to dig up the plant and destroy the roots, then make sure that the cactus is not touching the ground anywhere because cacti will root from their areoles. If you remove the cactus then take it to an area where if will not bother you if it takes root again.
How much do saguaro cactuses weigh after 120 years?
A saguaro cactus [Carnegiea gigantea] may reach a mature weight of 10-15 tons. Anywhere from 75-90% of its total weight is due to water processing and retention. Its mature height is 40 feet/12 meters. Its expected lifespan is 150+ years.
No, not all cactuses have spines. Some cactus plants have many more than others. Some have longer or shorter, finer or thicker spines. Some have white spines, some colored. And some don't have any spines at all.
Where do people eat cactus plants?
People may eat cactus body parts wherever the plants are grown. But they're more prone to include them in meals within the plant's native ranges of desert North and Latin America, and of jungle Latin America. For example, Bolivians prepare and eat the Neowerdermannia vorwerkii cactus like potatoes. Mexicans make the ripened pink fruits of the claret cup hedgehog cactus [Echinocereus triglochidiatus] into jam.
How can you get your zygo cactus to bloom?
Put it under stress. Hold off watering for a period ,and if it is not too cold, place it outdoors for a couple of days.
Which cactus flower looks like an octopus?
Some think that the flower of the ocotillo [Fouquieria splendens] looks like an octopus. The common names for ocotillo include candlewood, coachwhip, Jacob's staff, and vine cactus. But whether or not the flower looks octopus like, the plant isn't a cactus or succulent. Instead, it's a deciduous shrub that loses its leaves every year, and may grow to about 20 feet/6 meters tall.
The octopus agave [Agave vilmoriniana] and the octopus cactus[Stenocereus alamosensis] are so called, because of their octopus like shapes. They each have branching arms that look like octopus tentacles. The branches grow low to the ground, and out from a central growth point.
Where does a barrel cactus store water?
A barrel cactus [Echinocactus and Ferocactusspp] stores water in its stem. A cactus plant is all about energy, water and work conservation. So water, nutrient solutions, and energizing photosynthetic products all are stored where they're most needed, in the stem. It's a question of specialization of body parts and body functions. Otherwise, energy, time and work are spent and wasted shuttling water and watery products and solutions back and forth between the above ground shoots and the below ground roots.
Cactus plants make fruits and seeds, with the help of pollinators such as bats, flying insects, hummingbirds, and moths. They make energizing photosynthetic products, with the help of sunlight. They make aerated passagewaysthrough the soil, with the help of their roots and the soil food web.
What are the physiological adaptations of bamboo and the cactus and the rose?
The main physiological adaptation of the bamboo, the cactus, and the rose is their system of defense. Bamboo has ends that are sharp enough to penetrate the human body. It's the means by which some samurai committed suicide, in a painfully lingering but heroically reputed death, in Japan. The cactus has sharp ends in the form of modified leaves as thorns, spines, spikes, quills, prongs, needles, hairs, or bristles. The rose likewise has thorns, but as a supplement to and not as a replacement for leaves.
What kind of worm infests and eats the agave roots?
The agave snout nose weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus) in the larval stage is the worm that infests and eats agave roots. The female beetle pierces the plant's soft, thick leaves, inside of which eggs hatch into larvae which travel downward to devour roots until the agave no longer is attached to the soil.
It's water from a cactus! The cactus has collected that water!x
What type of music makes cactus plants grow?
Further research is always welcome in the area of plant growing by music playing. The general notion is the particular appreciation of a plant for classical music. But considering the native habitats of desert and jungle cactus plants, it's possible that the different traditional music styles of Latin America work.
When is the best time to view blooming cactuses?
The best time for viewing blooming cactus plants depends upon the particular type of cactus. But generally, the best viewing times are during a cactus' growing season. So that tends to be spring and summer.
Is there a cactus named Suarho?
The name is actually Saguaro...The saguaro is a large tree sized cactus. It is native to the Sonoran desert in the southwestern United States. They may live up to 150 years.
A cactus providesbeauty and color in an otherwise barren landscape, through blossoms and leaves. It provides food to area wildlife, such as the cactus wren [Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus]. It provides jobs to pollinators of its flowers. It provides parts for buildings and tools. It provides protection against soil and surface evaporation, through its water holding roots. It provides shelter to area wildlife.
