BCSS - Forum

Anyone know if they will recover I bought them at the TSG meeting this year
And as you can see even the labels have bent in the heat I had put them at the back of the greenhouse and forgot about them

Oh dear, Chris, they look fried.
I'm sure Norbert will advise if he sees them.

The bottom right seems like it could be rooted still.

How has the weather been in the last two months in the UK?
Up here we have had 25+C temperatures for a few weeks now, continuesly 25C+. And no rain for at least six weeks maybe even longer by now. No rain at all. Luckily my casualties in the greenhouse are minor (even though my water buckets are empty), but outside plants have it hard. All grasses are yellow and bushes with leaves look like it is late autumn. Very strange. Have not seen that before, not even in the warm summers of 2003 and 2006.

I wouldn't give up on them yet. I have have had some scorch in the past and then recover - they are quite resilient.

Hi Chris,
this is a bad summer for Pterocacti. If it is hot and you water the plants they will be boiled.
The best is to give them as much fresh air as possible.
In habitat the plants often loose the offsets in summer - but the root is always in the cool soil. The labels show that the soil and the pot was too hot.
You can try to root the living top part. If the root is still alive (I suppose not) there might be new offsets in the next spring.
All the best for your plants
Nobby

One possible piece of advice - avoid using black pots, as these heat up the roots more than other colours.

As Nobby says, If they have big taproots, they may survive. I once gave (a large) one of mine a 100% haircut by accident - and ended up with 2 plants, as the top grew a new bottom, and the bottom grew a new top.

Strange to say mine have not done too bad in this heat (around 12 plants) with most flowering. As they are tuberous rooted and often loose their top growth in habitat, as Norbert says, I would not worry too much.

Anyway why not unpot one and see if the root is OK? if so I would not worry about the top growth. Obviously they do come from the cooler end of S. America, so may do even better put outside in the summer rather than in the greenhouse. Give them a dunk in the water butt and cool them down a bit.

Thanks for the replies I will wait and see what happens thanks everyone

Chris I have the same pteros from same meeting where norbert sold them. I just avoided to water them in hot time. My watering time is usually evening when plant stomata opens and it is basically sprying till water drips through bottom of pot. plants were kept in open air just protected from direct rain. Actually plant biology is such as photosynthesis drastically reduces after 40C so I try to keep all my plants 25-35C max. And fresh air as much as possible.