The Gymnocalycium of Friedrich is the result of a mutation from crossing mutant cacti among themselves.
It turned out hymnocalycium without chlorophyll, their color can be red, yellow, maroon and even orange.
They write that these varieties do not grow independently, but only on a rootstock.
But my cactus it denies !!!

I bought Frederick’s Gymnocalycium, but after a while the rootstock started to hurt (at least it seemed to me).
When I bought it, I was told that it is called Astrophytum, but later I found his name.

I decided to make an experiment, cutting off the cactus from the rootstock, dried it, sprinkled it with pounded charcoal and planted it.
In this post, I posted photos of pruning this cactus:
https://steemit.com/cactus/@ludmila.kyriakou/my-attempt-to-save-cactus
I planted it, I did not water it.
Watering a little bit, I started only after a week.
After a few weeks, he began to frown ...
I thought that he had rotted and pulled him out of the ground, and I was surprised: he had small roots !!!
I planted him again, regretting my impatience.
I do not remember how much time has passed since then, but the end result made me very happy !!!
He bloomed !!!

And they write that without rootstock they can not grow!
Apparently my cactus had a great desire to survive and thank me with its bloom !!!
My conclusion:
Do not be afraid to experiment to save your flower!
Another bonus:
Flowers are bigger !!!

The photos I were taken with a Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70L tablet
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