How does your cactus garden grow? (Cactus pic thread)

[downwardsfromzero]

Do you think it is possible to grow Peruvians or pachanoi indoors? I'm in PNW. What would you do, cacti experts?

If you have somewhere they can be even a little bit outdoors (e.g. a balcony) between spring and fall, that will help a lot. How cold winters does your bit of PNW have?

 

[downwardsfromzero]

My newest baby that I picked up from a farmer's market today

One love

Looks lovely, interesting large-ish areoles lower down, too.

The glaucous bloom and "gull's wing" markings look promising! :want:

 

[downwardsfromzero]

thanks!

but why would be too much sun / heat a problem?

I'm not living in a particular warm region, as winters get -10°C easily. Still our summers can be close to 40°C. Is that truly too much for them?

They'll enjoy regular spray-mistings of water during the hot summer. They like a bit of undiluted urine for fertilizer as well. Got my first blooms (see above) after following this regimen.

How are your plants doing now?

 

[merkin]

Do you think it is possible to grow Peruvians or pachanoi indoors? I'm in PNW. What would you do, cacti experts?

Indoors I would suggest you focus on the TBM and in particular the short clustering clone. Can never remember A or B. Not only is is best suited to pots and small spaces but it is known to be quite rich in alkaloids for its size. Way more so than Peruvians or Pedros.

 

[doubledog]

My personal experience is that TBMs are extremely slow growing cacti, not very suitable for small growing space. It will produce small amount of plant material per year.

 

[brokedownpalace10]

I grow indoors in an only moderately sunny window. I do cycle 3-4 pots outside outside in the summer to get some with thick growth.
The cactus in the window are fairly etiolated, but I have a lot of them. A window box full and some smaller pots. Quantity works as well.

 

[Twilight Person]

How are your plants doing now?

I think I wasted a lot of money, by buying many small plants for at least medium prices. I bought my last really big plants very cheap in contrast, so now the prices for my small ones seemed kind of bad. That means I now have many small ones, but originally I just thought of getting 2-4 VERY big ones which will be the whole cactus garden.

Of course now it's not too bad, because I can simply wait with the small ones too. But I also planned on just having the FEW BIG because I dont have space for all of them. Well but it is what it is. I now have many small ones and some really big ones.

I cut off the middle part of another big one and kept the tip for planting, as I learned here. I am torturing this one again with my fork every few days to make it produce even more I hope. Will soon do another extraction, hoping this time directly going for the crystals! Did not have much luck getting this benzoate salt producing it directly without conversion, so I would just accept getting goo again with CA.

But now here is another question: I saw the tip should have been placed in a little more ventilated area for healing. Now I got a little bit of mold at the bottom part. Now my question to you is: Is that already too much and I should cut it out? Or is it just minuscule and acting here would only damage the cactus more than helping?

For reference, the diameter of cactus is 10 cm and the mold area diameter is ~ 1 cm. So it is much smaller, but now still cut if out? Maybe because it is so small it is even a reason to do it, as the cut will not damage much? Or vice versa, it is so small, I should not care?

Thanks for any help and cheers again.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

I wouldn't worry about that tiny amount of superficial mould - it'll be far more once planted in the soil and these plant have evolved to deal with this. I rooted some cuttings in damp sand a while back and - you can be assured - what we see in your picture here is practically nothing compared to the state of the buried part of those specimens. They're all doing fine now; in fact, the mould may even have encouraged a couple of them to pup from the base - something I hadn't seen before with this variety. This is a bit of a guess, admittedly, and could equally have been down to some other uncontrolled-for factor.)

Pic shows the pups, two or three years down the line from planting.

 

[Twilight Person]

Ok but you say it will be even more when i put it in the ground. It Means that this mold will Not heal if i dont cut it off? Well i trust you that it will Not damage the plant but also it would never go away?

So technically of you would rip out that cactus from the picture it would still be moldy? Then i would maybe consider cutting it off, otherwise i will have like Nidhoggr sitting below the earth and doing something that i can Not take track of -_-

 

[downwardsfromzero]

I'll dig out some pics of how those plants looked when they were taken from the rooting substrate. It wasn't so pretty a site! I'm not likely to dig them up for the sake of it, but once I get round to repotting them I'll check how they look and take some photos.

