Copiapoa malletiana ("Copiapoa de Carrizal")

Another Copiapoa from the Atacama Desert of Chile, one of the driest deserts in the world. That fact provides a fairly glaring hint about how to grow these plants: keep dry in the winter and water during the heat of summer only when the potting mix has totally dried out. In addition, they should be grown in a potting medium with excellent drainage and which dries out fairly quickly.

This is Copiapoa malletiana, also sold as Copiapoa carrizalensis. These are hand-held photos, without a closeup lens, taken by Lynn-Marie.

It's possible that some of my friends in Southern California may say that I'm overly cautious, but I can only speak to the growing conditions experienced here in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.