Blossfeldia

süleyman · Post by **süleyman** » Mon May 12, 2008 11:26 am

I saw a live Blossfeldia flower first time

Blossfeldia liliputana 'Villazon' R793

more pics.

Stuart E · Post by **Stuart E** » Mon May 12, 2008 11:33 am

Excellent photo Suleyman. That's a good-sized plant too.

süleyman · Post by **süleyman** » Mon May 12, 2008 11:58 am

Thanks, Stuart

Your blog is great !.
Do you notice that, in cultivation, grafted Blossfeldias reach really big sizes ?

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Mon May 12, 2008 12:56 pm

Nice one, Süleyman. I've never seen that variety before. And I liked the "fact sheet" that you posted in your gallery -- very interesting/informative!

-R

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:25 pm

Great little bloomer süleyman.

Stuart E · Post by **Stuart E** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:23 pm

Ah, I didn't realise from that photo that it was grafted - yes, they grow huge don't they!

Glad you enjoy the blog.

Craig Fry · Post by **Craig Fry** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:42 pm

Blossfeldia's are great.
I have 100's of seedlings growing, they are about 4 months old, and still look like green dust.
I bought these two, B. minima last year, they are about 6-8 years old, and are about 1/2-3/4" across. The roots are huge and fat, and the top is flat like a pancake. They flowered on different days, but still produced seeds, the left plant seed pod fell off, below.

Post by **daiv** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:45 am

Nice plants guys! I just check your site for the first time Stuart. I don't know what took me so long. Very clean and good read for cactophiles!

Lewis_cacti · Post by **Lewis_cacti** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:50 am

and i'm yet to see my first live blossfeldia plant. but i will soon because i just bought some seeds. from what i gather it will be a very slow and difficult process just to get them out of the propagator!

süleyman · Post by **süleyman** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:40 pm

thanks, friends

Craig : congrats. It is very difficult to keep them on their own roots

Craig Fry · Post by **Craig Fry** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:50 pm

Heres my grafted plant of
Blossfeldia liliputana, from Miles, its pretty messed up, thats because I'm been removing the pups and trying to root them.

Only a couple of the pups have made it. This species (or least my plants) have very shallow roots, so I planted them on this rock, and spray them a couple time a week. They made it over a year like this.

These seedlings are about 4 months old. I bought a bunch of different types from Mesa Garden and planted them along with selfed seeds from my B. liliputana. My selfed seeds were way more viable, which was surprising.

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:03 pm

I finally managed to keep a few Blossfeldia alive after germination for more than a couple weeks. They were sown back in November and are still little green spheres, very slow indeed.

I filled a small plastic container that has a fairly tight fitting lid (it was a rice pudding container) with regular seed mix, then covered that with a single layer of small turface (Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil). Then I soaked with filtered water and microwaved for a couple minutes. Then I scattered the seed amongst the turface and sprayed vigorously to wash them down between the small rocks. They have been covered with the lid for 6 months and bottom watered only twice that entire time. So far, so good. One of them is growing directly on top of a small rock.

peterb

Craig Fry · Post by **Craig Fry** » Tue May 13, 2008 7:01 pm

I use the open container method, the one time I covered the seeds, fungus grew on them, and that was after sterilization.
I just spray 2 to 3 times a day with filtered water and sometimes with fert diluted by half, and check them out alot with a magifier.
Since the pots dry up every day, I get no fungus.

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Tue May 13, 2008 7:24 pm

I was thinking of the open container for them, but I'm not reliable when it comes to hand spraying several times a day and it's ridiculously dry here in Phoenix.

I remember reading somewhere that Blossfeldia are poiklohydric, like Salaginella. They can completely dry up and dessicate and then be revived. I wouldn't try that (on purpose) in cultivation, however.

peterb

Craig Fry · Post by **Craig Fry** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:54 pm

Peter, after thinking about it for awhile, I think you are right about the closed container for blossfeldias, also strombos. It would be alot easier to just let them be for a couple months, or years.
I will try a batch.
Heres the closed looking plant to blossfeldias, and so much easier to grow.
Copiapoa lauii, and some hypogea seedlings that spread like weeds around here.