Are you saying that it is a cross between Mammilaria x Euphorbia?

I believe that means the plant with fruit was a hybrid between E. mammilaris and E. polygona. Both Euphorbias.

Yes, exactly. Typo fixed.

I see, thanks for clarification..

Kaktus said: to the forum.
I am also a fan of Madagascar Euphorbias, especially E. Francoisii. I have quite a few of those.

Looks like you keep your Euphorbias in a lot of sun. In fact they love and grow quite well in bright side area. These are how they look when kept in bright shade and more water.

E. Decaryii, the easiest of all.


And this supposed to be E. Cylindrifolia, not sure if I didn't get the true Cylindrifolia or what, when purchased, they are exactly like yours, but after a few years with less direct light, their leaves open up and turn into completely different hybrids. Have tried 3 plants from different sellers, all responded the same.

Sorry guys, I didn't see these responses till today.

Kaktus and Baja: I grow my plants indoors during the winter under LED lighting and don't water much, maybe every 3-4 weeks-I don't want them to grow and stretch given my low light even though it is a 1500 watt LED-I keep the Euphorbia on the outer edges of the light. They are potted in a very mineral mix with some organic matter. I have given them a dose of very dilute (50 ppm N) fertilizer once or twice. They are still indoors, although today it should be going up to about 70F so I could start bringing them outside very carefully so I don't burn them with the sun.

In the warmer months they grow outdoors right up against my house on the deck which faces exactly East. So in the heat of summer they will get full sun until 1:00 and then they will be in the shade of the house till the next day. Watering depends on the weather and my memory, but it can be weekly or less depending on the temperature. I feed with the 50 ppm N fertilizer having an elemental NPK in the ratio of 1.0-0.4-1.7. The fertilizer solution has in elemental terms 50 ppm N, 21 ppm P, 88 ppm K, 24 ppm Ca, 7 ppm Mg, 24 ppm S, 0.05 ppm Mo plus other trace elements.

Kaktus: I do grow my plants hard. I'd like to see some habitat photos of these plants, to see what they look like under natural conditions.

Kaktus said: Oh, that is an interesting plant, how long have keep it in there?

I'm not really very cognizant or attentive to time but the closest answer I can give is over five years.

Jerry, we give our Euphorbias exactly the same dose of nutrients (N anyway). Curiously that amount is 1/20th the amount recommended for regular outdoor use by the manufacturer of my product. Instructions designed to move product, not to grow happy Euphorbias, evidently.

In this part of the world, we call that fertilizer as K fertilizer, as K is higher than N. Usually I mixed some 6:13:25 into the media, and interestingly that mine with the lowest N grow more leaves/greener than Jerry's. The light exposure really make a big difference.

Kaktus said: In this part of the world, we call that fertilizer as K fertilizer, as K is higher than N. Usually I mixed some 6:13:25 into the media, and interestingly that mine with the lowest N grow more leaves/greener than Jerry's. The light exposure really make a big difference.

I'm using a water soluble fertilizer based on Dyna-Gro Bloom which I supplement/tinker with. Mine works out to 13-5-22 in elemental nutrient terms. If it is stated like all fertilizer in the US must be stated as elemental N, P2O5, and K2O it is 13-12-27. It sounds like you are using a dry slow release product.

I'm wondering how much you water your plants and how much organic matter you have in your mix? Mine are really very mineral and not much organic matter at all.

Yes, those are slow release fertilizer in the media, I also have water soluble fertilizer but barely use them, too troublesome to water the pots one by one. With almost 1000 pots of plants, I can only water them from hose. I did have a small compressor like car wash that I can use to spray the fertilizer, did it once, and again too lazy to assemble and disassemble it. In terms of the mix, mostly 20% to 40% organic depends on the plants and whether they are in protected area or FSFR. Watering schedule in the range of 4 days to 20 days depends on the weather situation

Wildbloomers said: I thought that putting this E. capsaintemariensis (because it's a scrambler) in this urn would be a good idea. And it was… for a while. Now there are roots coming out the drain hole and the plant is refusing leave the pot. I'm going to have to try and wash all the soil out or break the urn.

