Ariocarpus retusus
Location in Habitat
Found in north-central Mexico, more to the east. The original range of the species was much larger, down into San Luis Potosi and up north of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila.
Their more restricted range is due in large part to agricultural development, as well as poaching and overcollection.
The range map at right is very very rough, and is not meant to be representative or even highly accurate. It does give you an idea of their rough location, and the typical climate (if you choose to Google the conditions in the desert cities and towns of the area).
The most common of the Ariocarpus species, but still fairly sparse in population and slow to reach maturity.
Ariocarpus retusus – Non-locale specific
My first Ariocarpus was this one. Selected for ease, sturdiness, and that it was a killer deal at the start of the pandemic, these are two of my oldest plants of the genus. I picked up the first one in early 2020, and the second a few months later when I realized how well the first had acclimated.
My first plant, April 2020.
October, 2020
Well rooted, and established in nearly full sun. This was around the time I decided I needed a greenhouse for my fancy plants.
July, 2021
Plumper, larger, covering more of the pot. You can also see that the sides are beginning to bulge out from the tap root taking up space.
Also that it’s in a plastic greenhouse, one of those cheap ones from Amazon. 😉
November, 2022
I potted it up into a nice show pot once the greenhouse was built, and then…left it alone.
I brought it in to the SDCSS cactus club meeting in November, and you can see some of the sunburn and older leaves.
Also how TINY it is in the pot! Compare the plant above to the one at right – the difference a year makes!
The ‘top dressing’ is chunks of decomposed granite, just larger pebbles than a typical dusty sort of DG that you see most often in landscaping.
December, 2022
March 2023 – not much growth compared to the December 2022 photo. You can see the sunburnt leaf at the bottom, but the center is starting to fluff out and wake up for the new year.
November 2023 – tracking my pollinations, and showing even more growth. Can you see the sunburnt leaf at the bottom edge?
2023 was the year I really got better about fertilizing with my beloved 20:20:20 fertilizer, especially early in the growing season. The significant growth of this plant in 2023 shows the impact of fertilizer!
With that comes a bit of …bloat. In habitat, this species wouldn’t be getting quite so tall or stacked. Those fleshy fingers shrink back each time there’s a dry period, and the plant absorbs the moisture in the leaves. They grow much slower, with fewer new leaves (tubercules?) developed in a year. In cultivation, the cactus is relatively spoiled, and grows much faster than it does in habitat even without fertilization.
March 2024 – showing some of my same bloom tags from the previous fall/winter, to give you an indication of how long the fruits take to form and ripen. I was able to start harvesting fruit around April, and have offered seeds from my hand-pollinated cacti in my shop.
October 2024
To give a sense of the height and size of this Ariocarpus retusus, you can see it from the side – I think it’s actually time to repot it again into a larger pot!
October 2024
This year, the size of the cactus is indicating it’s time to repot it. It’s getting so tall and stacked, I want to see what it does with a larger pot to allow the tap root to continue to expand, and see if the body itself gets larger.
Below: a similar specimen over the years.
My younger Ariocarpus retusus in January 2021, not long after I got it.
Same cactus, December 2022.
This cactus was much slower to grow compared to the first plant I purchased.
May 2023
I chose to pot this specimen up into a terra cotta pot, to see if the porous pot would influence the growth and ‘hard grown’ appearance.
To my great consternation, it promptly did pretty terribly. It took a while to adapt and really shrunk back, especially in winter. It took a long time to adjust and really struggled last summer. If you look, you can see the purpley-colored outer tubercules and that they’re relatively flat. I was genuinely worried in the summer of 2023 that this cactus was going to rot out and die – but the shriveled leaves and shrunken appearance clearly indicated it needed water.
October, 2023
By the end of summer, it had recovered from whatever was causing an issue with absorbing water (assuming the roots grew in and adapted).
The slow recovery was unique; I’ve repotted quite a few Ariocarpus in the last year or two and haven’t seen them struggle nearly so much about recovering. Was it the temperature that the terra cotta pot allowed? Was it how quickly it dried out as new roots were trying to grow in?
Once past the initial shock of replanting, this Ariocarpus retusus did well, and has started to develop some size to it. It also gets fertilizer similar to my first retusus, but continues to be slower to expand anyway.
Could I tell you why with any confidence? Nope.
It’s a helpful comparison, though. Plants are individuals. This one is in a terra cotta pot – and when I repot the older plant above, it’ll go into a terra cotta pot. And with how this one reacted, I have a suspicion I’ll need to baby the other one much more than I may expect to ensure it establishes well and thrives with the new pot.
October 2024
You can see the cactus expanding to have the tubercules (leaves?) touch the edges of the pot It’s grown significantly, continues to bloom, and is really growing in. It can likely stay in that pot for another couple years, at least, and with the large tap root there’s a decent chance it will crack the pot if it gets too root-bound.
Ariocarpus retusus var. retusus
Minas San Rafael Form
I am fortunate to regularly have the chance to pick up seed-grown cacti at our local shows and sales, and I started really adding to my Ariocarpus collection in 2023.
This form features more upright-growing tubercules, thinner leaves, and a more compact rosette. It has not flowered for me yet, but I expect the blooms to be the typical yellow/white for the species.
March 2023
Ariocarpus retusus var retusus
December 2023
Ariocarpus retusus var retusus
October 2024
Ariocarpus retusus var retusus