Echinopsis eyriesii, I bought this cactus for 8 dollars.
In the last post I told you that I had bought a cactus and that I thought it had mealybugs, I had to take a few macro photographs to confirm that yes, there were some small insects hidden among its spines, but as a good student that I am, I investigated and the best remedy I found was to spray it with water and isopropyl alcohol, and from what I could see after a few hours is that they did die, now following the recommendation, next week it will have another similar bath.
I didn't take pictures of when I gave him the bath with the mixture, instead a day before, when I discovered those intruders was when I took the following pictures.
This little guy is called Echinopsis eyriesii, or at least that's what the apps tell me, and if so I like its flowers and that's one of the reasons I bought it, it cost 8 dollars and although its flower is already closed, a new one is on the way, so I decided to take macro photos to see more closely its exterior, I started with the following images, you already know that I think that cacti should be in the sun, so I am making them get used to the morning light and a little bit in the afternoon, the last few days as the temperature is rising too much I remove them from that place and take them to the shade from 11 am to 5 pm, all the rest of the time I leave them in that place where they receive sun and night breeze.
As you can see I had all my attention on the flower that is coming out, and I already feel that I need to see that flower, it''s not the same to see a photograph than to see it in full color, and although it is a bit of cheating on my part because I bought it already with flower, I am getting close to my cactus as if I had them since they were seeds.
And speaking of seeds, I'm sure those white dots must be the seeds right? I was reading and I'm not convinced I learned, because when the flower closes afterwards there is supposed to be a fruit which in this case I don't see, I don't know how old that old flower is, so I don't worry too much, I'll pay attention to the flower that is coming out.
Although I also read that it can be difficult to get a good result with seeds and that it is better to get a new plant with the offspring, which this cactus already has, I still haven't decided whether to separate them or let them grow as they want, the whole bunch together.
Now look, in the first image of the post you probably didn't see the insects I mentioned, so I did some zooming when I cropped the image and that's what you just saw, that's why I decided to give it the bath with water and isopropyl alcohol.
And well that would be all, I would like to tell you that after the bath those insects died and I was removing them with a toothpick, of course being careful not to hurt the plant, next week I will give you an update on how it is getting better in everything.
All photographs are my property, taken by me, @monster-one
Thanks for watching my post, see you in the next one.
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can't wait to see the flower blooming! btw, may I ask what apps did you usw to identified the intruder's name?
For the name of the insect I searched in google for cactus pests haha, to identify the plants I use an app that was recommended to me and it is called PlantNet, so far it has given good results.
My oh my... this is a beauty! Mealybugs or not, it is gorgeous!!!
But I am almost sure it is a Lobivia, not Echinopsis... At least it looks like the Lobivias I have.
Nop :) Seeds are black and will come from the fruit. The fruit (if there the flowers was fertilized) will start to grow at the bottom of the flower where it connects to the cactus. What you see are probably dried stamens.
And if you get the seeds. SOW THEM!! I find Lobivias quite easy to grow from the seeds :)
That just reminded me that I haven't done an update on my baby cacti, I had to remove some that started showing sickness, but the ones that are left are doing great, so yes, if I get more seeds I will sow them for sure haha.
It would be just awesome if all seeds sprouted and grew nicely. Maybe some people can manage that. I always find some dead ones too. But as long as I can sow my free seeds, it is all learning and I am fine with it. I wouldn't be so happy if I bought few seeds of some expensive type and they started to die on me :p
Lovely. I also think Loblivia. I had a similar buggy one although I nuked mine with an organophosphate and it's all good now
In a few more days I will take again some macro photos to confirm that these bugs have died, for the moment I keep the cactus away from the others, and I hope everything goes well, every day I wake up to see that flower wanting it to be already open, I'm very desperate haha.
Organophosphate, marked down to get in the week, thanks. 👍