Obviously, I can't 100% guarantee that your plant will be as happy as mine where but as long as the mouldy part isn't turning soft or spreading, it should be fine. If in doubt, dust it with a little sulphur. Come to think of it, I'd best check my repotting pictorial to see whether I dusted the roots with sulphur during the process, although I'm fairly sure I didn't.

Another thing worth mentioning is that my cacti are essentially kept outdoors and are seemingly happy to share their pots with adventitious companions such as chickweed and field woundwort.

I may have been slightly more cautious were they indoor specimens but even then, all the cacti I have lost through the years (except for the ones which got frozen solid) have been something other than Trichocereus. Trichs can be considered among the easiest cacti to grow and the most robust in temperament, IME.

Incidentally, I'd be more cautious if the specimen in question was a bridgesii - but neither would I anticipate that your potting soil is going to remain entirely sterile once in use.

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Most soil has mold. Would not worry about the tiny spot you have. Just keep an eye on it as it roots and do not water soil until it roots. You know it is fully rooted once you can pick up the cutting and the soil and pot come with it. If there is a problem inside the plant it will show on its skin fairly quickly, so watch for that. I doubt you will have any problems.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Here's the pics of my cuts looked after the rooting procedure, attached. The black stuff is where the cactus itself has turned into soil!

A bit more backstory is that these pieces were rescued from a planter of cactus that got knocked flat by a sudden frost, they had already survived soft rot and orange mouldy patches! Tough little things. I'll try and match them up with the original pics and add some comparison photos in the morrow.

[Edit: added a couple of photos of the cactastrophe as well.]

 

[Twilight Person]

Ok I see so it will Not matter too much. But that Means the mold will still stay like this, it will (probably) Not get worse but also stay like what i see now? So the plant will Not go to 0 by its own if I dont cut it off?

(my phone always making random words big, for give me)

Just want to be Sure on this one, because it s a very big one (even though just the tip) so want to be more cautios than other material.

Cheers!

 

[Loveall]

Mushrooms growing in the background of my cacti. From spent substrate, first time it happens.

 

[Voidmatrix]

They're playing peek-a-boo :lol:

One love

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Ok I see so it will Not matter too much. But that Means the mold will still stay like this, it will (probably) Not get worse but also stay like what i see now? So the plant will Not go to 0 by its own if I dont cut it off?

(my phone always making random words big, for give me)

Just want to be Sure on this one, because it s a very big one (even though just the tip) so want to be more cautios than other material.

Cheers!

Sorry to have missed this question until now!

Yes I had to trim and nurture mine, but only because of extensive damage to the body of the cactus. A superficial blemish is, as more than one of us has said, of little concern here. Even frost-damaged tips have healed themselves IME. I have one specimen which was recovered and propagated from a thin (~2cm) slice of stem beneath a blackened, shrivelled tip left over from the aforementioned frost 'cactastrophe'. These beasts can cope with having their tips frozen off - they just dry out and branch pups from below the damaged area. TBF, this only one particular set of clones which are this tough. Some of my other specimens did not survive under similar conditions.

Attached, a few pictures - the "slice that survived about 3½ years on; another cutting of the same type that got hit by a lighter frost (ground frost rather than air frost, I suspect) just to illustrate recovery from tip damage.

 

[Wolfnippletip]

Echinopsis Don Juans flowering. The larger one pictured was included as an extra in a mixed box of trichs I ordered from Nexus member Wakinyan years ago. It was a little larger than a golf ball then and I had no idea what it was. They are relatively uncommon, but are very hardy and flower when they are small (the smaller one on the left is about twice the size of a golf ball). I think it's amazing how a little cactus can produce a flower as big as itself and the Don Juan has some of the prettiest flowers I've ever seen. You can find small ones sometimes on Ebay for about 30 dollars USD.

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Cool. One of my Peruvian Torch's is throwing off a bloom. Rare event.

 

[Transform]

Cool. One of my Peruvian Torch's is throwing off a bloom. Rare event.

We'd love to see pics of a peru. in bloom!

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Hopefully I can be around to catch it.