Any cactus growers here?

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
In 2014 I made a trip to the great state of Texas. Since then I have had a great appreciation for the SW culture not just the food scene but the plants as well. Fortunately here in the Ozarks we do have a native cactus that is quite easy to grow. This is commonly called Eastern Prickly pear. It is easy to grow. I started this from cuttings from a plant on my grandparents property. An old grill lid is all that is needed to grow these. The flowers are beautiful. Pollinating insects will agree.
 

Attachments

tewebag

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Messages
237
I have a couple different types of cactus growing around the house right now, I could not tell you names or anything because they came from cuttings from my grandma's plants years ago before she passed. Pretty simple things to grow, I forgot I have them for months at a time and they still survive.
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
8,982
lol I still have transvaalicus genetic line from you from back in 2007 or 8, don't remember, I think I got babies from you back then anyway. That cacti is taken for granted here, it's all over the place. They can be made to grow like a tree but it takes decades. You have to keep breaking off lobes to create a trunk.
 

schmiggle

Arachnoking
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,220
That one is really lovely! I have one cactus, a Glandulicactus glandulifera, and I also have two Haworthiopsis attenuata sharing a pot (though they're genetically identical and both producing basal offshoots). For now I've avoided keeping more because I mostly haven't got enough light. I like a lot of funky looking desert species though, so there are a bunch on my wish list.
 

pannaking22

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 25, 2011
Messages
4,226
I always loved seeing eastern prickly pear when I lived in Illinois. Found it in my favorite habitats, sand prairies. Now I'm in Texas and there are so many different cactus types I don't even know where to start lol. I keep a few species of cactus (can't remember what they're called, most came unlabeled :grumpy:) and some Huernia.
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
lol I still have transvaalicus genetic line from you from back in 2007 or 8, don't remember, I think I got babies from you back then anyway. That cacti is taken for granted here, it's all over the place. They can be made to grow like a tree but it takes decades. You have to keep breaking off lobes to create a trunk.
Great!!! I was wondering if any of my scorpion lines are still around. Those were fun times for sure
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
Last year I started this cold Hardy cactus bed in front of my house. There chollas and prickly pear plants. It will take a few years for them to fill it out but I am patient. In the lower left there is one sent to me by Old Hag in Utah. Any of you remember her? It would probably be worth your time to look up some of the threads here we engaged in. We had alot of fun at each other's expense lol
 

Attachments

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
This is my Giant Saquaro. Not a giant and grows slowly. I have had this 4 years now. Sorry about not giving scientific names. I am posting off my phone. If I was at the office using PC it is easier to look them up. Remebering names of cacti is about as hard as bugs lil
 

Attachments

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
Nice cacti!!! Never grew from seeds before. How long does it take them to come up?
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
8,982
Nice cacti!!! Never grew from seeds before. How long does it take them to come up?
I don't remember, maybe only a few days. Desert plants usually germinate real fast after you keep the seeds wet because in nature they have to hurry up to get a tap root down before it dries up again.
 

aphono

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 11, 2017
Messages
481
A few miscellaneous cactus around the yard. Pachycereus marginatus, a couple Echinocereus, Echinopsis hybrids, Cereus "Peruvian apple"- delicious fruit! Would love to find out if there might be cultivars with different fruit tastes but also as a way to get non- clones to see if that improves fruit set. Sometimes they will throw up a lot flowers yet none of them set.. Recently got cuttings of Cereus azureus and monstrose Cereus- the bumpy, tall growing variety.

Is anybody good with cactus ID? . Got these from a friend in Albuquerque- she uses them to feed her turtles. Flowers are solid bright yellow if that helps any.

View media item 52205
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
Aphono, we were in Peru in May. My wife is from there. They sell fruit of a large prickly pear in the markets. They call it "tuna". Is that what you are calling Peruvian apple? It is a large fruit slightly smaller than an apple
 

aphono

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 11, 2017
Messages
481
Aphono, we were in Peru in May. My wife is from there. They sell fruit of a large prickly pear in the markets. They call it "tuna". Is that what you are calling Peruvian apple? It is a large fruit slightly smaller than an apple
Mine is Cereus peruvianus(depsite the name they are not actually from Peru), a columnar branching cactus. I'm not too clear on the naming- tuna usually is prickly pear/pad type cactus fruit. So far it seems majority of non-pad type cactus fruit gets lumped under 'pitaya'.. including peruvianus fruits. The majority of pitayas at markets in general are Hylocereus, aka dragonfruit though. As far as I'm aware, only the peruvianus fruit has no spines or scales on it. Simply grab the fruit with bare hands, peel, eat.

