Let this be the start of the official 'All things Mammillaria Chat!!!' thread.

I love these plants and have had great success growing some while at the same also suffered through horrible failures especially when trying non native species (which ends up being most) in the actual ground. Regular Phoenix area river flood plain soil is apparently not suited to growing most Mamillarias.

I have had great success with M. grahamii in the ground, but then that is a native AZ plant. Best growing has been in pots and hanging baskets on the east and north sides of the places I have lived where the amount of sun exposure and water drainage are pretty well controlled.

Here is picture of what came to me as M. spinossisima 'Un Pico' in flower, but this particular head is not very 'Un Pico'-ish spine-wise:

It may be an image I posted before in another thread, if so my apologies!

If I were to guess about the name, maybe it has to do with the plant's single spine ("un pico" = "one spike" among other meanings).

New growth on my plant, which tends not to attract the lens when it's not in bloom...

It's one of those cactus I want to pet.

Hamwild said:It's one of those cactus I want to pet.

With the onset of heat this summer, those hairs are a lot less pettable. Ask me how I know .

Hmm, just in time for the pictures I just took:

M. pringeli

April 2019


Today:


M. elegans

April 2019:


Today:

Do these cacti... go dormant in the winter?

Mine do.

CrazedHoosier said:Do these cacti... go dormant in the winter?

Dunno for sure, but mine tend to come inside during the cold spells and I try to avoid giving them water during the winter months. My winter months are likely shorter than yours and interspersed with some nice weather. NONE of my cacti and succulents like to be wet during cool temperatures, but certainly there are a couple of succulents that tend to grow during the winter months. Those I try to situate near light and when/if I can determine the cold tolerance they are outdoors. Water is still very minimal during that time. I fine most of them can tolerate temps to near 32F with some exceptions which clearly prefer warmer temps. I can't really find a guide for cold tolerance on many, so it's an experimental learning process that sometimes has a downside.

Mine don't get water between October/November (depends, usually October) and March. But, they are in a cold and dark location too.

Hmm, @Hamwild, do you think it's a cactus I could try? I have actually found an available south facing window in our basement that would get a pretty good amount of bright light during our winter. The basement may drop to 45 degrees, though.

Mammillaria for the most part tend to be easy growing cacti.
Some of course have taproots and other features that make the difficult to grow.
The most difficult one being mammillaria senilis, and some with taproots like saboae and theresae.
Probably the most interesting photos of my mammillarias right now...that i have on my PC
Include heyderii fruits, and vetula and decipiens flowers..







The last one, is from winter. Now with full time summer exposure, it began letting out black central spines(which i find pretty cool). I almost never see it with such black spines in sale.
The decipiens still had buds the last time i checked..
I noticed that it filled the pot quite nicely after a year in my care..
What surprised me (negatively) was the lack of flowers on the heyderii this year.
I did see it bloom before buying it. It did have blooms like m.heyderii haemispherica as the internet ID. But nothing from august last year till now. Only began popping out fruits like crazy. I grew a bit of seed...but couldnt keep harvesting it long term... Who knows. One of those things might germinate naturally...

I've found Mammillaria more forgiving and they do bloom at a younger age than some cacti. And are pretty easy to find at Lowes or Home Depot. Most of my cacti are Mamms. I say find one you like and see how it goes!

As per species...
-vetula gracilis like shown
-elongata (another beginner favorite)
-microchelia(similar to elongata, but a tad more difficult in care, just a tad).
-prolifera(easiest one to get to fruit, self pollinating and whatnot)
- backenbergiana ( i dont personally like this one, save for the flowers its not very interesting)
medium tier-require better conditions and soil
-hooked/sheldonii relatives
-zeilmanniana/crinita( i dont have this, and not quite to my liking appearance wise)
-matudae(photo next time, mine bloomed like crazy)
-hahniana(check for mealies carefully)
-rhodantha/pringlei
-spinossima(pretty cool looking red/orange one)
-bombycina
There are others, but may be slightly more difficult for a beginner...

Here are 2 more. The blooming one with hooks with the only flower i ever saw open and the matudae making a near perfect ring...

Otherwise full mammillaria collection
1.No ID

2.karwinskiana nejapensis

3.muehlenpfordtii

4.spinosissima rubrispina

5.nivosa

6. suspected crucigera

7.probably supraflumen

8. No ID (suspected a variety of species )

9. No ID (suspected swinglei)



10 and 11 spinosissima regular and prolifera


12 bombycina



13 ginsa maru

14 pringlei



15 microchelia





16 hanhiana (only photo)


17 elongata


18 polythele


And youve met the rest...
I think that is all, sorry for potato quality on some photos...

The only mam i intend to add at this given point in time would be any of the following
-sempervivi
-magnimamma
-gigantea
-mystax..
Basically any one of the super-large mammillaria species...

skopjecollection said:Otherwise full mammillaria collection
1.No ID

• Mammillarias (Mammillaria)
• Uploaded by skopjecollection

2.karwinskiana nejapensis

• Mammillarias (Mammillaria)
• Uploaded by skopjecollection

3.muehlenpfordtii

• Mammillaria (Mammillaria muehlenpfordtii)
• Uploaded by skopjecollection

4.spinosissima rubrispina

5.nivosa

• Mammillarias (Mammillaria)
• Uploaded by skopjecollection

6. suspected crucigera

7.probably supraflumen

• Mammillarias (Mammillaria)
• Uploaded by skopjecollection

8. No ID (suspected a variety of species )

9. No ID (suspected swinglei)



10 and 11 spinosissima regular and prolifera


12 bombycina

• Silken Pincushion (Mammillaria bombycina)
• Uploaded by skopjecollection

13 ginsa maru

14 pringlei



15 microchelia





16 hanhiana (only photo)


17 elongata


18 polythele


And youve met the rest...
I think that is all, sorry for potato quality on some photos...

Going just off looks, my favorites are muehlenpfordtii, spinosissima, microchelia, and hanhiana. I always tend to like cacti that have a more barrel-like growth habit.

If I decide to get one, I'll probably end up buying one at Lowe's that just says "mammillaria".

Don't let their young appearance fool you, some do get columnar with time.

This one from above is M. pringeli. It was a little barrel when I bought it.



M. spinosissima also grows taller.


M. matuda gets so tall, it falls over and grows acoss the ground (not that you mentioned that one).

This is the second go-around for Mammillaria vetula subsp gracilis. In the endless trial and error process that makes up my growing approach combined with a forgetful mind, plants don't make it sometimes. In this case the plant location is a bit isolated, so gets overlooked frequently. I learned in the first few years that it can take all the bright sun Texas has to dish out along with the accompanying heat and is very forgiving of being forgotten and not given supplemental water for a few weeks at a time. It actually did pretty well in those circumstances. I have learned it can take temps at least down to 25F when dry, but suffers some burning when the soil has more moisture combined with the cold. That's how it got killed. It rained and the temps fell into the upper teens F and I forgot to move it inside. It might have survived just the rain, though it likely wouldn't have been happy due to cool temps. But saturated and freezing combined proved to be too much. I liked it so I acquired it again. In the same location, so it still gets overlooked. I discovered mice will damage it if it's where they can get to it. Since the 'arms' or 'offsets' or whatever they're called will detach just by walking by and sneezing, the mice left a trail where they were nibbling and toting them off. This is after the hail this spring which scattered it, but it has recovered. This time I've managed to get some of the detached growth to root and start growing. The first go-around I was never successful. It's doing well now and if I don't get forgetful and careless it should be hanging around for a while and should fill the container to the edge at some point.