€10,60

Gymnocalycium baldianum (Speg.)

🌱 Morphology
   Small globose and depressed cactus, with a grayish-green, bluish-green, or slightly brownish epidermis, reaching approximately 6–8 cm in diameter and up to 9–10 cm in height. It has 9–11 low, rounded ribs divided into small tubercles. The areoles bear 5–7 fine radial spines, grayish or brownish, usually appressed and slightly curved; it lacks central spines. It has a well-developed napiform root. Over the years it may produce some basal offsets, although it remains solitary for quite a long time.

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
Endemic to Catamarca, northwestern Argentina, where it appears in the Ancasti, Graciana, Manchao, and Guayamba mountain ranges and mountainous areas near Andalgalá. It lives approximately between 500 and 2,000 m, frequently among grasses and rocks, in mountain grasslands, Chaco Serrano, and ecotones with the Yungas. The soil can be relatively rich in organic matter and remains subject to marked alternation between humid summer and dry winter. It belongs to the Cactaceae family, Cactoideae subfamily, Cacteae tribe.

❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 8b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of up to −8 ºC when dry and with well-acclimatized specimens. In habitat, it withstands cold winters at high altitudes; some cultivation sources even suggest −10 ºC, but in a pot, it is recommended to use −8 ºC as a prudent reference and to keep the substrate completely dry during frosts.

☀️ Lighting
Partial shade. It needs plenty of light, but not necessarily scorching sun all day. In its habitat, it grows among grasses and rocks, so it appreciates gentle sun or intense light with some protection during the hours of maximum radiation. During active growth, a DLI PAR of 15–25 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ is recommended. Excessive sunlight and heat can cause stress and loss of natural coloration.

💧 Growth cycle and irrigation
Winter dormancy. During winter, it is kept practically dry and cool. Starting in spring, abundant watering is resumed, letting the substrate dry out completely before watering again. During the summer, it tolerates and appreciates greater water availability than many strictly desert cacti. At the end of summer and autumn, watering is progressively reduced to prepare for dormancy.

🌸 Flowering
It flowers from about 3–4 years from seed, and can do so even while still small in size. The flowers are large in relation to the body, bell-shaped or funnel-shaped, about 3–5 cm in diameter, and present an extraordinary range from pink and orange-red to intense carmine red, and even white forms. In cultivation, it flowers mainly in spring and early summer; in the northern hemisphere, bloomings have been recorded from late April to June, and there are observations of a second pulse at the end of the summer.

It is a very floriferous species and potentially re-blooming within the same season: it can produce successive flowers over several weeks and, under favorable conditions, present a second flowering pulse at the end of summer. However, the intensity and number of pulses depend on cultivation conditions. Regarding pollination, there are self-incompatible clones, so it is advisable to have two genetically different plants to obtain seeds.

🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a fertilizer with a high content of assimilable calcium and low nitrogen levels such as Desert CHOICE® Cactaceae is recommended, applied once a month when watering. Before flowering, it can be supplemented with Desert CHOICE® Flowering.

This is an inimitable xerophytic plant grown in Madrid in a high-tech square pot with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.

9x9 cm pot

and 12x12 cm

* As this is an online purchase, the appearance of the sent specimen may vary slightly from the product image. The measurements of the plant are specified in the photo description, but this may also vary slightly, because it is a living being! Each of the plants at Desert CITY has unique characteristics.

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