It seems that every book on Cacti has to have a chapter on Cultivation. The authors respond and are happy to share their experiences, only to find that a number of readers will disagree, reporting great results with quite different, sometimes even opposite techniques to those prescribed.

Perhaps the most remarkable point to learn from observing cacti in cultivation and in habitat is the huge range of diverse conditions under which these plants can thrive.

The earliest advice that I found in literature is Notes on the Cultivation of Copiapoa by Graham Charles in the Cactus & Succulent Journal of Great Britain (C&SS(GB), 43(2/3): 49-60 (1981) which is similar to his advice in Copiapoa (1998); 12-14 and there seems to be no reason to change a tried and tested formula to grow Copiapoa in the UK, as I have had some extremely well grown plants from him over the years.   Rudolf Schulz & Attila Kapitany's 'Copiapoa in their Environment' (1996 :69-73), based on their extensive experiences of growing Copiapoa in Australia, offers much the same advice.

Seed Raising

Following sowing, Copiapoa are among the first seedlings to appear - they have to be, to survive in nature, where a short light shower may be the only moisture available for some considerable time. In cultivation seedlings are undemanding.

Grafting

I have not found it necessary to graft Copiapoa and would only resort to this technique if, among seedlings raised from seed of habitat origin, I came across a unique form that might be interesting to propagate and share among friends - thus creating a back-up to plants in my own collection.

Appearance - Habitat v Cultivated material

Having come face to face with RMF 53 (since described as Copiapoa ahremephiana) at Caleta Botija, I had great difficulty in accepting that this was the plant that I had in my collection, raised in the UK from habitat seed - such was the difference in appearance.

This is an important phenomenon, as many Copiapoa taxa (particularly the early descriptions) have been described from material shipped to Europe and grown on. As a result, I would expect that in a number of cases the description will differ from plants seen in nature - with the possibility that plants found more recently could be considered 'new' as they do not match any published description.

I plan to develop separate pages to illustrate this phenomenon for a range of Copiapoa taxa. If you have any material that demonstrates the point, I'd be happy to include your images.