MEETINGS: Fourth Thursday each month, 7:00 p.m. * Unless otherwise noted WHERE: San Joaquin County Building 2707 Transworld Drive Stockton, California *NEXT MEETING: Thursday, June 27th, 2019

PRE MEETING DINNER: Denny’s Restaurant Arch Road location 5:30 p.m.

STOCKTON CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY

C/O BRIAN POOT

5617 ANADA COURT

SALIDA, CA 95368

STOCKTON CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER

JUNE 2019

Avonia quinaria subs. alstoni

2019 BOARD:

President: Greg Severi (209) 612-8289 gregseveri@gmail.com

Vice President: Brian Poot (209) 679-8899 jeffgordonfan24@sbcglobal.net

Treasurer: Roelyn Poot (209) 599-7241 billroelynpoot@gmail.com

Secretary: Angela Severi (209) 612-8289 gregseveri@gmail.com

Board Members: Lesley Slayter, Bill Poot & Dawn Dalyce

Newsletter: Brian Poot (209) 679-8899 jeffgordonfan24@sbcglobal.net

BOARD MEETINGS: Please note, board meetings will now be held the second Wednesday of each month, at 7:00 p.m., except in December, or if that date conflicts with something else. Anyone is welcome to attend, but please call first to let them know you will be coming to make sure of the date. Thanks!

We can always use new ideas & opinions for the club, as well as help

with behind the scenes stuff. If you are interested, please come to a

board meeting. Thx!

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION: Individual $20/yr Family $25/yr Contributing $35/yr Patron $50/yr Membership runs January-December. Complimentary Jan. & Feb. issue if unpaid.

All dues should be sent

to the treasurer before

the February general

meeting.

CALENDAR:

June 12th - Board Meeting at the Poot’s 7:00 p.m. 27th - General Meeting 7:00pm: Program from the CSSA Convention in 2017

Columnar Cacti of Peru by Graham Charles

July 10th - Board Meeting at the Poot’s 7:00 p.m. 23rd - General Meeting 7:00pm: Woody Minnich on The Atacama - Copiapoa

August 14th - Board Meeting at the Poot’s 7:00 p.m. 22nd - General Meeting 7:00pm: Peter Beiersdorfer -

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS: (not club related)

SUNSHINE REPORT:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to: Richard Arp, Nellie Prather, Alex Schmidt,

Merideth McSwain & Bobby Krauth.

THIS MONTHS MEETING: A video of Columnar Cacti of Peru by Graham Charles Our program for the June meeting will be a video of a presentation done at the 2017 CSSA Convention by Graham Charles, in which he talked about the Columner Cacti of Peru. Graham Charles first started growing cacti and succulents at the age of twelve and joined the National Cactus and Succulent Society in 1962. He qualified as a judge in 1972 and soon afterwards began to assemble his collection of documentated plants. Graham is a popular lecturer in Britain and has also spoken in various parts of Europe and in the USA. He has also written the books - Cacti and Succulents: An illustrated guide to the plants and their cultivation

& Gymnocalycium in habitat and culture

*The Poot’s will bring the raffle plants, so be sure to bring your cash & boxes.

*Reminder to Suzanne Breshears (snacks) & Rosalie Osman (drinks), this is your month to bring refreshments.

*Reminder that we need someone to volunteer to be the greeter this month.

Watering your cacti and succulents this summer could cause them to rot and split: by Maureen Gilmer

05-25-19 Don't let your favorite succulents explode like overripe watermelons. It's going to happen this year because we are out of our annual plant care routine. Cold and rain in May is not normal. Heavy winter rainfall is not normal. Native and exotic succulents and cacti are going into summer fully hydrated. They can't take up more water. Beware of adjusting your irrigation as summer heat approaches the same way you did last year and the year before. Fully hydrated cactus don't need irrigation. If you apply it, they either take up too much and explode or rot out at the soil line before collapsing into mush. The soil moisture isn't evaporating nearly as fast as usual, so each time you water, the succulents get wetter and wetter underground. You can't see it because of the onion shaped saturation area below an emitter dries out quick on the surface, leaving little clue to wet conditions beneath. Due to their origins in monsoon rain country of Arizona, giant saguaro cactus are big drinkers in the summer heat. It's very easy to overwater them here in the desert because they take it up so fast to exploit a short-term cloudburst. The ribs grow further apart when the plant is full of water. As it's consumed, the plant shrinks and ribs grow closer together. It's like a lady's fan. If the ribs are stretched out wide, you will know this plant is well hydrated. Make a note of its diameter or find the average measurement between ribs if you want to be mathematical. You can calculate the water loss by taking frequent regular measurements. Of course, nature has her way of causing variations, but you can literally plot the rate of this year's moisture loss in a graph. When rib separation grows narrow, you know that saguaro needs water. If you're really nerdy, plot the temperature relative to the physical measurements to see a mathematical rendition of how your saguaro grows — or doesn't. This is the year obsessive hand-waterers will kill a lot of beautiful plants. Sometimes just one more deep watering or rain event will cause the splits. The good news is that in big cactus, like saguaro, healed splits are the start of a future owl nesting cavity. The presence of a split is a wound, but in dry climates the plants heal inside with a new skin of thin callus that grows harder with time. It provides protection to growing tissue but is not photosynthetic. The African baobab tree heals this way, so elephants cannot kill old trees by chewing into their trunks during drought. continued on next page…..

This growth tear is fully healed over

and will remain insignificant.

