Pterocactus tuberosus

[Acid John]

Pterocactus tuberosus? (so the label says). A really ugly plant with no redeeming features except one, the beautiful flower.

Rubbish body for 51 weeks

Nice rear to

Pretty face

[juster]

That really is a beautiful flower

[ralphrmartin]

You need to get a magnifying glass on the stems too! Up close, they are also attractive.

[Acid John]

Ralph it seems to be very brittle. Just moving it to take a picture created loads of material for propagation.

[ralphrmartin]

Yes; some people even recommend removing the top growth in winter to encouraging flowering the following year.

[Acid John]

Just pull it all off down to the tuber? I think I will have to have a go.

[Cidermanrolls]

Hi John
This one was pruned hard last winter. It does tidy them up.

[Tony R]

Yes; some people even recommend removing the top growth in winter to encouraging flowering the following year.

All the top growth was removed from the plants in my thread
https://forum.bcss.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=169923
last August-September. The new growth has all happened this spring.

[Acid John]

Seeing these pictures means it is going to get a very severe 'short back and sides'

[Christian]

Does this pruning practice encourage flowering? For the first time I pruned one of my two plants of these (cuttings originating from one plant) whilst leaving the other one unpruned. They are both next to each other in a cold frame. It looks as though the pruned plant is developing buds, whereas as the unpruned plant keeps sprawling about.