How long can San Pedro stay damp?

[Nathaniel]

Greetings, all. It's been a while since I've posted. I like to swing by during growing season. Anyway...

I watered my Pedro just before we got a week of rain, and I've been obsessing over it drying out. I'd like to think I'm overreacting, but I've dealt with rot before and I just wanted to ask the Nexus. When should I be concerned about rot? It's only been a few days but I honestly don't know when we'll see the sun again.

I've always read that San Pedro can take water better than most cacti, and I didn't give it a ton of water. As you might guess, I live in a very temperate zone. I really only water my Pedro a handful of times a year, I just want to be sure that I didn't mess up.

 

[Bdevall158]

it should be fine so long as your soil can drain well. I have some that live in jungle environments with heavy frequent rain and they do just fine

 

[DreadedShaman]

This will be the first season I'm letting any of my tribe get rain.. nervous about that doesn't really do how nervous about it I am xD

But, we've gotten a ton (def more than usual for June) of rain this year already and my cacti seem so happy to have it, plump and firm, no rot yet.

But you only water a few times a year? Even when I was protecting mine from rain in previous seasons I was still watering weekly or biweekly during the summer.

 

[endlessness]

As said before, it depends on soil drainage. I've had several days of rain on my pedro with no problem. My pedros can take daily watering no prob, and grow really well. The one time I had a problem, I had just put some cut pedro with no roots formed yet, in a badly draining soil, and had many days of rain+cold, that one got rot.

 

[0_o]

28.98 in (736.0 mm) average precipitation in Cuzco Peru.

Huancabamba Peru average yearly rainfall is 491 mm.
Matucana Peru averages 242 mm a year.
Lima is rather dry in comparison at 6.4mm per year.

The nature of the climate in the region potentially allows for forms of Trichocereus to exist that vary in their tolerance to water. Many forms are reported to do exceedingly well in Oakland California where it averages 24 inches or 609.6mm of rain a year the majority falling during the colder winter months.

I water daily during the growing season with occasional breaks lasting from a few days to a week or two.

People in extremely wet climates have reported some problems and they may opt to either shelter the plants from excess rain or use raised beds designed to drain water away rapidly and let the roots breathe.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

My cacti are outdoors in north west Europe. They get regular soakings and I water them every couple of days if the weather is dry for a "prolonged period" (more than a couple of days ). Pachanoi, macrogonus, peruvianus and bridgesii, monstrose included, all seem to love these conditions in a sunny, sheltered spot against a wall. The more sensitive specimens get a spot closer to the wall and are sheltered by the eaves of the building so they have a drier, warmer 'nanoclimate'. Some of my ~PC pachanois (kept for grafting experiments) sit in water for several days at a time and are completely happy with this. The soil in their pots is very well draining, which seems to be a key point.

Poor drainage and excessive fertiliser are the things to avoid.

The only thing that harmed some of my cacti was leaving them out in a hard frost (-6°C). This was also for experimental reasons.

Over the years I've become more and more confident about how robust most Trichocereus actually are.

 

[Nathaniel]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It sounds like San Pedro thrives in all kinds of climates. I'm just constantly anxious about rot since I have had problems before. My soil drains well but I was thinking about adding more perlite just to be safe.

I want to make sure my mama is healthy because I'm going to have some beautiful cuttings this year! Soon I'll have more cacti than I know what to do with

 

[TexasTrichocereus]

Endlessness not the nail on the head. It’s all about the drainage.

I live in a sub tropical environment that’s wet year-round. Rained 14”(35cm) in 5 hours the other week. Some years ago we had a several year drought and had to water my cacti sometimes. It still rained, just not as much.

If in doubt use more drainage.

 

[Nathaniel]

Side note that I figured I would post here: I recently moved a bridgesii that I had at my parents' house, and it got partly sun burnt. I've never burned a plant before and was wondering if I just have to slowly introduce it to sun, and if that would further hurt the burnt area.

My bridge has roots, it was just indoors for a while. The plant is beat up but still kicking. It was growing quite beautifully and then my mom chopped the top of it with a ceiling fan, so now I have a little bridgesii cutting as well.

 

[twitchy]

Harden them off to full sun gradually over the course of a couple weeks for sure, they can definitely sunburn and if they don't cook, they will still bear the scars for a long time. Slow changes seem best in my experience with them, you can shock them and not know it for several days or even weeks later.

 

[Nathaniel]

Right. Thanks for the tip. My other bridgesii looks to be doing well in full sun, and finally started to show some new growth. My pedro is growing like a champ but the bridge was quiet all year. Now I have my other bridge and it's pretty beat up, so we'll see if it branches this season.

