An article on my Lophophora williamsii collection! It ain't huge yet and I don't possess any plants that are mature enough to flower (this year just might prove me wrong!), but because of the fact that this is one of my favorite species, I feel like sharing them all at once!
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| Lophophora williamsii var. caespitosa |
Let's kick-off with this new plant that I've bought in the end of last year. I haven't introduced it online till now, so: here it is! Another Lophophora williamsii! Caespitosa is a variety and not a different species. This variety is often a hybrid, but they can also pop up in a normal seed-tray and aren't even that rare in their natural habitat.
My Balcony-Greenhouse
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| Balcony-Greenhouse |
It's cold outside and today and I'll have to turn on the heater a little bit today. Don't mind the mess! I'll clean it up in spring. ;-)
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| Lophophora williamsii collection |
Where it all began...
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| Lophophora williamsii - Peyote |
My first Peyote! I've bought this one in Amsterdam together with my wife. I was showing the city to her and of course also the famous Flower Market and there were a lot of cacti there! I have to be honest, because I normally complain about nursery-plants, there are some pretty plants around!
We've bought this plant because of its different appearance and squeezability. We didn't even know about the "magical" history and were quite amused after we've found out! Not that I've ever tried one, but this species is a curiosity for sure.
A couple of weeks later I've ordered a Peyote grow-kit @ Azarius.nl (I've also bought my San Pedro cutting there). The lack of knowledge in combination with a vacuum cleaner have made an end to this experiment (check out my older articles to see how that went!).
Sown in 2011
Lophophora williamsii
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| Lophophora williamsii - Peyote |
No variety, just a "normal" Peyote! This means that the seeds were from cultivated plants without any trace of habitat.
Lophophora williamsii var. Nuevo Yucatan
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| Lophophora williamsii var. Nuevo Yucatan |
The name of this variety comes from its origin. The seeds I've bought are probably from cultivated plants, but when you go a couple of generations back, you'll end up in the natural habitat of this species:
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| Nuevo Yucatan |
Lophophora williamsii var. La Popa, Nuevo Leon
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| Lophophora williamsii var. La Popa, Nuevo Leon. |
Same story, but there's something different about this variety. I don't know why, but I've had many survivors from this seed-badge. I've bought them at the same place as the ones mentioned above, but almost all of them have germinated and they just seem a little bit bigger and stronger than the others. I don't have an explanation for this...
Sown in 2012
Lophophora williamsii var. caespitosa
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| Lophophora williamsii var. caespitosa |
Let's see if they'll have many heads within a couple of years. I've read that they'll start to sprout very young!
Now let me just show you a photo of these seedlings when they were only 2,5 months old:
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| Lophophora williamsii var. caespitosa, 2,5 months old |
I'm showing this photo to you, because I would like to make some comparison to the ones I've sown last year.
Sown in 2013
Lophophora williamsii var. Cedral, SLP
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| Lophophora williamsii var. Cedral, SLP |
2013, the year of DEATH! A huge tragedy has come over all the plants sown that year... As some of you remember, I've had some problems with the thermostat of my heater and simply fried everything I've sown!
BUT there are two survivors. Let's see if they still have it in them to become proud and mature Peyotes!
Sown in 2014
Lophophora williamsii var. Entronque, El Huizache
Lophophora williamsii var. Entronque, El Huizache
Something went wrong again! As you can see, they're all elongated. This normally means a lack of sunlight, but strangely all the other seedlings are looking normal! I've added a little fertilizer to the sowing-soil and I think that this was a huge mistake, because there was already some fertilizer in the potting-soil that I've used for my mixture. A good lesson for this year! I still hope that they'll get their natural look back and grow up pretty and all. We'll just have to be patient...
Above I've shown you a photo of some 2,5 months old L. williamsii var. caespitosa, which were also quite elongated and just check out how pretty they look in the first pic!
A special note on this badge is that I've sown them on the same day my son was born. Another reason why we all should hope for the return of a pretty and natural appearance!
The Great Poll
"The Great Poll" has ended this week! We have a winner!
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| The Great Poll |
And the winner is.... 1. Astrophytum caput-medusae. Thank you, that's the most expensive one you could choose! That's no problem at all, because it's an awesome looking plant too and fits will very well in my collection. Remind me to give you one when they're older...
The End
All I can add is that I have good hope for a flower on one of the two older plants this year and that I might buy some older an ready-to-flower plants the next time I'm going to visit a cactus show.
Take care and till next article (which will be about pipes and something that I've added to my collection!)!
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