(Photo: Maureen Gilmer)

MONTHLY MINI SHOW: OPEN TO ANY CLUB MEMBERS THAT WANT TO SHOW PLANTS! The mini show, held at the general meetings, is a time when you can bring your plants, to compete against other members’ plants. There are 10 categories: Cacti & Succulent, (Open, Advanced & Novice Divisions), Bloomers (anything in bloom, also three divisions) & Allied Interest (dish gardens or natural planters). You may bring up to 2 from each category. The forms for judging are available to take home so that you can fill them out prior to the meeting if you wish, or there will be some at the meeting as well. The plants are judged by the members attending that meeting; whoever receives the most votes wins that months mini show & will get their name in the next newsletter. The person(s) receiving the most votes at the end of the year will receive a gift from the club. WE ENCOURAGE ALL MEMBERS TO BRING PLANTS TO SHOW THROUGHOUT THE YEAR!

FYI: The mini show categories are Novice - those with fewer than 5 years of showing in the mini-show. Advanced – those who have shown for more than 5 years in the mini-show & does not sell more than $300 in plants a year. Open – those who sell more than $300 in plants a year. Also you must own the plant for at least

6 months before you can show the plant in the mini show.

Brian Poot, Mini show coordinator

Watering your cacti and succulents this summer could cause them to rot and split: Continued When a cactus gets sunburned or exposed to frost, they usually split first. The surface epidermal cells are fried, then the ones beneath can't breathe. So the plant opens up a vertical split from dehydration and shrinkage parallel to the rib. If you leave it to self-resolve it may heal perfectly, or it might start to rot inside there, spreading up and down to kill the entire plant. You can help: Once the outer skin dries hard, surgically excise the dead tissue with clean edges to open up the split to healing air. Protect from sun and rabbits temporarily until it hardens off and eventually it will heal nicely, with minimal scarring. Tips to avoid splits:

Don't overwater your large succulents and cacti to prevent excessive internal hydrostatic pressure that leads to splits.

Pay attention to hot spots, particularly on newer plants not yet sun hardened and thus vulnerable to sunburn.

Burned epidermal cells can lead to splits.

Inspect for frost damage because it's often serendipitous where it shows up on plants. The north-facing side may prove softer and more vulnerable to splits.

After they lost the original Beaucarnea — ponytail palm at the Annenberg Estate — it's clear that these can be important and valuable plants. Don't misread this as a normal year and change your thinking about automatic watering. Practice irrigation by thinking like a farmer. Then when we descend into the summer furnace, you won't find out what happens when high heat hits the mushy rotten tissue inside an untended split.

The exposed side of this fence

post cactus split from rain and

sunburn may eventually rot

inside. (Photo: Maureen Gilmer)

The caudex of this Beaucarnea was

overwatered when fully hydrated so it

split and rotted nearly half the

caudex. (Photo: Maureen Gilmer)

MAY MEETING 2019 - PHOTO'S BY BRIAN POOT

PLANT STUDY: by Elton Roberts Gymnocactus gielsdorfianus What a wonderful plant Gymnocactus gielsdorfianus is. I am not sure why but I have not seen this cactus in all that many collections. It is a wonderful plant that does not get all that large even in cultivation. The description of habitat plants is a plant that is solitary or occasionally making small clumps. Stem size is 5 to 7 cm tall and 4 to 5 cm in diameter. In cultivation, for me any way, the plants get to 8 cm in diameter and to 20 cm tall. That 20 cm is in the middle of a large clump. That clump is about 25 to 30 years old and the clump is to about 26 cm in diameter. In the photos I am including a small clump that is about 10 cm in diameter. Out of the last batch of over 100 plants I grew there are about 8 plants that have clumped like that. Most of the rest are single stemmed plants with several now throwing one or two off sets. These plants are about 7 or 8 years old. Most are 6.5 to 8 cm in diameter and to 8 cm tall. The plants that off set have smaller in diameter stems the largest clump I had was about 30 cm in diameter; the alkaline water killed it. The description of the plant calls for the plant body to be yellow-green to blue green. I have discovered that if the plant is not healthy the stems will turn that yellow-green. When the plants are healthy, they are this wonderful blue green color. For me the plants always have the white wool on the areoles and covering the top of the plant. The flower buds form in the apex of the plant at the growing point and always bloom out of the wool. The flowers are to 2.5 cm in diameter. They are white to translucent white with an occasional darker midstripe. The bottoms of the petals are kind of a wet creamy color. The plant will bloom quite often from spring to mid to late fall. Sometimes the plant will have several flowers open at one time or a clump can have 20 to 30 flowers open at one time. Look at the photo of the single headed plant and you can see all the dead flower remains. Usually the only time the plants are not in bloom is in the dead of winter and if the summer temperatures are such that the plant goes dormant. That is if the nighttime temperatures stay above about 63 or 64 degrees. To be on the safe side I give the plants a bit more open and fast draining soil and I keep them dry over the winter. Keeping them dry over the winter they have survived 9 F without any damage. If you live in an area of high humidity, I would suggest keeping the plants above 30F. For me the worst thing that came along for the plant was alkaline water. When I started giving acidic water the plants went from a greenish yellow to this healthy blue green.

NEW MEMBERS:

Miguel & Melanie Gonzales Rosalie Osman Jissely Schambeck & Anakin Porter

413 McKinley Way 208 East North Street 444 Birchwood Street West Sacramento, CA 95691 Oakdale, CA 95361 Manteca, CA 95336 (916) 914-3318 (209) 604-6831 (209) 688-5288

melaniegon81@gmail.com rodesignsource@aol.com jisselyscham@gmail.com