1 Small Start (3"-6")
These items are real plants harvested from their native environment. Care is taken to package and ship them in a manner that will allow you to receive the item in a good usable condition. You will receive one cactus "bulb" or barrel with this auction. It will be cut and dried but it is not rooted or planted.
*NOTE Utah has been in a drought for a couple years and I just let nature water them, so the cacti are not as large as years past. They will grow quickly to the larger size when watered well.
Blossoms may or may not be present on your plant. The cactus will be shipped as a fresh cutting (cutting, not potted) with no soil and can be potted in soil or gravel to grow. Let the cactus heal over before planting.
Size
Each cactus may be between 3 to 6 inches long. During the winter months the starts shipped will be smaller than those during the summer months. This is simply because the cactus goes dormant during cold weather and will shrink in size.
Known by several common names, Echinocereus triglochidiatus is a species of hedgehog cactus including Kingcup cactus, Claretcup, and Mojave mound cactus.
The cactus offered in this listing is typically called the Mojave Mound cactus and is native to the western United States. It is most abundant in shady areas. The Mound cactus or barrel cactus often grows under bushes or junipers or other small trees. It is a mounding cactus, forming bulbous piles of few to hundreds of spherical to cylindrical stems. It is densely spiny and somewhat woolly.
The showy flower is a funnel shaped bloom up to 8 or 9 centimeters wide and bright scarlet red to orange-red tepals. There is a thick nectar chamber and many thready pink stamens at the center of the corolla. The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds.
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Rooting Your Cactus
Fill a 4- to 6-inch diameter pot with a mix of half perlite and half coconut coir or peat moss. Press the mixture into the pot or ground to remove any air pockets. Dig a hole in the mix deep enough to accommodate the bottom third to half of the cactus cutting.
For best results, dust the calloused end of the cutting with commercial rooting talc. Apply the talc with a cotton ball or if you prefer you can use tongs to dip the end of the cutting directly into the powder and then tap it to remove any excess talc.
Insert your cutting into the hole in the perlite and coir mixture. Fill in around the base of the cutting and press it firm. If needed, add more growing mixture to fill the pot.
Place the potted cutting outdoors where it will receive bright, filtered light and temperatures above 60 F. Provide protection from strong wind or salty spray, if rooting the cactus in a coastal area.
Water the cactus cutting five days after potting it. Drizzle water around the base of the cutting until the perlite and coir mixture feels damp 2 inches below the surface. Wait until the mixture is almost completely dry before adding more water.
Test for roots four weeks after potting the cactus cutting. Wear gardening gloves or use tongs to grasp the base of the cutting. Lift it gently and feel for resistance to the movement, which means that roots have formed.