Copiapoa haseltonia
nomenclature
These are also commonly described as being synonymous with Copiapoa cinerea, although I will not be describing mine as a synonym. Per Llifle, they’re also apparently synonymous with a subspecies or variety of Copiapoa gigantea, although again, I won’t be describing mine as related.
Am I right? Am I wrong?
Probably a little of both. This is a challenging plant to study, being native to a remote and challenging region of Chile, and heavily protected due to the threats of poaching and how long it takes to grow. In habitat, they also cheerfully hybridize, so there’s a pretty decent chance some specimens are hybrids of ‘true’ species.
My Copiapoa haseltoniana in April, 2021, when I first received it and potted it up.
Copiapoa haseltoniana habitat
Native to a very small region in Chile known as the Atacama Desert, it’s a narrow strip of desert between the coast and the Andes mountains that receives heavy morning fog which rapidly dissipates as the morning sun rises.
While a desert, it’s a cooler desert than you might expect. Google will inform you that it’s the second driest nonpolar desert in the world, which gives you an idea of the amount of water these cacti are used to getting! When moisture from fog is the primary source of water for a biome, it should be a pretty big sign of how little water your own cacti less than you may wish to.
When I say the desert is often cooler than you might expect, I mean that the dryness doesn’t mean extreme heat. While Death Valley is extraordinarily hot and dry, the Atacama desert is not. Average temperatures for the year are rarely below 50F, and highs are rarely above 85F – it’s cooler than the weather here in San Diego!
Luckily for me (and most people trying to grow these), they’re forgiving of higher temperatures and moisture – but conditions in cultivation are often far kinder to these cacti than habitat conditions. As a result, cacti grown in cultivation are often very different in appearance when compared to their cousins in the wild. Even when one attempts to grow them in harsher conditions to better mimic habitat conditions, it’s exceedingly rare to see them grow with the same character as wild plants.
This is fine, acceptable, and worth cultivating. As recently discussed in a local cactus club meeting, we shouldn’t be holding up habitat plants as the ultimate form to collect. Instead, a well grown specimen that’s been meticulously maintained for decades is equally as impressive, if not more so. It may not have the black spines and lichen of a wild plant, but it’s even more of a testament to a grower’s skill to reach impressive size over decades without significant scarring, rot, or other damage.
July, 2022
Soil for Copiapoa haseltoniana
A slow growing species that has evolved to thrive in harsh conditions, it should be potted in a very inorganic mix. You want to stress it a bit, not give it too much organic matter, as it’ll promptly rot rather than grow heavily. My mix for Copiapoa is:
20% (ish) succulent & cactus soil
As I have noted in previous posts, I use orchid bark to hold on to moisture a bit longer than the pumice does, but still keep the mix chunky and well-draining.
I top it with more pumice, mostly because it’s pretty, dries quicky and doesn’t keep the soil overly soggy, and doesn’t reflect heat as intensely as black lava rock.
Water for Copiapoa haseltoniana
As you may guess from their natural habitat, these need very little water. Even when my greenhouse was reaching temperatures of 120F regularly (when I first moved my Copiapoa into it), I watered these less than my other cacti.
During heat waves, I’d offer more water, aiming for watering as early as possible in the morning to allow them time to aborb the moisture. Technically, with the heat, I should have been watering in the evenings – but my evening schedule never really accommodates that.
If you look at the first photo here, where the little cactus was first potted, you can see how dry and shriveled it was. I placed it in soil and then managed to resist watering it for over a week afterwards, wanting to be sure the roots have recovered. The stress of low water encourages the development of that powdery white farina, which is of course one of the attractive reasons to cultivate the species.
Should you fertilize your Copiapoa haseltoniana?
I do fertilize mine, but less than I fertilize the other cacti in my greenhouse. I’ll use my trusty blue 20:20:20 fertilizer, but at half strength, and only for a few months out of the year.
I’ll give my first feeding in mid to late spring, when nights are over 50F and there’s somet daytime highs in the greenhouse reaching the high 70s and low 80s. For us, that’s usually sometime around April, maybe May – in weird years, that’s been as late as June!
They get food through early to mid summer, and then I taper off, pausing with the fertilizer, until we get through the worst of our local heatwaves. We’ve recently replaced the fan on my greenhouse, and instead of consistently reaching 120F for most of the summer, it’s usually only about 10 degrees warmer than outdoors. That’s still a lot hotter than Copiapoa prefer, so I don’t pump them with extra food while they’re stressed.
November, 2022
Light for your Copiapoa haseltoniana
These have evolved to live in extremely bright, harsh climates, but as young plants they aren’t often fully exposed to sunlight right away. Seedlings often develop under the shade of a “nurse plant”, which shelters them from harsh light until they’re large enough to withstand it.
This means younger seedlings do better with less direct sunlight, although they still need quite bright light. The first year I had my Copiapoa haseltoniana, it was in an area that received morning sunlight until early afternoon. It was still outdoors in bright indirect light, but shaded by the house for the rest of the day. It grew well, as you can see, and within a year it was moved into my greenhouse with 40% shade cloth blocking full sunlight (no shade from trees or buildings).
July 2023
When it comes to moving your cactus into more or less light, do so slowly, watching for signs of sun scorch or burning. For a Copiapoa haseltonia, having intense light and full sun encourages strong development of that powdery white farina coating.
Pairing full sunlight with restricted water is also an ideal way to encourage the development of farina, and to keep the plant from growing too quickly. Copiapoa as a species should be grown with restrictions, keeping them from getting too big too quickly. This keeps them looking compact and healthy.
More sunlight and bright light encourages healthy spine development as well, with consistent and intense spination with nice, fluffy aeroles.
Repotting or other cultivation needs?
You’ll see in my photos that I repotted my Copiapoa haseltonia kind of often: every year or two! For such a slow growing species, this is surprisingly frequent.
For slower growing species, repotting them less often keeps the roots healthy and robust. Some species respond very poorly to being repotted, and each time you do so it can be a risk that the roots get damaged or you knock farina off the body of the plant.
May 2024
September 2024
I repotted mine this summer to give it more room to grow: it was clearly getting some decent size in my hexagon pot, and I wanted to encourage it to keep getting larger. It’s now in a 6″ azalea pot, and has been really expanding. You can see new ribs and size coming in, but the farina is less thick. The new access to soil and “food” has resulted in happy new growth and minimal farina development, though.
With winter coming and several months of being completely dry, I’m curious how this new growth with hold up, and whether new farina development will occur. In previous years, winter and the lack of water was often when I’d see more farina developing.
We’ll see!
Thanks for visiting – keep checking back, as I’m adding more to my collection pages and to the resources at the top.
