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

[BeccaBuds]

Just gave the PTs their first watering since Jan 1st. 250mL each of plain distilled water. The tallest is now 12.5 inches. Pedros getting really tall, big and heavy. Might have to prune them again.

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[Phytoplankton]

Wow those are looking great! Mine torches are still living outdoors, and are only about 6 inches tall, but healthy. I will be hitting them with some nutes soon. My Pedro’s are doing nicely, both the old ones and the ones I had to move. They are goofy flower producers, had a few go into flower in mid-January!

 

[BeccaBuds]

I wonder if your Pedros responded to the rain, @Phytoplankton? That's become a rare event here in California now. These cacti seen to go ape under these LED lamps. They would be even bigger if I hadn't put off watering.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Today I gave each of the P. Torches 400mL of plain dechlorinated, filtered water in 100mL increments. They were very dry. The San Pedros in the 10 gallon cloth pot got the remaining water of the gallon I prepared. Brought the Pedros in to put under the Tiny Closet lights as the DoSiDo in there is about to get chopped.

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[Phytoplankton]

Those all look so good! The PT's I got from you are still very small, but they've lived outside since I got them. As the weather warms they are finally starting to pick up in growth. I lost a couple of my San Pedros to the wind storms we had a month ago, but I just dug a post hole and dropped the broken pieces in, they'll do fine.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Considering how little I've been watering, they are doing great! I'm thinking about pruning the San Pedro. Every time I try to move the pot I get a face full of cactus, and the pot is getting heavy with the weight of the plants! I'd like to see the P. Torches get more girth rather than high but whatever.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Topped the Pedros this morning to make the pot easier to move. Took 8 cuttings and split them into 8 tops and 8 trunks, each at least 6" and many 8". I've posted 14 of them them up to eBay- have a look if you are interested in starting some San Pedro to landscape your yard.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Dang! That was fast- the listing wasn't up 2 hours on eBay and the box of 14 cuttings has already sold! If it was someone here, thank you and I'll be headed to the Post Office shortly!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Watered all 6 Peruvian Torches on May 6 with 300mL water each. They were already dry so I just gave them another 400mL each, 300mL top watered in slow 100mL increments and 100mL into each overflow tray. They sucked up the water in the trays like a bunch of frat boys at a beer party. Tallest (left rear) is now 16". Turned each plant 180 degrees so all sides get even light.

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All the San Pedros are doing well out on the patio too. Pic of them later.

I've been checking out some great vids on youtube regarding growing san pedro. Good stuff if you are into growing succulents. Here is one focusing on replanting cuttings.

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[BeccaBuds]

Kacti Klose-up Kompendium of Koloration!

Th-th-th that's all, folks!

Except for another 0.55L of aqua for each. And I rotated them. Next time they get some GH MaxiGro.​

 

[BeccaBuds]

Found a tray that's a perfect fit for the 2' x 2' cactus tent, so that frees up my germination trays. It's actually a plastic oil drip pan but it's just the right size. The price was right so I grabbed one.

 

[BeccaBuds]

All 6 Torch pot's were dry again already so I mixed 5mL of Advanced Nutrients Cal-Mag+, a tsp of General Hydroponics MaxiGro powder, 3mL pH Up and 0.5mL pH Down. Overshot the target with the pH Up so had to compensate with pH Down. Ec measured 1.37mS and pH was 6.4.
Each cacti in the tent got 300mL bottom watered in 100mL increments. The Pineapple got 200mL. Rotated each pot 180 degrees and the circle of pots 1/6th turn clockwise.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I can see them responding to the fertilizer already, they are growing fast. Here are some close-ups of some of their spine and grow tip geometry.

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[BeccaBuds]

I just noticed I left some key info out of my post on 5/28/23. First sentence should end with "in a gallon of distilled water". Yeah, that's pretty key!

 

[BeccaBuds]

I think I've found where the Collana Pichu harkens from using Google Maps. You can see some growing up on the hillside! Way cool! I was going to post a link but I thought, "What if there was a stampede of people hunting them there?", so I removed it...

 

[BeccaBuds]

Well, looks like the tourists already got there and posted 162 pics on google. Several photos look like the cacti in my tent. 3rd picture, a guy standing atop a big rock face; zoom in and see HUNDREDS of cacti. Here's the link, a bit west of Matucana, Peru. Collana is a village a couple miles southwest of

Catarata De Huanchacara

I've also come to the conclusion that my 10 gallon pot of San Pedro is most likely of the "PC" or Prominent Cultivar variety that has shown up all over the western US and contains virtually no psychoactive alkaloids. There has even been speculation that it isn't Pachanoi at all and may be from Central America rather than South America. No definetive genetic analysis though so it's all guess work. It does make a nice, low maintenance patio plant with it's short little spines regardless.

 

[BeccaBuds]

T. at TheCactusJonesdotcom sent me 3 Foxtail Agave (Agave Attenuata) pups with my order of The Jones Juice. Not only does he have and periodically offer some really special cacti and make custom cactus nutrients, but he is just awesome all-around!

For now I'm soaking them in water to recover from the trip then I'll put them in 4" pots to start. These get pretty big, I hope my new digs (when I find them) have patio space for them.

 

[BeccaBuds]

It's Pointy Hair Picture Time with photos of all the rest of the growing tips!

#7 Sharxx. 5 points.

#8 Sharxx. 6 points.

#9 Collana. 6 points.

#10 Collana. 5 point pattern.

#12 Collana. The only one with 7 points, also the one born with 3 points instead of 2.
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[BeccaBuds]

Each of the Torch cacti got 6mL Jones Juice with 600mL distilled water. They were all already very dry and drank it up. Each pot drained off maybe 75mL so they got a good soaking. Number 10 Collana appears to be developing roots about an inch and two above the soil. Pretty sure they are all root bound already. These 6" pots hold less than a half gallon of soil, though I hear people mistakenly call them gallon pots constantly.

Collana #10 is throwing funky roots.

Photos from 2 angles so you can see them all Jonesing, lol.
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They liked the MaxiGro, I think they are going to love the Jones Juice even more! It's a kelp based compost tea with inputs and beneficial bacteria tailored for cacti and succulents. I am also learning cacti prefer a nutrient balance more akin to flowering formulas and I still have some Geoflora Bloom. I think I'll go with it and put the MaxiGro away.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Look how green the new spines are on Collanas 1 & 10- those are really healthy cacti!

Collana #1

Collana #10​