Bom Bom the Cacti- An introduction




Hi, I am Cheryl from Singapore. I started to like cactus since I was in Primary School when I first brought a cactus- Echinopsis chanaecereus f. lueta during a school field trip because I just thought it looked like a Banana.

After that when I walked by a nursery beside a library which I go often, I brought more and more cactus and placed them outside my house. A grafted Parodia leninghausii was one of my collection. After buying it, I seperated the cactus from its graft and named it Bom Bom as it was so fat and round. I started to like it more and more.

Unfortunately, all of my collection was stolen one night and I was left with nothing. My fever for cactus died. However, it came back again when I was working for my school internship programme when I saw Bom Bom's imitation sitting on a windowstill and the cleaner aunty told me what this Parodia Leninghausii had went through.

I started to borrow books about cactus to learn more about it and saw the wonderful pictures. They were so beautiful and unique and I decided to start a collection of my own.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Mammillaria seeds

 Today went to the nursery shop again to take a look if there are any new cactus coming in. Sadly, not only that there are none, there were alot of 'left over' cactus which were left under neglet and some have started to rot. It looked really pathetic.

Placed beside those small cactus which I usually buy, were the bigger ones. Likewise, they have been place there for years under neglet. Some of the mature Mammillarias over there have fruits, sometimes when i walked past I would plucked off the fruit to sow the seeds. However, I never have success. Due to time long working hours, I almost had no free time left to take care of them and the seedling died from drying out.

Today, I plucked out one fruit out again from a Mammillaria and sow the seeds when I went home. Suprisingly, there were alot of seeds inside, this time I use a different method. Instead of using tray/ comtainers, I use a pot to see how it goes. Hopefully, the soil does not dry out easily. Well, I am not really sure what species of Mammillaria is that but I know that it is one of my favourite- those with snow white ' hairs' on them.

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