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New to Cacti - Beginner Question!

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Brennendes Wasser

Brennendes Wasser

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Senior member Chemical engineer
Hey friends!

I want to start growing some Cacti!!!!

So I read that I would get the best average bet by growing Trichocereus Bridgesii.

Now that I know what type I will choose, the next questions comes up.

1.) What should be favored when starting to grow these green spiky guys:

> Grow from seed

> Order a cuttling and just plant it into soil myself


And


2.) How should I place them in their pots?

> Strictly 1 pot for 1 plant

> Can 2 or more plants be placed in 1 (BIGGER of course) pot ?


THXX
 
Growing from seed is a good way of getting lots of specimens going all at once and Trichocereus spp. typically grow pretty quickly so there's not too long of a wait before you've got a nicely sized specimen. However, you'll be dealing with unknown genetics so there'll be a process of weeding out in favour of plants with desired characteristics.

With a cutting, if it comes with assured providence regarding desired characteristics then you already know it's worth the growing space to have it. However, there's only so much of a multiplication rate for biomass with cuttings, which gets trumped by growing from seed as you can simply plant as much seed as you have space and take it from there.

The deciding factor between these two is down to budget and availability, one could say. You can get quite a lot of seed for not much money, whereas cuttings can be rather expensive - unless you happen to encounter a friendly cactus grower who might well be happy to share a known good specimen with you.

I've had success with growing cacti both singly and with multiple specimens in variously sized pots or troughs. Plastic pots are actually better, if you were wondering about plastic vs. clay. Bigger pots with more cacti are more cumbersome to move when the need (almost inevitably) arises. A nice arrangement of cacti can look very good though.

Beware, once you start a cactus hobby you'll soon be looking for every last place you can squeeze them in, I'd wager! I hope you've got a large enough house/flat :lol:
 
Good advices from dfz and the truest is :

downwardsfromzero said:
Beware, once you start a cactus hobby you'll soon be looking for every last place you can squeeze them in, I'd wager! I hope you've got a large enough house/flat :lol:
Click to expand...
 
1.) What should be favored when starting to grow these green spiky guys:

> Grow from seed

> Order a cuttling and just plant it into soil myself


And


2.) How should I place them in their pots?

> Strictly 1 pot for 1 plant

> Can 2 or more plants be placed in 1 (BIGGER of course) pot ?
Click to expand...
I favor growing from seed but cuttings are also a great way to grow cacti.

Planting seeds is pretty easy, the little seeds need care to thrive but can often grow well neglected.
Many people plant more than a seed in a pot or have more than a cutting in a pot. As a general rule with some exceptions the fewer the plants in the container the larger the plants will grow.
 
All good recommendations. Stick with Bridgesii until you get a good eye for Peruvianus and Pachanoi. Rooted plants are the easiest way to get started, followed by cuttings, then seed. And yes, while mescaline is not addictive, cactus propagation surely is. :D
 
It really does depend on money , space and how much effort and time you want to put in..

I wouldn't stick to just bridgessii ....

If you were to order seeds I would order hybrid seeds. Seeds are pretty inexpensive too; you could get some hybrids and pure bridgessii seeds etc.

Cuts/clones can be expensive but there are some very generous people who grow cacti too . If you decide to grow from clones I highly suggest Sacred Succulents. They are great for seeds too and there are good handful of other good places to get seeds.
 
There are many ways to skin a cat, and there are many ways to get started with cacti. Cuttings or rooted plants get you started faster on the path of having large, harvestable plants. But seeds get you many plants right off the bat. Its up to you which way to go. Maybe both? I started with cuttings and rooted plants and I have no regrets.

Bridgesii, non-pc pachanoi, and scopulicola are great choices for your foundation stock.
 
I'm all for diversity. There are a few vendors that offer very high quality seed of hybrids and pure species alike. Seeds can indeed be a very fast way to propagate large numbers especially if one takes into consideration how fast Trichocereus grow. Never mind if you take the time to learn the simple art of grafting. Seed is also a very fast way to come up a diverse collection of freaks. With that being said, why limit yourself? Get some stand out cuttings as well. The benefit of seed... you are going to have many one of a kind specimens.
 
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