Horse crippler cactus

Horse crippler cactus Echinocactus texensis

What is the plant

Echinocactus texensis is a cactus in the subfamily Cactoideae. Echinocactus texensis is widespread and common in Texas, southeastern New Mexico, and Oklahoma (USA). It occurs also in northeastern Mexico.

Echinocactus texensis, best known in cultivation as Homalocephala texensis, is a stout barrel cactus, which is solitary when young, very rarely slowly clustering in age. Its stem is pale grey-green (desert populations) to grass green (eastern populations) with numerous ribs , above-ground portion flat-topped, hemispheric in old age but usually deep-seated, flush with soil surface 30 cm in diameter, 20 cm high. Common names of Echinocactus texensis include Horse-crippler (for the heavily spines that lies low to the ground, a hazard to horses), Devil’s-head, Candy Cactus (for the edible and tasty red fruit used to make a candy), Devil’s Pin Cushion, Horse Crippler and Devil's Pincushion.

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Lighting

Full Sun

Hardiness zone

min 9a

Difficulty

Medium

Water
Water regularly from spring to autumn but do not overwater (rot prone), keep dry in winter.
Sunlight
It will do its best with lots of sun, it becomes stressed with inadequate light which could result in weak spines, poor health or even death.
Fertilizer
Feed with a high potassium fertilizer in summer.

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Soil
The plant likes very porous standard cactus mix soil, but can become too elongated if compost is too rich.
Temperature
It does well with cool winter time temperatures and will tolerate temperatures down below -18°C or less if the roots are kept dry.
Container
This variety stores water in the parts of the plant which are above the soil leaving the root system small enough to fit into a proportionally sized flower pot. Use pot with good drainage.