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First Attempt At Growing Cacti

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Update:
2 months have passed, and another pup sprouted from the main stalk, this time at the base. This brings the count up to 4 arms that has sprouted from the main stalk, two it's first year and two this year.

There is also the tip cutting that I took from the main stalk, and this is about 8-10 inches tall and rooted pretty well. No pups on this guy yet, but it got planted late in the season so I didn't expect any this year.

The two arms that sprouted last season are now easily a foot long each, if not a couple inches over. They have doubled in size from last year. The two pups from this year are each a couple inches, with 4-5 sets of spines.

These things grow quick. Can't wait for next season when I can take and plant more cuttings.

Happy growing everyone!
 

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Thanks!

I just brought them inside for the winter. I have them sitting in a bay window facing west, not the best location but it's the best I can do at the moment. I plan on mounting a CFL grow light above them to supplement some lighting.

The other day though the big guy with multiple pups got knocked over in a bad wind storm. Everything was still attached, but it lost a lot of dirt and the roots were exposed. I don't know how long they were like that, but as soon as I noticed it I brought it inside to the warmth and added fresh soil to fill in what was missing.

It seems to be doing fine so far. I'm just worried I'll have the same problem I did last year and have them become all corky and scarred somehow. I still don't understand what happened with that.
 
Spanishfly said:
Bottom watering may have a place if you only have a handful of cacti and can wait ages for the substrate to absorb water for every one.
Click to expand...
Multiple pots in a gravel tray makes bottom watering easier than top watering (I still use both, though!)

...] God always top waters,[...]
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Go talk to a hydrogeologist 😉

Great to see this thread is still going :thumb_up:
I'm wondering about putting some lighting in for my specimens as they've had to relocate to a less optimal location so it'll be interesting to see what lighting arrangement you come up with, G-A-B.
 
They have been good. Have made some decent growth progress this season already. They got caught in a thunderstorm last night though. I had them on the porch where the rain usually doesn't get too, but because of the heavy wind the whole porch, and both cacti, got soaked. I have not given them much water this season so they probably needed it. I'll just have to keep an eye on them and make sure they dry out quickly.

I'll have to take some photos and update this thread a bit. Was thinking of doing so today actually, maybe after work.
 
Good to hear.

I've left my Trichocereus cacti to the vagaries of the northern European weather this summer and so far they love it. It seems they can handle far more water than your average cactus. The other cacti are back under cover.

Note that of course I have selected a sunny sheltered spot that doesn't get the brunt of the rain. (South-facing wall, some roof overhang.)
 
That's pretty much exactly how mine are right now.

I never got a chance to take a picture during the day light. I'll have to do that in the morning.
 
For size comparison, they are in three-gallon pots.

Edit: I dont know why all my pictures come up sideways like that. That's now how I take them or how they appear on my phone.
 

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I'd love to know that myself! I've got too many sideways picture on here as well. I've tried fiddling with picture editing software but to no avail. There's probably a data based solution that could be automated with a script. If someone better with coding can point us in the right direction, that would be most helpful.
 
That would be nice indeed.

Back to the cacti though. You can't tell from this picture, but the small pup that is coming from the cut section is actually only 4 ribbed. The rest of the cacti has 5 ribs. I didn't know that this could happen, it's kind of cool.
 
Looks like they may have been under watered this whole time. They received a lot of rain over the past week or two, and have swelled up thicker then I have ever seen them before. They show no signs of rot so I'm not worried. Maybe they will grow even better this year if I continue to water them more regularly then in the past seasons.
 
Mine have been loving the outdoors too, even with some crazy amounts of rain. Really fattening up and putting out mighty spines. I step outside of time when I stand there beside those beauties.

IME Trichs can take a lot of watering, even over the winter given the right conditions. That was pachanoi and presumed peruvianus, at least. Feeding regularly over the summer pays real dividends of growth.

Other species (and, especially, genera) require considerably more caution.
 
HELP!!!! One of the branches off of my main stalk is putting out roots on the side that gets less sun. I have had to have them on the porch pushed up against a wall to shield them from the down pours we have been getting, and I think that's why this happened. There are three little roots poking out. What should I do about This? Should I cut it below the roots, let the cut dry, and plant as a log?

Also, my bigger cacti is starting to get a lot of scarring for some reason. I dont know what is causing it, there are no pests crawling around from what I can see. The occasional spider makes its web amongst them, but they never stay long because of moving them around.
 

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Gone-and-Back said:
HELP!!!! One of the branches off of my main stalk is putting out roots on the side that gets less sun. I have had to have them on the porch pushed up against a wall to shield them from the down pours we have been getting, and I think that's why this happened. There are three little roots poking out. What should I do about This? Should I cut it below the roots, let the cut dry, and plant as a log?

Also, my bigger cacti is starting to get a lot of scarring for some reason. I dont know what is causing it, there are no pests crawling around from what I can see. The occasional spider makes its web amongst them, but they never stay long because of moving them around.
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The aerial roots won't hurt anything. The easiest thing is to just let it be :)

I'm not sure about the scarring, you might try to increase airflow around the plant. Was this the side of the plant you had backed up against the wall? The only time I've seen this magnitude of scarring is when I leave cuttings sitting around indoors for a long, long time.

Do you have any more details about when this started happening? Summer, winter? Was it hot and humid? cold and Dry? Regular waterings? Any other details about when you first noticed this?

The scarring won't hurt the plant in the long run as long as you can slow/stop the spread of it.
 
Looks like normal ageing of the cactus to me, given that there's a lot of fat new growth above a fairly thin section. To counter wind-induced flexing the cactus has grown more woody by the looks of it. Except for the bit on what looks like last year's growth. There it seems the cactus is considering growing more roots because of shading.

Bridgesii seem prone to them black pus-spots. Somehow they're a bit more sensitive than some of the other species.
 
The scarring first started over winter, the cacti sat in a west facing window. I did not water them during the winter, and that's when the original scarring happened. It is discussed further back in this thread somewhere.

I didn't think anything of it as it stopped come growing season when it got more light and water. This time though it seems to be spreading even during the growing season. It is on all sides of the cactus, so the shading I dont think is playing a part. They usually are in full sun for most of the day anyways unless there is rain in the forecast. The past couple storms we got I didn't move them right away and they got a lot of water, but it seemed to just make them thicker and grow faster, no damage from what I could tell.

So I am stumped as to what the problem is. The sections that are scarred are also kind of thin for some reason, but the rest of the cactus is nice and thick. Could it possibly be from poking itself with its own spines? They definitely do poke themselves quite a bit, and the sections that dont get poked are the parts not showing scarring.

The cutting I have in the other pot doesn't seem to be experiencing the same thing, and it's from the same plant. It looks nice and healthy. It's also a single stalk with a tiny basal pup, so no being poked by its own spines yet.

Edit: I also noticed the arms are growing in a way that they are bending and twisting away from the main stalk, as if they are trying to avoid being poked by spines. Maybe it's more light induced, but like I said they are in full sun most of the day so they wouldn't need to reach in any specific direction for sun like that.
 
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