The Plant That Got Me Into Cactus Breeding

BLACK GYMNOCALYCIUM
FROM SIR SANNY

 Yes, I’m late 😅

I was supposed to share this last week, but work got really busy.

Since it was Black Saturday, I want to tell you the story of my Black Gymnocalycium.

And this year… I’m celebrating 9 years with it.

You know how people say everything starts somewhere? That’s true for me too.

I started small as a grower. Back in 2017, I got my first plant that I used for breeding with other gymnocalyciums.

It was my very first solid variegated gymnocalycium. I got it from Sir Sanny, a fellow enthusiast who has been collecting plants longer than I’ve been growing.

That plant… was the Black Gymnocalycium.

Not many people know this, but it’s actually one of the best plants I’ve ever had.

At first, it just looked like a normal Gymnocalycium mihanovichii with dark or black skin, like it was just stressed. But no… it was really variegated.

I didn’t notice it right away.

I only realized it when it started producing red variegated pups. Then later, I grew seedlings from it—and some of them were variegated too.

Honestly, at that time, I still had doubts. I wasn’t 100% sure yet.

Then somehow, the Black Gym started showing up in other collections. It even reached some sellers in Benguet. I’m not really sure how that happened.

As far as I remember, Sir Sanny sold a few Black Gymnos. I didn’t sell any of my own propagations.

This Black Gym became one of my main parent plants.

I used it to create my very first selected hybrid—
Gymnocalycium “Black Sangre.”

I actually used two more plants together with the Black Gym for that cross.

And the rest… is history.

Until now, I’m really thankful to Sir Sanny for that plant.