Plant Information Please

[not_for_sale2025]

My son was given the below plant by his teacher a few years ago. At the time it was about 2 - 3 cm round and in a tiny plastic pot. It lived on a window sill and about two years ago it turned brown, looked really sick and we noticed the soil was all but dust. So I placed it in the bigger pot and we have given it an overdose of TLC to this day.

The thing is we don't know what type of cactus it is. Also, for the first time a flower appeared two days ago. It opened mid-morning and closed mid-afternoon, possibly because that's when it was exposed to sunlight. I am intrigued and fascinated by her beauty and how she is developing.

Is anybody able to let me know what type of cactus it is and the story behind the flowering, please?

Oh and BTW, I am going to transfer it into a bigger pot soon and yes, I need to fix my fence LOL.

[joztamps]

Triffid.

[davidc4430]

this may help

Little Shop of Horrors - Feed Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjook1I0V4

[tasfleur]

No no no no!!  You are all terribly wrong;  It's not a triffid.  It's a man eating tree from the Amazon jungle ... 

[not_for_sale2025]

You and David are scaring me. It's not gonna start singing 'feed me blood', is it? 

[kopenhagen5]

Echinopsis oxygona, Easter Lily Cactus ?

[davidc4430]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

You and David are scaring me. It's not gonna start singing 'feed me blood', is it? 

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try hard not to bleed near it. ya never know.

[lyndal1838]

Oh lucky you.....your cactus has had babies, dozens of babies.

I can't tell you what it is but can tell you how to look after it and encourage it to grow.

When you repot it buy a pack of Cactus Mix....you can get small bags of it at any garden centre or Bunnings.

Get rid of the moss as cacti need well drained soil or they will rot.....and get rid of the weed before it takes over.

Be careful of the spikes....they are diabolical if you get them in your fingers.  The small plants can be handled with tweezers, or kitchen tongs for the larger plant.  If you have neither you can fold a sheet of paper and put it around the plant to lift it...anything to avoid the spines.

If you want to start a few more pots you can strike the baby plants.....just put the babies on top of the soil with the scar in contact with the soil...they will soon grow roots.

I love cacti....I used to have a huge collection but old age is catching up and I can't manage them any longer.  As they turn up their toes they don't get replanted.   Last summer I lost the last plant from a long line of plants that were struck from a plant given to me as a house warming gift in 1970.

[joztamps]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Oh lucky you.....your cactus has had babies, dozens of babies.

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Told ya.

Triffid.

[lyndal1838]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

Is anybody able to let me know what type of cactus it is and the story behind the flowering, please?

Oh and BTW, I am going to transfer it into a bigger pot soon and yes, I need to fix my fence LOL.

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Sorry I missed the bit about the flowering.....most varieties of cactus open in the morning and close as soon as the sun goes off them.  Sometimes the flowers will last a week or more, others only last for one day and then they die.

There is one that I know of that flowers at night...and it stinks.