I have a A. ret. v. confusus(?) or A. confusus that has that same color of flower. There are many varieties of A. retusus and I don't know how to tell them apart. I sounds like the taproot of your very nice plant is getting huge. I would be extra careful taking it out of the pot. I wish any of my Arios were as clean looking as yours.

Thanks guys;).

I’ll cut the pot and gently check the roots and remove the dead bits. Don’t worry I won’t do my normal handy hose work. I will keep everything in tact;). I have the perfect brand new terra cotta pot for it. I’ll have to go to Home Depot to get some crushed limestone. So you think 50% pumice, 20% crushed limestone, and the rest peatless cactus mix will work?

I really liked how clean this guy looked, that’s what attracted me at first tbh.

No go on the limestone. I even went to a rock supplier and the guy told me he doesn’t really know where I could find crushed limestone. I guess I will just use my regular cactus mix, but add a little worm castings.

I have grown my 4 Arios in normal potting mix for over 15 years without problems. With retusus, there is very little mix possible in the pot since the taproot is so large. I repotted both of mine this year but into the same size pot. Just loosened the mix around the roots and repotted.

We're drowning in limestone up here in Canada! Normally I find it at landscape supply places where they sell rock, gravel, soil, etc.

I've been reading this thread with interest, since I also have an A. retusus that I've had a year. I'm wondering if it should be moved into a larger pot.

What's the fuzzy stuff on the top? Is that its way of protecting it from the sun? Is there a name for it? At first I thought it was an old flower, which are amazing.

How did you get that heart in your subject line? Cheater.

Often sold in garden centres as dolomite lime.

Kara, I use Agricultural lime (Dolomite Lime) which is made by EB Stone. You can find it in the Bay area in the fertilizers section of nurseries selling EB's products in that sea of cardbox boxes of specialized fertilizers/soil amemdement. Very nice specimen you found by the way :)

Spanish Fly and Alain I found the Dolomite Lime. I was picturing something else for some reason;). Thanks.

Jeff, I pressed the emoji button on my IPad and the heart stayed this time. I have tried to use emojis before, but it didn’t stay. Hopefully for your guys sake I can’t use an emoji in my comments because all bets are off. The fuzz is for protection because these guys come from the Chihuahuan Desert and can endure some chilly temps -10C/14F. That’s pretty cold for cactus. Then I’m sure the soft fuzz helps from being beat by the sun. The fuzz is really light and soft not coarse at all. There are probably other reasons why the fuzz is there, but that’s all I got for ya right now;).

Alain- I found another Trichodiadema. Check out the difference between the new sad one and the one I got a couple months. The sad one has probably three plants all entangled like my first container I purchased. Amazing how it’s the same plant, but with a little TLC they look very different.

edit- I can’t use emojis in my comments for some reason. Probably for the best;).

No doubt it will look better soon!! Was the new one also labelled as "densum"? I have seen some densum in a local nursery in SJ but they look more compact, i.e. no long woody stem like the one you have. And the leaves are bigger too.

Yep same densum id. It is strange because when I look at densum pics they’re very different. The leaves on the ones I got a couple months ago are plumping up so time will tell. They still are not as big as what other densum look like.

Do I rinse the agricultural lime off first before I put into the mix?

I don't.