Beccabud's Cactus Garden of Spiny Delight: Peruvian Torch aka Trichocereus Peruvianus

[BeccaBuds]

Having obtained a bumper crop from my last cannabis grow, and having several months before I plan to start another, I can now utilize my new LED grow lights (Bestva Pro2000W times 2) for sprouting and growing some Peruvian Torch seeds, obtained off eBay in spring, 2020. I have three varieties, Puquiensis var. KK1689, Collana Pichu, and Sharxx Blue OP. I don't know the meaning of the names, though the first two are likely references to the location the seeds came from, and the Sharxx Blue is a variety breed by a grower in Australia for it's intense bluing, or so the eBay seller claimed in the auction text. After looking closely at all three bags of seed with a loupe, I have little confidence in the Puquiensis seeds. They appear to be in very poor condition compared to the other two, possibly very old and so may not germinate at all. Collana and Sharxx I think will give a nice, high germination rate. I put more than one seed in each pot so I may have a small forest of these cacti in a few days, or possibly weeks! Covered each pot with a thin layer of garden sand for a top dressing, misted with purified water, bagged them and put them on a germination heat mat running about 85F.

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[Phytoplankton]

Some cacti can be tricky to germinate from seed, you have my admiration. I grow a lot of cacti and succulents. I live in a coastal, salty, environment and they tend to do very well. I have probably 20 full size (up to 15 feet) San Pedro cacti. Just found out that they apparently contain almost as much mescal*** as Peyote buttons, which explains why I had so many inquiries when I had to move a bunch of them and were giving them away.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Yes, germinating cacti is a very delicate task. Because they need a very wet start I sterilize the soil and top cover and thoroughly wash the containers. I also plant by the moon. Some think it's old wives tales or superstition, but I figure its best to do everything you can to insure a good outcome. We shall see, and if I get some babies I will post their progress in pictures.
I've been aware San Pedro is a sacred cacti since the early 80's when I obtained a book titled "Plants of the Gods". I've been growing San Pedro for a long time as well. I had two 20 gallon pots both full of branches that got lovely white flowers. They got too big though so I took some cuttings and sold them to a landscaper. The cuttings are doing well but flowers are still years away and I've kind of bonzai'd them with too little light.
Peruvian Torch is a sacred plant as well, containing many of the same alkaloids found in Peyote and San Pedro. This is my second attempt growing it from seed. I started a tray of 50 seeds back in 2004 and got 1 cactus that I gave to a friend when it got too big.
Here's the germination setup. Seed trays are constant 82 deg. F on a heat mat. 3200 lumens of 5000 kelvin light 12 hours a day. Can't wait to see some sprouts!

 

[Phytoplankton]

Yes, the flowers on San Pedro’s are pretty spectacular, about 8-10 inches long. Unfortunately, the flowers only last a couple days. I’ve never seen anything that looked like a “fruit”, but that may be because the flowers are not getting pollinated, they just turn black and fall off. They flower kinda randomly, but I get 10-20 flowers each time. On day I may try hand pollinating a couple, just to see what happens.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Those are some big flowers- my pot-grown San Pedros got to maybe half that size. Just seeing them flower was a first for me. It would be interesting to see the shape of the seeds. These Peruvian Torch seeds look like a tiny kidney, the biggest almost 1/16" long with a big crater on one end. I'd love to hear about your results from hand pollination.

 

[BeccaBuds]

5 days in and no sprouts yet, read an article reminding me this can take weeks to months. Patience, beccabuds, patience. I'm opening & fluffing the bags every day or 2 to give them some fresh air. Turned the lights off for now since they are on a heat mat, and helps minimize potential algae. Keeping temp between 80-85F.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Just over a week in the ground & sprouts is in da house! First to break ground is a Collana Pichu. Looks like several more Collana are on the way. Here's a photo of the tallest to sprout so far- it's less than a 1/4" and still busting out of it's shell.

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Turned the light on and set the timer for 15 hour days. The little plant in the pic looks like it could have used the light a little sooner. Good thing I checked on them this evening.

 

[BeccaBuds]

2 more confirmed Collana Pichu sprouts, nada in the Puquiensis or Sharxx Blue OP trays yet. Sprouts are getting green and look really healthy and vibrant. Took the Collana tray out of the blue bag and covered it with clear plastic so it gets more light.

 

[BeccaBuds]

First Sharxx Blue OP has cracked it's shell and there are now six Collana Pichu in 5 pots. First Collana has shed it's shell. I sprinkled a little more sand around the base of 3 of them for better support & root protection, misted them all and put a 1/4 cup of water in the black germination tray for humidity. Done with the blue plastic bags but I think I'll keep the clear sheet over them for now since there are many more potential sprouts.

