WOW!!! Very nice but I can’t envision that I would ever be able to logically justify that kind of expense for a plant.

I wonder how old it is and its history?

I would be frightened of it.... Do you think it was dug up out of the desert in Mexico?

Maybe it was grown from seed by a person now over a hundred years old. Not sure that's enough years lol I hope it was rescued from being in the path of a mall parking lot bulldozer. Hey, can something like that be planted back in habitat and survive?

Tyler, I agree - it'd be a lot of fun to have that much to drop on a lot of plant purchases. Can you imagine having 2K to spend at the Summer Show?

Kara and Mara, I was wondering the same things. Three-headed Ariocarpi do not grow on trees, and it's possible it was removed in the 60s and 70s, when taking from the wild wasn't so illegal.

Pags, this is also possible. I think it could be, but that would be a whole lot of perhaps reacclimatizing. I always had trouble with this species, but not with the others.

Hey, take it out of the pot and then it is only $1800.00 Heh, heh.

Bill, I wonder how big a Bursera I’d trade it for.

Was $2000 what it sold for or what it was priced? Sometimes vendors will have a "display" plant that they really don't want/intend to sell but, at the same time don't want to constantly deal with people asking them "How much for that one?" With that in mind, they will put an outlandish price on the plant figuring that either no one will trouble them over it, or they will get that someone who will make them a deal they just can't refuse.

If it did sell for that, hopefully the buyer will know what they are doing. Be a shame for what appears to be an old plant to die because the buyer was clueless. Btw, for those familiar with this species, how old would you estimate such a plant to be?

I thought this was a joke, but I see it is not. Not a very attractive plant is it? Why so valuable? Just very rare? Only found in the desert?

Barb

I found a mention on the internet that a 12 CM /4.8" single head was estimated at 150 years. It was a "mention" on the WWW so take it for whatever it is worth.

Barb I think it May be because they are slow growing? And a 3 headed one would have to be very old. Like “put in your will and taken very good care of for a couple of generations” old.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Barb. Plus they have nice flowers.

A Tad off topic but relating to the risks of caring for old plants. I was in Souchou China in 1979 JUST after the Cultural revolution was truly over when a impromptu exhibit of treasured Bonzai came out of hiding. I heard about it from a poet and a botanist at Hangzhou University. A bunch of different old men wearing tank tops and baggy shorts on bikes and bike trailers came with the most amazing plants.Some plants were 700 yrs old. 500 was common. The exhibit was in an old park. At the end of the day they took the plants away on their bikes back to their hiding places..The experience took my breath away.

Here's one that was at the Conn. cactus and succulent society show spring of "18

As I recall, I think it had a 3rd head that's not visible in this photo.

lol, we all know how totally riveting our hobby is.... especially for significant others and other family members....

If being 150 years old and rare on top of that..... That's a deal for only 2 thousand dollars. For hobbies go, I spent much more than that. For me, not my 'Cup of Tea'.

If you look at "Crime pays,Botany dont" videos on youtube he went to south Texas to find rare Ariocarpus. Some just only survive on private lands. They are the ones that can flatten to the ground in drought?

Thank you for that link. Some great videos.Funy too.

Personally speaking, I'd trade it for these four:

I'd trade it for this...

So now Houzz has reversed the order of the responses, or am I just seeing things. The recent response are at the top and the old ones are at the bottom. Is anyone else getting this or just me? I swear they change things just to razz us.

Yes they did...all scrambled up right now.

I'm still seeing older responses at the top, and new ones at the bottom.

It depends on whether you are on gardenweb.com or Houzz.com.

On Gardenweb they are the order we are all accustomed to seeing with the most recent post at the bottom.

If you are on Houzz the order is reversed with the most recent post being at the top.

Stan, thanks for mentioning that YouTube channel. That guy is very smart and his personality makes some of the tedious topics he talks about more interesting:).

I was curious to see how slow Ariocarpus grow. I think it may be easier to see how slow the growth is on smaller ones just for the mere fact that there are less tubercles to count.

Ariocarpus fissuratus summer 2017

I can count 7 tubercles with an 8th just beginning to peek through.

Two years later summer 2019 that 8th tubercle is more noticeable now. I didn’t realize they were this slow. This is slow even for cactus standards.

Seems order has been restored. I noticed all the post were out of order. Okay now. I like Windy's post picture. Looks like a mini tropical oasis.

And then there's me having double feelings bidding €100 for a plant on ebay, because I really really want it, but at the same time feel it's an insane price to pay for a plant (according to friends and family here that is).

I'm outbid most of the time... lol

wow, that ariocarpus grew fast, Kara. lol Because, behold my A. fissuratus var llyodii

July 2016

Conny, When I want something on Ebay, I bid in the last minuet. Not going to be in a bidding war way before this. Mostly I win but sometimes I forget and lose out. If it's really some thing you want and most of all you can afford it, then by all means go for it.

Pagan, I think that is the one owned by OOA. I wish I knew how old it is... probably not as old as those big Ariocarpus :-)

Behold my Ariocarpus seedlings, took over two years to reach this huge size...

I usually lose out on Ebay, because I loathe doing the last minute bidding thing, so I don't. I just put in my top bid, and then I get overbid :-) I like buy it now stuff.

Stush: I'm one of those bidding in the last 5 seconds :-)

Maybe in a hundred years it'll be available at big box stores everywhere . People once paid crazy amounts for orchids that are now available for as little as $6.99 in supermarkets.

In my defense I almost never buy on ebay. Mostly mail order places. Hope I din't out bid any one here. Sorry.

One thing good about growing Ariocarpus seedlings... every time I get the urge to try to grow Aztekium from seed, I just remind myself that they're even slower than Ariocarpus.

OK, now I see why the high price for the plant. I had no idea about such slow growing succs. and how old they must be to get any size on them. Interesting thread!

Barb

I was once offered $300 for another species of Ariocarpus which was in a 50mm pot and about 15 years old grown from seed. I refused. There was probably no other option in our country to buy such an established plant so the price offered was in view of this fact. The only other option for this person to obtain such a plant was to grow it from seed and wait 15 years.

I sometimes wonder how you can price some plants if you wanted to sell them. I have a number of large Feros, 15-30 years old. There would be few growers in our country with plants of this size and age so they would be very uncommon to be able to buy one. Would it be hundreds of dollars or over a thousand? Should you take the view that each year of growth is worth around $10-15 of value, plus extra for rarity of plants this age? Hypothetical question at this stage of my growing...

The high orchid prices were because propagation was a nightmare until sterile flask protocols and tissue culture protocols were developed, not because they grew really slowly.

I've had a Mammillaria herrerae for six years, and I have to hold up an old pic to it in order to know that it has grown.

S.G. Price is always determined by supply and demand. If rare meaning low supply that brings up the price but most is how much some one really wants that plant. I have seen really high prices asked for stuff but they usually go back home with it. (meaning nobody is going to pay that much). Try finding similar items on Ebay (or other on line sites) and get some idea of price.

Asian markets are also driving the poaching problem in high gear. California's rarest coastal succulents are poached to Korea and Japan. So,now prices go up. I guess in Asia,high prices are not too high since many of our Dudley's are bought to be put in homes where they die. Koreans think California is like the tropics.

Still for the rest,dedicated collectors from there are used to paying huge sums for Bonsai and Koi. Ariocarpus just another.

Not to mention that European,American poachers are on their heels..as usual. Just to know,the whole world poaches..but the recent surge has been Asian.