The peruvianus fruits are variable in size, even on the same arm.. from tennis ball size to a little bigger than apples.

Link to page with excellent info and video with adorable toddler:

http://tastylandscape.com/2013/04/24/a-very-tasty-cactus-cereus-peruvianus/

I just learned from that page there are varieties with yellow or pink fruit.. not sure if they meant peruvianus or got that mixed up with dragonfruit. Would absolutely love to have those varieties if they're truly Cereus sp!
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
8,982
@Galapoheros nice Astrophytum asterias (is it super kabuto?), what's the other one?
I think the other one is a baby one ....https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/508/ I got the superK at a cactus show, almost got ripped off. I got the cactus home, was going to repot it, looked at the root and it was rotting away. I think the seller knew it was in trouble. It was kind of expensive too for a little cactus, maybe $20, don't remember. I put it in some good desert soil, that saved it and it's at least 3 times bigger than it was when I bought it. It's almost the size of a small apple.

A few miscellaneous cactus around the yard. Pachycereus marginatus, a couple Echinocereus, Echinopsis hybrids, Cereus "Peruvian apple"- delicious fruit! Would love to find out if there might be cultivars with different fruit tastes but also as a way to get non- clones to see if that improves fruit set. Sometimes they will throw up a lot flowers yet none of them set.. Recently got cuttings of Cereus azureus and monstrose Cereus- the bumpy, tall growing variety.

Is anybody good with cactus ID? . Got these from a friend in Albuquerque- she uses them to feed her turtles. Flowers are solid bright yellow if that helps any.

View media item 52205

I have that in my yard, I had a tortoise that would eat it also. So many sps. look like that though, I don't know. I've grown dragon fruit cactus from seed, from store bought fruit. Do they sell Peruvian apple in any store around there? You could prob just grow from seed. What I grew wasn't cold hardy and froze.
 

schmiggle

Arachnoking
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,220
If anyone cares (and you probably don't, I know), I misidentified my cactus--it's actually Ferocactus hamatacanthus. @Galapoheros yours and mine will look similar as they grow, I think.

I ordered seeds of four very cool, but exceedingly slow growing species about a week ago--Obregonia denegrii, Strombocactus disciformis, Lophophora diffusa, and Geohintonia mexicana. I'm planning to grow them on gravel mixed with local silt, but I might change that to straight pumice or something along those lines. I'm going to add gypsum to the mix, I think, since they all naturally grow on calcium rich soils (though the first three usually grow on limestone, almost everything I've read has said not to use it, and plants definitely don't need it). My goal is to make them look as close to wild plants as possible, since all of those species often look bloated in cultivation (this is somewhat less of a concern with the Geohintonia).
 
Last edited:

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
8,982
If anyone cares (and you probably don't, I know), I misidentified my cactus--it's actually Ferocactus hamatacanthus. @Galapoheros yours and mine will look similar as they grow, I think.

I ordered seeds of four very cool, but exceedingly slow growing species about a week ago--Obregonia denegrii, Strombocactus disciformis, Lophophora diffusa, and Geohintonia mexicana. I'm planning to grow them on gravel mixed with local silt, but I might change that to straight pumice or something along those lines. I'm going to add gypsum to the mix, I think, since they all naturally grow on calcium rich soils (though the first three usually grow on limestone, almost everything I've read has said not to use it, and plants definitely don't need it). My goal is to make them look as close to wild plants as possible, since all of those species often look bloated in cultivation (this is somewhat less of a concern with the Geohintonia).
I wish they'd dump some laws concerning L. williamsii, imo they could let go of that now. If you get on the internet, you can see so many people propagating those things and selling them on the internet. There was a really good cactus nursery around here but the guy retired, he had some really weird plants.
 
Top