1st shell drop.

Hard to spot but there are 6 sprouts today, Nov. 4.​

 

[BeccaBuds]

I now have 8 Collana Pichu sprouts and 2 Sharxx Blue OP. Still no Puquiensis. Here are some photos taken with the USB microscope this afternoon.

Collana Pichu. The graduations are 1/64th of an inch for an indication of scale.

Another Collana Pichu.

The first Sharxx to sprout.

Another Sharxx sprouted today, still in it's shell.​

 

[Phytoplankton]

Good Going! I'm jealous, they are not alway easy to germinate. I'm waiting for my San Pedro cactus to flower again and then I'll try pollinating it by hand. From what I've read they are pollinated in nature by large Andean hummingbirds or long tongued moths, neither of which are found in my area.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I think using the garden sand as a top cover helped to keep the seeds more moist, and it the last 2 trays, the Collana & the Sharxx, I sprinkled a thin layer of sand and put the seeds on that, and then sprinkled more sand over the seeds. That kind of gave me better control over planting depth. I've read pachanoi and peruvianus seeds prefer shallow planting, less than 1/8".
Soon I'm going to have to cut 1.25" squares from sandwich bags to cover the cells that haven't germinated yet, as the sprouted seedlings will start to need more air and lower humidity.
Yea, none of those birds or moths here either.
Count this morning was 11 Collana, 5 Sharxx, 0 Puq.

 

[BeccaBuds]

When I checked the trays a few hours ago I found algae growing on the surface of the sand in multiple cells in all 3 trays. I didn't sterilize the sand long enough or maybe not hot enough. Problem solved, though, by spraying each cell with a good blast of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. Killed the algae and gave the soil a flush of oxygen. Disaster averted!
I've moved the germination tray into the closet under my LED lights. Lamp is 12" above the cacti and set to 3 on the dimmer dial.

 

[BeccaBuds]

The count is now 12 Collana Pichu, 6 Sharxx Blue OP and still zero Puquiensis. The largest of the sprouts are beginning to develop their first fuzzy pad & spines. They were all getting a little dry so I sprayed each pot 20 times with a spray bottle full of purified water. Sprayed the Puquiensis tray as well, and keeping it covered with a plastic sheet but it looks like a total loss at 0% germination.

Baby cactus spines.

More baby cactus spines.​

 

[Joe Brewster]

Puquiensis.

Cool. I have some cactus that I started from seed, growing for over 15 years
I read these seeds need to be planted after frost so might need Stratification to germinate
It might help to let them go through heating & cooling cycles if not sprouted in 21 days

if you have more seed put them in the fridge for a few weeks before planting

 

[Phytoplankton]

My San Pedro's are getting ready to flower, they all flower at the same time, but very randomly. Some are close to 20 feet tall. In the first pic you can see how big the flowers are, and these are on smaller plants. I may try to hand pollinate a couple to see if I can get seeds

 

[BeccaBuds]

@Brewsterman I'm actually getting a pretty good germination rate with both the Collana & the Sharxx considering I bought these seeds in May of 2020. I now have 18 Collana and 12 Sharxx. Zero Puquiensis but as I said early in the journal, those seeds were in very poor condition. Looked like they had been carried around in someone's pocket all day. Many damaged shells.
@Phytoplankton They are huge! You should definitely have a go at pollenating them. They remind me of Protea. Beautiful.
Here's some pics of a couple Collana Pichu taken today.

Look ma! My first crown of thorns!

Oh, my. One of the Collanas is a polyploid... and a deep purple color.
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[Phytoplankton]

Very nice! That one is unique, cool color!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Totally unique and my first non-cannabis polyploid. If it survives, it's got a guaranteed spot under the grow light and plans to propagate it when it gets bigger.

 

[BeccaBuds]

6 weeks now and all still so tiny no point in taking more pics yet. Growth is agonizingly slow with cacti at this stage. Removed the Puquiensis tray- I put 5 seeds in each pot and nothing has happened at all with it so I'm writing it off.
For the Collana and Sharxx I mixed a gallon of weak MaxiGro nutrient solution. A gallon of purified water, 3/8tsp of MaxiGro powder and about 1.5mL pH Up yielded a solution having ec= 0.49mS at pH 6.2. Each pot in the remaining 2 trays got 5-6 spritzes with the spray bottle. That gallon is going to last a long time at this rate!