 

[TexasTrichocereus]

One thing to watch out for with sun burn is infection/rot setting in from the dead/damaged flesh. The flesh under the waxy skin burns then starts to rot and can keep spreading. I had some cuttings get burned bad a few years back ended up having to do major surgery but managed to save them.

 

[Nathaniel]

One thing to watch out for with sun burn is infection/rot setting in from the dead/damaged flesh. The flesh under the waxy skin burns then starts to rot and can keep spreading. I had some cuttings get burned bad a few years back ended up having to do major surgery but managed to save them.

Oh damn! I didn't even think of that. I'll look out for anything suspicious. Hopefully I don't have to perform surgery, because I already did some work yesterday getting this thing to stand up from how it was leaning. It's a scrappy plant!

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Sunburn is a risk even when turning an outdoor cactus so that its shaded side faces the sun. I found this to be an issue when some cuttings from horizontal stems were left upside down for a couple of hours on a sunny day, which is more of an extreme case. But, as long as the sunburnt areas are kept dry the infection risk is fairly low.

If your specimen is having that much trouble standing up, it might be worth chopping it up into a few sections and letting it start over again. Only do this when you're certain it's recovered from the sunburn.

 

[Nathaniel]

Sunburn is a risk even when turning an outdoor cactus so that its shaded side faces the sun. I found this to be an issue when some cuttings from horizontal stems were left upside down for a couple of hours on a sunny day, which is more of an extreme case. But, as long as the sunburnt areas are kept dry the infection risk is fairly low.

If your specimen is having that much trouble standing up, it might be worth chopping it up into a few sections and letting it start over again. Only do this when you're certain it's recovered from the sunburn.

I was thinking about chopping it down but honestly right where I'd cut it, my plant has severe scarring so I doubt anything would grow from the base anymore. Part of that base is where it got burnt, as it was L shaped from leaning and then going up. So I did some potting and rigged it to be more upright. It's kind of goofy but I think it will work as long as it settles in. Otherwise, I'll be chopping some clones once it falls apart.

 

[brewster]

Question is how bad the sunburn is. Mild sunburn shows as yellowing or weird green colors - that normally heals without any traces. If it gets red or other funky colors, the tissue is destroyed, then the problem is bigger.
If you post a picture of the cactus, you can have more advice. I assume that you could chop it and it would still grow. A) Because pups can push through very woody material, and B) because if you cut it, there is an opening for them anyways.

All in all, Pedro is pretty uncomplicated in these regards. It'll continue to grow if its bent, but cutting it into pieces works almost always, too. You should be fine either way

 

[Nathaniel]

Question is how bad the sunburn is. Mild sunburn shows as yellowing or weird green colors - that normally heals without any traces. If it gets red or other funky colors, the tissue is destroyed, then the problem is bigger.
If you post a picture of the cactus, you can have more advice. I assume that you could chop it and it would still grow. A) Because pups can push through very woody material, and B) because if you cut it, there is an opening for them anyways.

All in all, Pedro is pretty uncomplicated in these regards. It'll continue to grow if its bent, but cutting it into pieces works almost always, too. You should be fine either way

8)
It should be mild since it's yellowish. I might post a pic if you really want to see how goofy this plant looks. I'm excited to have a little batch of plants around my place. I love tending to them every day. I just got a beautiful Petra Croton, which I had no knowledge of before I bought. It turns out that they are sensitive to even coming home from the store. Thankfully, mine didn't fall apart and should continue to grow.

I also really like bromeliads and want a big ol' collection of them.

 

[brewster]

Pics are always welcome

 

[Nathaniel]

Here's the old buggered base of my bridgesii. You can see the tan/yellow sunburn at the base, and severe scarring where my dad somehow knocked my plant over and almost broke in half.

Just found this pup sprouting today! I'm glad to see this plant kicking some ass.

https://imgur.com/YigsnzB

This is the whole bodge... I bodged the bodge.


I'm a little embarrassed by how beat up my plant is since my other cacti are doing so well. I'm hoping for another branch on my pedro and other bridgesii! Pedro has a rib without a branch so I want to complete the circuit :thumb_up:

 

[Grey Fox]

I would cut that plant if it was mine. The main problem is that kink near the bottom. Looks like there is also a second thin, weak section near mid height by the 2 pieces of tape. I would cut a little below both thin sections. Let it callus up and then you have 2 new sections to plant, and I would plant them fairly deep. The base will pup just fine.

You dont want to have thin, weak sections of the column that cant support the weight properly. It isnt fun to chop up a cactus, especially once it starts getting to a decent height. But in the long run its better to address these issues now, and then provide proper care and conditions moving forward from here.