Wow!! That is some plant. Huge caudex!! I didn't know they rambled like that.

I bought two from Paradise Found Nursery in Sarasota, FL on January 27, 2023. They are still young plants. How old is yours?

As received:


After potting:

Euphorbia volunteers I pulled today to separate (most of them, anyway)



Including these 10 presumed mammillaris hybrids



Most of which went into this pot, to be grown larger and selected



The other plants ended up here



I also pulled a few more, including a nice little genoudiana. But I think I have enough of those mammillaris x polygona hybrids. Only keeping the whole lot in case some are from another father or have some unusual phenotype.

The immediate survival of these plants will be close to 100% if I take good care of them from here on out.

@Jerrytheplater
I really don't keep track of time with my plants (or in any other part of my life for that matter) so I can only give vague approximations of time. The plant in the urn and the two plants in the next two pictures were sold as E. capsaintemariensis and were about the size of your plants about five years ago. The plant in the urn was in full sun for about two hours midday and bright light the rest of the day. The plant in the six inch black plastic pot is in filtered light all day. The plant in the blue ceramic pot appears to be a hybrid. It has no caudex but it has meandering stems and a forms new growth from stolens. Possibly a hybrid with decaryi. Filtered light all day.




Stem cutting in full sun midday.

Stem cutting in full sun midday forming swollen caudex-like roots.


The filtered light area where some of my Euphorbias live. They would all appreciate more light but not enough room to give them the best care.


I have known the owner of Paradise Found since before she opened that business and I will say that she is a very good grower. Enjoy the plants.

This Medusa type Euphorbia bloomed better this year. I think the wind was blowing away the fragrance, though. I never could catch it this year, but have in past years.

Very pretty!

Wildbloomers said: @Jerrytheplater
I really don't keep track of time with my plants (or in any other part of my life for that matter) so I can only give vague approximations of time. The plant in the urn and the two plants in the next two pictures were sold as E. capsaintemariensis and were about the size of your plants about five years ago. The plant in the urn was in full sun for about two hours midday and bright light the rest of the day. The plant in the six inch black plastic pot is in filtered light all day. The plant in the blue ceramic pot appears to be a hybrid. It has no caudex but it has meandering stems and a forms new growth from stolens. Possibly a hybrid with decaryi. Filtered light all day.




Stem cutting in full sun midday.

Stem cutting in full sun midday forming swollen caudex-like roots.


The filtered light area where some of my Euphorbias live. They would all appreciate more light but not enough room to give them the best care.


I have known the owner of Paradise Found since before she opened that business and I will say that she is a very good grower. Enjoy the plants.

Thanks for your reply and for showing your plants. Pretty cool that a cutting is forming a caudex!!

When you say some of your plants get full sun around noon and others are in filtered light, is that due to placement in your growing area, or do you move your plants around during the day?

Do you think pruning back the long rambling growth would stimulate more growth points back at the base of the plant? I'm kind of on the fence in my thoughts of such a long rambling growth. I'm not sure I'd really like it in my own plants.

@Jerrytheplater.
The lighting is just because of placement. I have way too many plants to move any of them daily.
Yes, I suppose that pruning might encourage branching but I first saw the plant in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and I liked how it scrambled around.

Donald, regarding the fragrant medusa flowers... seems like the smell is strongest on calm mornings right after the cyathia open. The marine fog that we experience here tends to hang on till mid morning and then burn off in the afternoon. There is an accompanying stillness in the air until that point, and maybe that's why mornings are the best.

I have strategically positioned a flowering medusa on the wall in front of the patio where it is approximately at nose level. Hits me going by all the time.

That was the problem, Baja. Every time I was tryiing to get a whiff, the wind was blowing. That's sort of normal here this time of year. I got a whiff last year, so I was hoping with the increase in bloom this year to get a better sample, but didn't manage to do it. The stars have to align for me and getting my mind engaged enough to time the alignment didn't happen .

E. avasmontana specimen from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in NY.