Hello people! I'm back again with another Cactus ID series' post. Today I want to show you one of my favorites on my collection, a Ferocactus gracilis. Pictures don't do justice to it's beauty, and I must admit there are some "survival scars" that perhaps lowers its true appealing potential, but hey... they do tell a story. A story of How My Owner Almost Killed Me kind of story haha.
So... to make the long story short: I received this cactus amongst others as a birthday gift from my girlfriend. If you have read past articles of mine you will surely know I loved cactus ever since I was a kid, but this gift re-started the passion and led to my actual hobby as a collector. Thing is, I used to "own" more tough cactus, and they were planted on soil... so excess water wasn't an issue. The gift I received was on a large circular pot, with no draining holes!!! It took me a looong time to realize that. I stumbled upon that discovery one time I decided to put most of the cactus on a singular pot. When I removed all the soil I discovered there was no draining and my gosh... the cactus on it were exposed to rains as well as regular watering by myself. Some of the cactus that were on that pot of course died and I couldn't tell why. This ferocactus particularly survived, but another one (even more beutiful!!!) didn't make it.
You probably can't see it in the pictures, but there are some "scars" signs that appeared as a product of the excess water and also a sudden change of light conditions. Yeah... lots of newbie mistakes that costed me a few cactus. May they all rest in peace now...
To be honest I thought this little fella wouldn't make it either, but it managed to survive and now it's popping beauty.
What's really amusing in these sort of cactus is their red-colored spikes. They are mesmerizing and when they are fully lightened by the sun they are gorgeous to look at!!
I don't know if one day this cactus would reach it, but they're supposed to grow in both cylindric and tubular form, at almost 150cm height and between 20-40cm diameter. A hell of a barrel right? Still hasn't flowered (it is quite young for it), but the flowers are in a "crown-shape" and mostly red (as their fierce spikes!).
The suffix "fero" is latin for "wild" or "fierce", resembling the tough look on these guys.
As most cactus, they can survive long periods of dry season with little to no water (excess water can kill them you know? haha). Sunlight exposure is very well tolerated, especially when the specimen is quite old. For little ones a few hours of direct sunlight should do, depending on the location. It's always advisable to keep a close eye for early signs of sun burnt damages. Mine is now placed on a balcony with almost the rest of my cactus, where it receives around 6-7hs of hard sun, and it is tolerating it just fine. As I write these lines it is currently raining, but hopefully the pot WILL DRAIN EXCESS JUST FINE and the little man will suffer no more from drownings haha.
I'll leave you guys with a last picture where you can hopefully appreciate the beauty of the upper spikes with their hook-form. See you next time, stay safe!
i had one of these beauties but out of mistake now it is dead :((