Gymnocalycium occultum

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Origin and Habitat: Inter San Fernando de Valle de Catamarca et Miraflores, 600 m, Catamarca (Argentina)

Description: Gymnocalycium occultum is a beautiful, slowly-growing plant with a noticeably flatten body, at first solitary, later clustering..
Blooming season: Flowers are produced in late spring and remain open for up to twelve days.


Cultivation and Propagation: Gymnocalycium stellatum is supposed to be one of the most difficult species in cultivation, and very slow to get to a reasonable size. It will offset after a considerable period of time.
Soils: It likes very porous standard cactus mix soil. Prefer a low pH compost, avoid substrata rich in limestone; otherwise growth will stop altogether.
Watering: It is a summer-growing species that needs regular water in summer, but do not overwater (Rot prone), keep dry in winter at a minimum temperature of 0°C.
Fertilization: Feed with a high potassium fertilizer in summer.
Hardiness: Reputedly resistant to frost if kept on the dry side prior to, and during, cold weather (hardy to -12 C ° C, or less for short periods).
Exposition: The plant tolerates extremely bright situations but enjoys filtered sunlight or afternoon shade, inside it needs bright light, and some direct sun. Tends to bronze in strong light, which encourages flowering and heavy spine production, but is likely to suffer from sun scorch or stunted growth if over exposed to direct sunlight during the hottest part of the day in summer.
Uses: It is an excellent plant for container growing. It always looks good and stays small. It look fine in a cold greenhouse and frame or outdoor in a rockery.

Some of the information in this description has been found at desert-tropicals.com, llifle.com and cactus-art.biz

Blooming Season	Late spring
Common Name	-
Dormancy	Summer
Family	Cactaceae
Flower	Creamy-white
Frost Tolerance	-12 C ° c
Growth Rate	Slow
Hardiness Zone	10
Height	1 inch
Origin	Argentina
Scientific Name	Gymnocalycium occultum
Shape	Flatten
Sun Exposure	Full sun to partial shade