Mammillaria hernandezii

Flowering in December 2015

Several of my hernandeziis are flowering at the moment. I was able to postpone the bud formation from fall to spring by putting the plants in a cool and shaded area in the month of August (on the floor of my least sunny greenhouse). It does not always work and not on all plants, but this time it did work for several of my hernandeziis, especially the smaller ones.

Wolter ten Hoeve.

Great plants, Wolter. I still have difficulty with them, still not sure why, but I'll keep trying.....

Very interesting observation Wolter. I will defenitly try out that method this fall. I have several Hernandezi's, but they havent flowered yet. I have 5 seedlings that are 4-5 years old and a just fairly larger plant that I bought.

Regards Jonathan Mohl

Already many years ago, I had put my hernandeziis on a sunny windowsill in the kitchen, somewhere in November/December. The plants flowered because of the higher indoor temperature and the sunny position. But several of them died afterwards, because the decaying flower remains caused rot inside the plants. The surviving plants did not produce fruits with viable seed. The death of these plants might have been prevented by cutting off the flower remains or by placing the plants in a warm, dry place until the flower remains had completely dried up.
The question then was: How can I delay the bud development during the fall and winter period? To that end I put the hernandeziis on a lower shelf in my sunniest grenhouse somewhere in August. This worked reasonably well in one year (the fruits had seeds that germinated well and gave me more hernandeziis), but hardly so in the next years. They still got a little bit sun and warmth under that shelf.
Last fall, I put them again at that same place in the beginning of August, but then, probably at the end of September, I realized that they - especially the bigger ones - started to develop buds and then I placed them on the floor in my least sunny and coolest greenhouse, where they did not get any sunshine at all. For most of the smaller hernandeziis this worked very well, but the larger ones already had some buds and they aborted them this spring when I placed them on the shelves in mid-March. 60% of my 15+ hernandeziis had flowers this spring (there are still some flowers and buds developing).
So, later this year I will put them on the floor in that least sunny and coolest greenhouse in early August. From then on, they will not be watered anymore until after I place them on the shelves with the other cacti, probably around begin or middle of March. First overhead spraying with water will then probably be mid-March or so, depending on the weather. The future will tell how this works.
Of course, you have to remember that I live in the north of the Netherlands. The further south and the sunnier your location is, the easier you will get flowers in the fall.

Wolter ten Hoeve.