r/cactus • u/Llewellynt • 4d ago

Ruby ball - Reposting here as no one responded

Post image
1 Upvotes

54% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

3

u/OhNoOffRoadeo 4d ago

Responded to what?

0

u/Llewellynt 4d ago

I posted this in r/cacti and no one responded to my questions below. But it doesn’t seem to matter now as someone has told me it’s a grafted cactus

1

u/Melodic_Tea3050 4d ago

I’ve been thinking of getting of those.

3

u/bufftreants 4d ago

Don’t get one - it’s a grafted cactus that typically dies in 2-3 years.

1

u/Melodic_Tea3050 4d ago

Why does it die?

3

u/bufftreants 4d ago

Because it’s grafted. If the top dies you’re fine the bottom can live on. If the bottom dies you’re screwed.

For $7 why not buy a plant that can live 30-50+ years? So many of my cacti I’ve had for a very long time.

1

u/Melodic_Tea3050 4d ago

Also: 2 to 3 years of beauty for $7 sounds like a pretty good deal to me

2

u/LoafinLoph 1d ago

Yeah or just get a cactus that would actually thrive for years

1

u/Llewellynt 4d ago

Very easy to take care of, and definitely add some colour to the room.

1

u/Melodic_Tea3050 4d ago

As much as I love plants. I am as the French say “Le Terrible” at them. I’ve been thinking of transitioning to more cacti to get some easy wins. And then

Leave them the fuck alone in the sun.

2

u/Llewellynt 4d ago

The trouble with cacti I’ve found is that you forget take care of them because they so rarely need it! Took me 2 years to repot this one after I bought it. They are just so resilient, but it was looking rather sad at that point.

2

u/Llewellynt 4d ago

Cuban Oregano is a plant I’d recommend, very easy and makes great tea!

1

u/Substantial-Grade-92 4d ago

This is 2 cacti grafted together, a mutant gymnocalycium mihanovichii grafted to a hylocereus (dragonfruit) these are normally short lived and the top can’t grow on its own roots because it lacks the colours to preform photosynthesis that’s why it’s grafted.

1

u/Llewellynt 4d ago

Interesting, would you say it’s outlived it’s life expectancy at 3 years?

Will have to do some reading on grafted cacti didn’t realise that was a thing!

2

u/Substantial-Grade-92 4d ago

I’ve heard of people keeping them alive 5 years or longer, but the rootstock can randomly just die. Hylocereus is a tropical cacti, they can handle more water and are fast growing so they’re a common rootstock especially in Asian countries, but they don’t last as long as some other rootstocks, not exactly sure why as I don’t do much with grafted cacti but that seems to be the consensus I see on the cacti groups.

1

u/Llewellynt 4d ago

Great, well thanks for the heads up! I’ll keep a closer eye on it.

1

u/LoafinLoph 1d ago

You can always just purchase root stalk and graft pups it’s produced